Linklaters and Latham Lead as KKR Offloads Web Service for €2.4B
The deal is the largest leveraged buyout in France this year.
July 15, 2019 at 04:00 AM
2 minute read
webhelp, Credit: Webhelp.com
Linklaters and Latham & Watkins have taken up key roles on the €2.4 billion sale of a majority stake in Paris-based customer service provider, Webhelp.
The business, which is currently controlled by private equity giant KKR, is being sold to another Belgium-based investment giant, Groupe Bruxelles Lambert (GBL). According to Linklaters, the deal is the largest leveraged buyout in France this year.
Linklaters is advising GBL on the acquisition, with a team led by Paris-based corporate partner Marc Petitier.
Latham, meanwhile, is advising longtime client KKR as well as the co-founding shareholders of the Webhelp group, Olivier Duha and Frédéric Jousset, on the sale. Latham's corporate team is being led by Paris corporate partners Thomas Forschbach and Alexander Crosthwaite. Another partner, Michel Houdayer, assisted with the financing of the deal.
Additionally, French-based firm Gide acted as counsel to GBL. The Gide team was led by partners Olivier Diaz and Charles de Reals.
A person at Webhelp also confirmed that French law firm Jeausserand-Audouard has been enlisted to advise co-founders Duha and Jousset on negotiations with GBL.
Webhelp – which deals primarily in business process outsourcing – was acquired by KKR in 2015 and has since doubled in size, and is currently set to achieve a turnover of €1.5 billion in 2019. It employs 50,000 people across 35 countries.
Last month, French technology company Daussault Systemes acquired U.S. clinical trial data company Medidata Solution in a deal worth $5.8 billion, with Clifford Chance and Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom both advising.
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