DLA Piper has advised shareholders from two of four separate entities on the equity investment by Equistone Partners Europe Limited to establish a new company, Performance Interactive Alliance for Digital Marketing GmbH. DLA Piper acted on behalf of econda and DeLaSocial, while Performance Media was represented by Luther Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft mbH, and Blue Summit Media by Hoffmann Böttcher Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft mbH . Pöllath + Partners advised Equistone.

Under the new holding company, the four individual companies, who between them had total annual external sales of approximately EUR 140 million in 2013, will continue to operate independently but offer a fully comprehensive range of services.DLA Piper also took on the role of coordinator during counselling of the shareholders of the four companies in connection with negotiation of the investment documentation for the joint holding company

The DLA Piper team led by partner Dr Matthias Lupp and counsel Ksenia Ilina (both Corporate, Munich) comprised the partners Dr Konrad Rohde (Tax, Frankfurt), Dr Wolfram Distler (Banking & Finance, Frankfurt), Dr Jan Schinköth (Corporate, Munich) and Dr Kai Bodenstedt (Employment, Hamburg), the counsels Dr Björn Enders (Tax, Frankfurt) and Patrick Schwarzbart (Intellectual Property & Technology, Munich) as well as associates Dr Magdalena Neueder (Corporate, Munich) and Dr Henriette Norda (Employment, Hamburg).

Performance Media is an independent online media agency that focuses on sales campaigns and branding. The econda family of web-analytics products offers tailored web-analytics solutions. Blue Summit Media is a large owner-run performance agency for search engine marketing and search engine optimization. DeLaSocial is Germany’s largest social media agency, which covers all digital communication channels for clients from the segments of gaming, technology, entertainment and luxury brands.

Equistone Partners Europe is one of the leading investment companies in Europe. Founded in Great Britain in 1979 as Barclays Private Equity, the company focuses on the acquisition of small and medium-sized companies with an annual turnover of between 50 and 500 million euros. At present, more than 40 employees work in the six offices in Great Britain and continental Europe.