Slaughter and May is advising Ascential plc on the proposed class 1 disposal of its Exhibitions and Events business to ITE Group plc for £300 million.  The deal, announced on 15 May 2018, will complete in July 2018 pending satisfaction of conditions precedent, including shareholder approval and completion of ITE’s rights issue to fund the consideration.

Contacts

Corporate: Jeff Twentyman (partner), Eleanor Stubbs (associate)

A team led by Dr. Kai Bandilla and Dr. Stefan Duhnkrack, both partners at the Hamburg office, advised Hesse-based WV Energie AG and Stadtwerke Bad Vilbel on the sale of project company KNK Wind GmbH for the planned Arcadis Ost 1wind farm in the Baltic Sea. The buyer is Belgian project developer and offshore wind farm operator Parkwind. The reason for the transaction was the contract awarded for the Arcadis Ost 1 project at the second German offshore wind auction.
 

As part of the global partnership between the two groups announced in 2017, on 11 May Sonatrach signed an agreement with Total for the development, construction and operation of a propane dehydrogenation and polypropylene production complex in the Arzew Industrial Area, Algeria.

This project, estimated at 1.4 billion dollars, will be borne by a joint company owned by Sonatrach (51%) and Total (49%). 

Herbert Smith Freehills has advised Airport Motorway Limited and AMT Management Limited in its capacity as trustee of the Airport Motorway Trust on a new $226 million four year bank debt facility to support the Eastern Distributor in Sydney. The funds raised will be used to repay Eastern Distributor’s existing bank debt that is due to mature in July 2018.

Global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright has advised International Finance Corporation (IFC) and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in relation to the US$215 million debt financing to Vetroelektrane Balkana or Wind Energy Balkan Group (WEBG) for the construction, commissioning and operation of the 158MW Cibuk 1 wind farm in the north east of the Republic of Serbia.

Frankfurt/Main – Munich-based telephony provider NFON AG has made its debut on the public stage, with more than 4.1 million shares being placed with investors at EUR 12 per share during the IPO. The transaction generated proceeds of EUR 80.5 million, with the company receiving around EUR 50 million of this total. The company plans to use the funds to drive expansion of its business activities in Europe, as well as investing in research and development on new products. The initial listing on the Deutsche Börse’s Prime Standard took place on 11 May.

Ashurst is advising Castellana Properties Socimi on the acquisition of the Habaneras Shopping Centre (Torrevieja, Alicante), which closed on Tuesday 8 May 2018. With this new acquisition, the Castellana Properties Socimi S.A. has become the owner of 12 properties across Spain, in which Ashurst acted as legal adviser on all of the acquisitions.

International law firm CMS has advised London-based venture capital firm Smedvig Capital on its £9.5 million Series B funding investment in App commerce company Poq. Venture capital firm Beringea and existing investor Revolt Ventures were also involved in the funding round. This round brings the total amount raised by Poq so far to £16.5 million.

use Universal (“Fuse”), the leading provider of next-generation learning technology for the workplace, has raised $20 million in growth capital from Eight Roads Ventures to continue investing in product innovation and global expansion.

Law firm Fieldfisher advised Fuse on the deal.

Cravath represented Drax Finco plc in connection with its $300 million 144A/Reg. S high-yield senior secured notes offering. Drax Finco plc is an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Drax Group plc, a vertically integrated electricity generation and supply business with operations in the UK and U.S. The notes were listed on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange. The transaction closed on April 26, 2018.