Palladium Digital has assisted Endless in a deal to buy Findel Education from Studio Retail Group (SRG) for £30 million.

Findel Education, based in Hyde, supplies resources and equipment to schools in the UK and overseas. It has been trading since 1817 and has developed well-known brands including GLS, Hope, Philip Harris and Davies Sports.

The Endless-backed management buy-out has been led by the existing management team of Chris Mahady (CEO), Mark Whittaker (CFO) and Martin Jones (CIO). The team will be further bolstered by the appointment of Paul McClenaghan (CEO of Victoria Plum) as chairman following the acquisition. The group has also made a £2 million working capital facility available to Findel Education.

Led by Dan Shreeve, Palladium advised Endless on digital diligence. Endless was also advised by Walker Morris (Legals), Alantra (Corporate Finance) and KPMG (Tax). SRG was advised by a team from Squire Patton Boggs.

The Skeepers group, one of the main players specialising in collecting customer reviews, has now acquired MyFeelBack, a SaaS software startup that helps brands better understand consumer reviews.

MyFeelBack allows its users to collect, analyse and use customer data in real time and at all points of contact, whether in stores, on a website or through an application.

The acquisition of MyFeelBack was carried out with the support of private equity firm Providence Strategic Growth (PSG), a subsidiary of leading asset management firm Providence Equity Partners (Providence), and whose the work is mainly focused on development capital investments in SMEs specialising in software publishing and new technologies. PSG has been a partner of Skeepers since November 2019.

Skeepers has become a leader in customer experience and engagement. In February 2021, the group joined the Next 40, the label of the most promising tech companies in France. Also at the start of 2021, Skeepers continued its development with the acquisition of startup Horus, publisher of the Surprise application, which specialises in blockchain-based customer reward programmes.

Munich-based electric air taxi manufacturer Lilium is preparing to go public on the Nasdaq index. For this purpose, Lilium has agreed a merger with the US SPAC Qell Acquisition, the company announced. The company expects $830 million from the issue of shares and cash held in trust, or the equivalent of €707 million. The merged company will be worth $3.3 billion.

Total gross proceeds are expected to be $830 million, including $380 million held in trust and proceeds from a private placement of $450 million. Investors in the placement include fund manager Baillie Gifford, funds and accounts from BlackRock, Tencent, Ferrovial, LGT and their direct impact investing arm Lightrock, Palantir, FII Institute and Pimco-affiliated private funds. Some of the vehicles, such as Baillie Gifford and Tencent, are among Lilium’s existing investors.

Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe and Ropes & Gray are serving as legal advisors to Lilium. Lightrock, Atomico and Baillie Gifford are receiving legal advice from Milbank, Latham & Watkins and CMS Hasche Sigle respectively. Qell has been advised by BLOMSTEIN, Neuland and Metis.

Stevenson, Wong & Co. AllBright Law Offices, and Sidley Austin LLP advised Hywin Holdings Ltd in its initial public offering as legal advisers.

Hywin Holdings commenced trading on the Nasdaq Global Market in the US under the ticker symbol “HYW”. The Company issued 3 million American Depositary Shares at a price of $10 per ADS, raising $30 million in gross proceeds. The underwriters in the offering were Network 1 Financial Securities, Alexander Capital and Valuable Capital.

With a distribution team of over 1,700 relationship managers, the Company provides wealth management, insurance brokerage, asset management and other services in 84 cities across China. In terms of market share, it is the third largest third-party wealth management service provider in China in 2019.

The Stevenson, Wong & Co. legal team comprised of Hank Lo (Partner), Gordon Tsang (Senior Associate), Bun Chan (Associate), Alice Ma (Registered Foreign Lawyer) and Arthur Hung (Paralegal).

The AllBright legal team was led by Steve Zhu (Senior Partner) and included Frank Xu (Senior Partner), Joy Huang (Partner) and Associates Ken Lin and Elain Yu.

With the advice of the corporate team at Glaisyers Solicitors, UK Adviser has successfully secured a £300,000 investment to support its continued expansion. UK Adviser – a Manchester-based financial services provider - was established in 2017 and has since grown into a group of companies that have supported more than £750 million of client loans.

Julian Bond, Niki Polymeridou and the Glaisyers team helped to re-organise the group and provided support through lengthy negotiations, leading to this significant investment by GC Angels.

Julian Bond, Partner at Glaisyers Solicitors, said: “Getting this investment is a great start to UK Adviser’s expansion plans. This is an exciting time for the company. We look forward to seeing its future growth.”

Frigorífico Concepción of Paraguay issued bonds in NY under rule 144A / Regulation S for a value of USD 40 million. The issuer’s Bolivian subsidiary guaranteed the debt, in addition to certain properties in Paraguay and the accounts receivable from the issuer’s activities in Bolivia and Paraguay that were established as collateral in favour of investors. For this purpose, a guarantee trust was created in Paraguay with Finexpar as trustee and Wilmington Trust acting as beneficiary. Wilmington Trust was also the Trustee in the Indenture under New York law.

Bonds mature in 2025 and carry an interest rate of 11%. Oppenheimer acted as the underwriter for the operation.

Although issuances in international capital markets are not common for companies incorporated in Paraguay, this is the second debt offering from Frigorífico Concepción this year, being a “retap ” of the USD 100 million bond issue in January 2020.

Fidelium Partners has acquired Bosch’s Munich-based hydraulic pumps business. The subsidiary will take on around 900 employees at locations in Germany, the US, China, and Brazil, provided that pending permits have been issued. The parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price.

According to JUVE information, there were other interested parties in the pump business in addition to Fidelium Partners, including the investment company Deutsche Invest Capital Partners. However, the contract was awarded to Fidelium Partners, who guarantee under the purchase agreement that the German locations will be retained.

Gibson Dunn and Gleiss Lutz served as legal advisors to Bosch on the sale, while ARQIS advised Deutsche Invest. BUNTSCHECK advised Fidelium Partners on the competition law and merger control aspects of the transaction. The BUNTSCHECK team advising on this matter consisted of Dr Martin Buntscheck (Partner) and Immo Schuler (Associate). Fidelium was also advised by CMS Hasche Sigle. The firm’s team comprised Dr Michael Wangemann, Dr Nina Hartmann, Dr Markus Houses, Dr Andreas Heim;, and Associate Florian Seelig.

Fidelium Partners is a longstanding client of CMS. BUNTSCHECK also regularly advises the holding company on antitrust law transactions.

Spanish pharmaceutical group Faes Farma bought the operations of the Guatemalan company Global Farma for $30 million.

Global Farma was founded and is based in Guatemala, but operates throughout the Central American region, the Dominican Republic and other Latin American countries. It produces and markets prescription drugs in several categories, as well as hospital supplies and over-the-counter products. It reported $21 million in sales in 2020, half of which was attributed to its Guatemala operations.

Through this acquisition, Faes Farma reinforces its presence in Latin America where it has its own promotion networks. The company is present in 17 countries in the region, including Costa Rica, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Panama and the Dominican Republic. With the purchase of Global Farma, it now adds the Belize market to this number. This transaction is of great relevance for the M&A market in Guatemala and the region, demonstrating the continued attraction of foreign capital investment.

Cuatrecasas acted as legal adviser to Faes Farma, SA.

North East care provider Aurora Care Group has sold the Langley House Residential Care Home in Horden, near Peterlee, to an undisclosed buyer, and is now eyeing further acquisitions.

Aurora was founded 13 years ago and also operates the Carntyne Residential Care Home in Hexham. The company bought the Langley House facility in 2018 and intended to add a new accommodation block, but plans were delayed due to the pandemic.

Aurora founder Elaine Reay said: “Langley House is a high-quality facility with a very strong and stable team running it, and in different circumstances we’d already have been well on with realising our plans for its development. But having met a company that could take the business forward at a time that we couldn’t, we’re happy to give them the opportunity to take them forward instead and so provide security and certainty for the community, staff and residents.”

French IT service provider Atos has bought German cryptography specialist cryptovision, a leading provider of modern cryptography and solutions for secure digital identities. The acquisition is intended to strengthen Atos’s cybersecurity offering and its business in both the public and defence sectors in Europe.

cryptovision was founded in 1999 in Gelsenkirchen and designs, develops and implements cryptography software, cybersecurity solutions and hardware. The NATO-recognised company has a history of addressing digital security challenges for organisations, particularly in the public, defence and other regulated sectors with demanding security standards. The merger of the two companies will enable numerous synergies for the go-to-market approach in the future. Atos will benefit from cryptovision’s strong network of resellers and global technology partnerships in the e-ID markets.

cryptovision was advised on the transaction by Zuhorn & Partner, as well as SATELL lawyers and K&L Gates, while Atos was advised by Baker & MacKenzie and Latham & Watkins. Floris Capital GmbH acted as transaction advisor. Zuhorn & Partner’s team included Friedrich Brus (Lead / Corporate), Dr Dirk Zuhorn and Fabian Traphan (both Corporate).