Gide advises Guerbet, a pioneer in the field of contrast agents for medical imaging, on the acquisition of US leading specialty biopharmaceutical company Mallinckrodt’s Contrast Media and Delivery Systems business (CMDS).

Guerbet is acquiring 100% of the CMDS business, present in nearly 50 countries. The transaction is valued at USD 270 million, and shall be paid in cash and debt financed. It concerns the purchase of companies including production sites, intellectual property rights and distribution subsidiaries in various geographical zones.

Quaker Chemical Corporation (Quaker), a US listed company providing chemical and metal solutions with a subsidiary in Barcelona, has acquired Navarre company Verkol S.A., a leader in the industrial lubricant sector. The sales agreement closed at €36.5 million.

The acquisition is part of the US multinational company's plans to expand in Europe and extend its lubricant manufacturing and distribution network.

Listed German company GFT Technologies, a leader in its sector with an already established presence in Spain, has reached an agreement to acquire the share capital of Adesis Netlife, a Spanish company specializing in IT services for financial institutions, and its subsidiaries. 

The transaction, which was carried out through the German company's Spanish subsidiary GFT Iberia Holding, will help GFT Technologies to strengthen its position in the Spanish market and to drive its expansion in Latin America.

Linklaters advised Deutsche Börse AG on the full acquisition of the electronic foreign exchange trading platform 360T Beteiligungs GmbH (360T). Summit Partners 360 S.à.r.l. as well as the other shareholders of 360T are the sellers. The total purchase price is 725 million euros.

King & Wood Mallesons has advised the Alain Afflelou group on the acquisition of Optical Discount from its founders.

The French optician chain Alain Afflelou, which has a network of around 1200 stores worldwide, has been owned since 2012 by Lion Capital (70%), alongside the management (16%) and Apax Partners (14%).

Travers Smith LLP has advised Zegona Communications plc on the €640 million acquisition of Telecable de Asturias S.A. from The Carlyle Group.

Ashurst is advising Morgan Stanley as financial adviser to Bailey Acquisitions Limited ("Bidco"), in relation to the recommended cash offer of Quintain Estates & Development plc ("Quintain"), pursuant to which Bidco will acquire the entire issued and to be issued share capital of Quintain (the "Offer").

The Offer values the entire issued and to be issued share capital of Quintain at approximately £700 million. Under the Offer, Quintain shareholders will receive 131 pence in cash for each Quintain Share.

DLA Piper has advised Omega Pharma Invest N.V. and its parent company  Perrigo Company plc on the acquisition of 100 per cent of equity in Naturwohl Pharma GmbH, the owner of Yokebe, one of the leading German dietary supplement brands.

Working alongside lead counsel Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, Travers Smith LLP has advised Japanese media group Nikkei on certain important aspects of its acquisition of the Financial Times from Pearson in a deal valued at £884 million.

The transaction marks the biggest acquisition by a Japanese media organization and has seen Nikkei beat off competition from Germany’s leading digital publisher Axel Springer.

Gide advised Allegion, a global security products and solutions provider, listed on the NYSE, on the French and Polish aspects of the acquisition of AXA Stenman. AXA Stenman is a residential security systems and bicycle security components, headquartered in Veenendaal, the Netherlands. The transaction is valued at €185 million.

Legal advisors of Allegion in France and Poland: Gide with Karl Hepp de Sevelinges (partner), Ingrid Fauvelière and Hugo Nocerino. In the Netherlands: Houthoff Buruma.