Casa & Vídeo Brasil’s Merger with Lojas Le Biscuit

Machado Meyer Advogados acted as advisor to Lojas Le Biscuit.

Casa & Video Brasil is a prominent retailer of home appliances in Brazil. The firm’s product offering includes furniture, electronics, toys, smartphones and products in a range of other markets, including health and beauty.

Lojas Le Biscuit SA is a multichannel integrated distribution platform with a portfolio of diversified products that it brings to market at competitive prices. Its network of Brazilian retailers is extensive.

Cescon Barrieu advised Casa & Vídeo Brasil and Akangatu FIP Multiestratégia with a team comprising partners Luciana de Castro Mares Torres, Daniel Laudisio, Isabela Bagueira Leal Coelho do Val, Marcos Prado, Renato Batiston and Ricardo Gaillard, together with associates Maria Julia Argollo, Nathalia Rabello, Camila Kneitz, Daniel Paiva, Thales Lima and Thales Lemos.

Luciana de Castro Mares Torres, Cescon Barrieu Advogados

Please tell us more about the transaction and the role that your team played within it.

The transaction involved two relevant retail players, which required extensive and specialised discussions on all working fronts of the deal, such as the due diligence, antitrust and real estate matters and the M&A transaction documents.

Also, the structure of the transaction was based entirely on the companies’ shares by means of corporate restructuring. As Le Biscuit is registered as a public company, these facts also brought certain complexities to the deal.

The team had a leading role in the transaction given all the different and detailed working fronts of the deal, such as the involvement of three different legal advisors as well as financial and auditing advisors and the various specialised areas involved as mentioned above, which required efficiency, objectiveness and a very careful oversight of all of the working groups. Another crucial requirement was the ability to deal with the adversities and tough negotiations that a deal of this kind brings to the table.

What specialised skills and experience did your team bring to the merger?

We were able to bring our extensive experience in M&A transactions, especially those involving publicly held companies and those within the retail sector. These usually require dedication on many different fronts of the deal because of the number of companies, their subsidiaries and branches, as well as all their activities.

It is also important to highlight teamwork in this deal. Due diligence, antitrust and real estate teams were in high demand during the transaction due to its. This is something that Cescon does with preeminence and that we are proud of.

Did you encounter any difficulties in the course of this transaction? If so, how did you overcome them?

A transaction that involves several important fronts, as well as many relevant parties involved in the negotiation, usually requires a very careful oversight of all the different works as they take place on a very tight schedule.

Our team worked brightly as a group in order to divide and complete their tasks, achieving a successful signing of the transaction.