Shearman & Sterling has advised Equistone Partners Europe (“Equistone”) on the financing of the acquisition of SportGroup, one of the world’s leading providers of artificial turf systems and other synthetic floor coverings for sports and leisure. The seller is Sweden-based private equity firm IK Investment Partners. Completion of the transaction is subject to competition clearance. The terms of the transaction are confidential.

Equistone is one of the leading European private equity investors and one of the most active in the German mid-cap market. Since its establishment, the Equistone funds have completed more than 400 transactions across Europe. SportGroup is the first investment from Equistone’s Fund V, which closed in April at EUR 2 billion.

The Shearman & Sterling team was led by partner Winfried M. Carli (Frankfurt-Finance) and included partners Michael Steinberg (New York-Finance), Douglas McFadyen (New York-Tax), and Pierre-Nicolas Ferrand (Paris-Finance); counsel Matthias Weissinger (Frankfurt-Finance) and Philippe Wolanski (Paris-Finance), and associates Andreas Breu (Frankfurt-Finance) and Judy Fisher (New York-Tax).