Less than one week after announcing their ground-breaking combination, King & Wood Mallesons and SJ Berwin are already demonstrating the benefits of the firm’s enhanced international platform by joining forces to advise ASX listed IRESS Limited on its acquisition of Avelo FS Holdings Limited, a leading provider of financial services technology in the UK.
The acquisition, valued at £210 million (approximately A$360 million ), will be funded by a combination of existing cash holdings, new debt and a $206 million fully underwritten pro‐rata accelerated renounceable entitlement offer.
The King & Wood Mallesons team, led by Partner Joe Muraca, advised on the Australian aspects of the acquisition, structuring the debt package and the fundraising out of Australia. Through the firm’s new combination with leading international firm SJ Berwin, IRESS was provided with access to a European team of experts to seamlessly execute the acquisition.
IRESS Group General Counsel and Company Secretary Peter Ferguson commented that he is already seeing strong synergies between the two firms:
“The cultural and commercial fit between SJ Berwin and King & Wood Mallesons is very strong. After working very closely with King & Wood Mallesons over a number of years we have built a strong relationship and trust the firm to quality and commercial legal advice. Through their new partnership with SJ Berwin they were able to provide that same level of quality and deliver a seamless service across jurisdictions.”
Commenting on the collaboration, Partner Joe Muraca said: “KWM’s decision to expand into Europe was driven by our clients. The combination with SJ Berwin provides our clients in the Asia Pacific region with a first class platform to support their international expansion. We are delighted to have been able employ our enhanced transactional cross border capability to support IRESS in diversifying its geographic footprint and accelerate revenue opportunities in the UK.”
Stephen Kon, Senior Partner at SJ Berwin who played a key role in brokering the partnership with King & Wood Mallesons said: “One of the fundamental reasons we are combining with King & Wood Mallesons is to give our clients the best gateway to the Asia Pacific, and help clients in the region connect with opportunities in Europe in a meaningful way. It’s exciting to see that just days after announcing our combination, we are already advising KWM’s clients on European M&A.”
KWM Partner Joe Muraca led a team including Senior Associates Nick Harrison, David Bryant and Solicitors Jack Hill and Rebecca Koh from the Corporate/ M&A practice; Partner Ian Solomon, Senior Associate Charlie Detmold and Solicitor Andrew Vincent from the Banking & Finance team.
The SJ Berwin deal team was led by Corporate Partners Mark Sanders, Andrew Wingfield and Senior Associate Liam Arthur with support from Financial Services Partner Tim Dolan and Technology Specialist Sarah Nicholls.
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