Clifford Chance has advised BlackBerry Limited, Waterloo, Ontario (Canada), on the acquisition of high-security voice and data encryption specialist Secusmart GmbH, Dusseldorf (Germany).

The transaction is subject to the approval from the competent authorities. The parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price.

Secusmart is a leading supplier in the development and implementation of comprehensive anti-eavesdropping solutions for German authorities and organisations with security tasks as well as for government and authorities abroad.

By acquiring Secusmart, BlackBerry will be able to complement its own product range of secure communication channels with anti-eavesdropping technologies.

BlackBerry and Secusmart cooperated already in the past to provide customers who have the most demanding security needs with innovative technology for anti-eavesdropping solutions. Last year, Germany’s Federal Office for Information Security decided to use the SecuSUITE for BlackBerry 10 solution for classified communications for the country’s highest public officials, including the German chancellor.

The Clifford Chance team was led by partner Burc Hesse and comprised partner Jan Wrede, counsel Dr. Bernhard Magg, counsel Gwendolyn Muller, associate Regina Goebel, senior associate Dr. Albrecht Brodhun (all Corporate), counsel Dr. Anette Gartner, associate Dr. Alexander Weiss (both IP) and associate Annika Schnell (Corporate/Employment Law) - all Munich - as well as partner Marc Besen and senior associate Dr. Dimitri Slobodenjuk (both Antitrust, Düsseldorf).