DrumG. Walkers acted as Bermuda counsel to DrumG in relation to a $6.5 million equity investment made by ConsenSys, a blockchain software technology company founded by Joseph Lubin (co-founder of Ethereum) based in Brooklyn, New York. The investment comes as a Series A minority funding round in which ConsenSys is the sole participating investor. Bermuda-based DrumG, co-founded by Tim Grant, is a company founded to help enterprises build real-world applications on a wide range of interconnected ledgers.
Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan. Acted as counsel for Goldman Sachs International and J.P. Morgan Securities plc as book runners and global coordinators in relation to approximately £500 million of loan notes issued by Arrow Global, which has developed Proprietary Collections Bureau, a data matching tool for its debt purchasing and account management platform.
SpectraLegal Finance. Acting as counsel for SpectraLegal Finance in relation to its loan notes issue, bank financing and software licensing structure for its lending platform to UK law firms.
Dorey Financial Modelling. Advising Dorey Financial Modelling in relation to software licensing of bespoke analytics platforms for pension funds, wealth managers and other financial institutions for use in asset allocation for investments totalling £73 billion (£30 billion assets under advice).
Asset Risk Consultants. Advising Asset Risk Consultants in relation to the setup of its suggestus.com ‘robo’ advisory investment research platform.
New Focus Auto Tech Holdings Limited. Acting as counsel to New Focus Auto Tech Holdings Limited, a Hong Kong-listed automobile technology company, in connection with the issuance of Taiwan Depository Receipts on the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
Alibaba / Weibo. Acted as counsel to Chinese eCommerce company Alibaba Group in its US$586 million acquisition of an 18 per cent stake in China’s largest Internet portal and media website Sina Corp’s microblogging service Weibo.
Baidu / Qunar. Acting as counsel to Baidu, China’s biggest search engine, in connection with its US$306 million acquisition of Qunar, one of China’s oldest and biggest online travel agents.
Wole / 56.com. Walkers has acted as counsel for Wole Inc. in connection with a reverse triangular takeover of 56.com, a leading user generated content online video sharing site in China, by NYSE listed Renren Inc., the leading real name social networking internet platform in China, utilising the Cayman merger scheme under the Companies Law. Wole Inc. was wholly acquired in amount of US$80 million.
JAFCO Investment. Acted for JAFCO Investment (Asia Pacific) Ltd in connection with the establishment of JAFCO Asia Technology Fund III, JAFCO Asia Technology Fund IV and JAFCO Asia Technology Fund V, private equity funds focusing on technology-related sectors in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, PRC, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand.
Baring Asia / Giant Interactive. Acting as counsel to Baring Asia Private Equity Fund V, L.P. in connection with the proposed takeover of NYSE-listed Chinese online game developer Giant Interactive. The proposed offer has a total value of approximately US$2.9 billion. The buyer’s consortium comprises Giant Interactive’s company chairman Shi Yuzhu, Baring Private Equity Asia and Hony Capital.
Da Vinci Capital. Acting as counsel to Da Vinci Capital in relation to the acquisition of IT Invest, an online high frequency and algorithmic prime brokerage platform, by Da Vinci Private Equity Fund II L.P.
Citic PE / 3SBio Inc. Acting as counsel to the special committee of independent directors of 3SBio Inc., a NASDAQ-listed China-based biotech company, in relation to its US$330 million going-private transaction completed by CITIC Private Equity Funds Management Co. Ltd.
ITI Trade. Acting for ITI Trade to obtain an investment business licence from the Guernsey Financial Services Commission to operate as an online prime broker, which was the first of its kind in Guernsey.
Alltter Financial. Advising Alltter Financial, an online FX broker, in relation to the provision of execution only and discretionary foreign exchange electronic trading services.
SignOff. Advising SignOff on the establishment of the world’s first offshore, cloud-based, digital signature service.
Relendex. Acted as counsel to Relendex, a secured peer-to-peer lending platform, in relation to the establishment and regulation of Relendex PCC Limited.
