CMS Belgium assisted Tessares, spin-off of Université Catholique de Louvain (UCL) founded in March 2015, in the preparation of its EUR 3 million fundraising in order to further develop its activities. Proximus, Vives II and the SRIW participated in this fundraising.

Tessares is an innovative startup active in the deployment of software solutions improving the performance and the quality of Internet access thanks to a new internet protocol (Multipath TCP). Tessares is headquartered in Belgium with development and sales teams in Belgium and the UK.

Herbert Smith Freehills has advised Ansarada on its A$24 million Series A capital raise, led by Ellerston Capital together with other cornerstone investors Tempus Partners and Australian Ethical Investments.

International Law firm Hogan Lovells recently represented ING Bank N.V., a global financial institution, in connection with a US$100 million loan to Argos USA LLC, a subsidiary of Cementos Argos S.A.

Cementos Argos, a multinational cement and concrete producer in Colombia, the United States, Central America and the Caribbean, will use the loan for corporate purposes.

Hogan Lovells partners Rick Martinez and Andrew Lee led the team representing ING Bank. Partner Jeff Tolin and associate Catherine Chen provided tax advice.

Hogan Lovells assisted 21 Partners in the joint venture with Aberdeen Standard Investments (21 Aberdeen Standard Investments Limited), for the management of a new €1bn private equity fund.

21 Aberdeen Standard Investments Limited will be a UK based 50:50 joint venture. The investment strategy for the fund will target active non-controlling interests with a focus on providing patient capital for the long term. The Board of the JV will be led by Alessandro Benetton with the members drawn equally from both JV partners.

Global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright has advised international energy company WIRCON GmbH, owners of Wirsol Energy, on the development and acquisition of the Gannawarra Energy Storage System in the state of Victoria in Australia.

The Gannawarra system is a 25MW / 50MWh Tesla Powerpack battery that will be integrated with the 50MW Gannawarra Solar Farm located near Kerang in north-west Victoria. It will be the first integrated solar and storage project in Victoria, the largest of its kind in Australia, and able to power around 800 homes for 24 hours.

We are proud to announce that we have advised INVESCO on two recent real estate transactions:

Charles Russell Speechlys LLP has advised AIM-listed client, 1Statial PLC, in relation to its recent disposal of 80.1% of Enables IT Group Limited to Champall Consultancy Limited a company jointly owned by Michael Walliss, the Founder and Managing Director of Enables IT, with his wife.

Charles Russell Speechlys has advised on the sale of Xstrahl, a medical devices business that designs and delivers effective clinical and research solutions to advance radiation oncology, to Risk Capital Partners as part of a management buyout. The firm acted for Martin Robinson, the majority shareholder and previous CEO, from whom the business was acquired.

DLA Piper Africa has advised Adenia Partners, a private equity firm investing in Sub-Saharan Africa, on its acquisition of a controlling stake in Kanu Equipment Limited (Kanu), a pan-African distributor of capital equipment. The transaction, which will provide growth capital to Kanu, was structured through Adenia Capital (IV), a €230 million fund.

DLA Piper has advised INP Deutschland GmbH, an owner-run engineering company, on the sale of 55 per cent of its shares in INP North America Inc. The buyer is VINCI Energies Deutschland GmbH, a global construction and concessions company part of the French VINCI Group. DLA Piper advised INP Deutschland on the SPA mark up and all negotiations.