Nielsen Holdings plc., Wilton, Connecticut (USA), a market research and advertising service provider listed on the New York Stock Exchange, has acquired Visual IQ Inc., one of the leading independent providers of the so-called Multi-Touch-Attribution-Software (MTA). Visual IQ helps its customers to advertise online in a way that allows reaching the highest possible return on investment.

Last past year, Visual IQ had acquired its German competitor Refined Labs GmbH, Munich (Germany). A team lead by the GSK Corporate Partner Andreas Bauer had assisted Visual IQ with this acquisition.

In order to incentivize the existing management of Real Labs, several of its members had received management stock options from Visual IQ. As part of the acquisition of Visual IQ by Nielsen, these management stock options now had to be replaced. Again, GSK advised Visual IQ on the corporate, tax and labor law aspects of this exchange.

In its negotiations with the German management, Visual IQ was assisted by a team lead by GSK Corporate Partner Andreas Bauer and GSK Labor Law Partner Philip Kuhn.

“This transaction proves again that our position as one of the most important independent German commercial law firms is also recognized in the US legal market", comments Andreas Bauer.

GSK Labor Law Partner Philip Kuhn adds: "This transaction is a great example to show that our expertise on employee stock option programs, at the interface of corporate, labor and tax law, is getting more and more highly valued, even in cross-border transactions.”

Advisors Visual IQ:

GSK Stockmann: Dr. Andreas F. Bauer (Lead, Corporate/M&A), Dr. Philip Kuhn (Labor Law); Associates: Daniela Riedinger (Corporate/M&A), Matthias Kaiser (Labor Law).