Linklaters comprehensively advised the French insurer AXA on its investment in Africa Internet Group. Next to AXA, inter alia Rocket Internet and the South-African mobile telecommunication company MTN hold significant stakes in the Africa Internet Group which is administered via a German holding entity. AXA intends to strengthen its position in the African insurance market by this strategic investment and expects profitable business opportunities on the African continent due to a growing middle class.

Clifford Chance drives Saudi healthcare deals advising Ebrahim Mohammed Almana & Brothers on the sale of a strategic minority stake to Sanabil Investments.

The SuitePad GmbH secures EUR 3 million growth financing. Leading investor of the new financing round is venture capital investor Target Partners, together with existing investors HW Capital, Kizoo and VC Fonds Technologie Berlin managed by IBB Beteiligungsgesellschaft.

Travelstart, Africa’s largest online platform for booking flights, hotels and rental cars, has secured $40 million in funding from MTN and Amadeus Capital Partners. Travelstart was founded in Sweden in 1999 and the African part of the business was spun off in 2010. The company serves more than 2 million monthly users in 16 countries in Africa and the Middle East.

Launched in 1994, the MTN Group is a multinational telecommunications group, operating in 22 countries. The MTN Group is listed on the JSE Securities Exchange in South Africa.

Macfarlanes has advised private equity real estate company BLG Capital (“BLG”) on the fundraising of BLG Turkish Real Estate Fund II (“BLG TREF II”).

The fund closed in December 2015 with total commitments of €152m[1].

King & Wood Mallesons has advised BlackFin Capital Partners on the structuring of its second fund « BlackFin Financial Services II ».

BlackFin Financial Services II achieved a final close with a total commitment of €400 million (hard cap) raised from French (60%) and European (40%) investors.

BlackFin Capital Partners is a private equity firm dedicated to financial services. It focuses on non-leveraged transactions, taking either a majority or an influential minority shareholder position.

Norton Rose Fulbright has advised the 2020 European Fund for Energy, Climate Change and Infrastructure (Marguerite) on the acquisition of 28.97% ofshares in AS Latvijas Gaze (LG), the vertically integrated gas company in charge of the transmission, distribution, storage, and supply of natural gas in Latvia.

The sale shares were acquired by Marguerite Gas l S.a.r.l from Uniper Ruhrgas International GmbH (a member of the E.ON group) and represent a 28.97% stake in AS Latvijas Gaze.

Wolf Theiss has successfully advised Johnson Controls in a third major investment contract with the Government of Macedonia.

Johnson Controls will invest into the development of a new production facility in the Technological Industrial Development Zone Strumica for the manufacture of car seats, creating up to 3,000 jobs over three years. Investors in the special Technological Industrial Development Zones benefit from various approved state support, including site preparation and employee incentive programs.

Simpson Thacher represented MOGU Holdings Limited in connection with its Series D preferred share financing, its all-stock merger with Meiliworks Limited, and a follow-on investment by Tencent in the combined company.

MOGU Holdings Limited and Meiliworks Limited are two leading China-based e-commerce and social networking platforms and have a combined equity value of almost US$3 billion.

Simpson Thacher is representing Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. L.P. in connection with the sale of a 25% interest in South Staffordshire Plc to Mitsubishi Corporation. The transaction is subject to customary regulatory approvals. South Staffordshire Plc is an integrated services group that operates a regulated water company and provides a range of specialist services, predominantly in the water sector in the United Kingdom.