The team was led by David Higgins and Wessel Heukamp.

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP (‘Freshfields’) has advised leading international private equity firm Cinven on its disposal of Host Europe Group (‘HEG’) to GoDaddy Inc. (‘GoDaddy’). HEG is the largest privately-owned web services provider in Europe, and GoDaddy is the world's largest cloud platform  dedicated to small, independent ventures.

Under Cinven’s ownership since 2013, HEG has seen new products introduced in existing business units and the roll out of existing products across the company, as well as the optimisation of the capital structure of the business, among other notable developments. With a focus on small and medium sized enterprises, HEG has many well-known brands in its client portfolio and a significant footprint across Europe, complementing GoDaddy’s leading position in the US and fast-growing international presence.

The purchase price of €1.69bn (approximately $1.79bn) includes €605m paid to the selling shareholders and €1.08bn in assumed net debt. The transaction has been approved by the GoDaddy board of directors and HEG’s shareholders and is expected to close in the second quarter of 2017, subject to regulatory and closing requirements.

Commenting on the transaction, Freshfields partner David Higgins said, “We are pleased to have been able to support our long-standing client Cinven on this transaction as well as on the entire lifecycle of its relationship with HEG”.*

The Freshfields team was led by partners David Higgins and Wessel Heukamp.

*Freshfields, in a team led by David Higgins and Adrian Maguire, also advised on Cinven’s original acquisition of HEG in 2013 for £438m.