Technology quotient

GXO Logistics, Inc.

GXO, the largest pure-play contract logistics provider in the world and an innovator in the logistics industry, on its recommended cash and share offer for Clipper Logistics PLC. See press release.

Cazoo

Car retail platform Cazoo on its $7bn business combination with US SPAC AJAX I including a concurrent $800m PIPE. See press release.

Volkswagen AG

Volkswagen AG on its $2.6bn co-investment with Ford in Argo AI. See press release.

PayPal

PayPal on its participation in a fundraising by GoPay, the payments business of the Indonesian decacorn Gojek Group. See press release. 

Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Freshfields represents Hewlett Packard Enterprise in acquisition of Determined AI. See press release. 

CVC Capital Partners

CVC Capital Partners on its acquisition of a stake in WebPros Group, a leading provider of web hosting automation software.See press release.

AGC Equity Partners

AGC Equity Partners on the formation of a joint venture with Iron Mountain Incorporated, in which AGC will own of 80 percent of the equity interest, to develop a 280,000 sq ft, or 27 megawatt, hyperscale data centre currently under development in Frankfurt. See press release.

Emerson Electric Co

Emerson Electric Co. on an equity investment in inmation Software GmbH, a global software platform developer. See press release.

Zymergen

Zymergen on its IPO on Nasdaq as a public benefit corporation valued in excess of $4bn. See press release.

Honeywell

Honeywell on combination of Honeywell Quantum Solutions and Cambridge Quantum Computing. See press release.

We regularly help our clients:

Navigate the regulatory consultation process to shape legislative proposals across the UK, Europe, the US and Asia, including the EU Copyright Directive, the Data Governance Act, the Digital Markets Act.

Respond to investigations and sector wide market inquiries, informed by our in-depth experience of engaging with authorities around the world on their reviews into online platforms, digital advertising, data practices and connected devices in tech, life sciences and other innovation-heavy sectors and bringing together our antitrust, data protection and consumer protection law expertise.

Plan and execute their deal strategies as proposals focused on scrutinizing more deals involving “nascent competition”, “national interests” and “sensitive data” heighten the global merger control and foreign investment landscape and impact business integration.

Manage and defend the growth in investigations and litigation around the world concerning consumer choice and transparency, companies’ data practices and AI-enabled pricing, service and subscription models.

Navigate tax structuring and evolving reporting requirements and compliance measures in the sharing and gig economy.

Create worker status strategies and deal with class action claims in the gig economy, as well as providing strategic advice in relation to the future of work and employee analytics.

Marriott

Marriott on the international response to the Starwood database security incident.

A West Coast tech platform

A West Coast tech platform on various strategic data matters, including on anonymization and data retention strategies; on its litigation strategy relating to data exports following the Schrems II decision; and on disclosure of data to tax authorities.

London Stock Exchange Group

London Stock Exchange Group on key investments and acquisitions to expand its information services data and analytics offering, including: its acquisition of The Yield Book, a fixed income analytics platform, and Citi Fixed Income Indices, an index business comprising a family of fixed income indices; its investment in Nivaura Ltd, a fintech company offering digital platform solutions for end-to-end automation for issuance and administration of debt, equity and structured notes; and its acquisition of Refinitiv, a global provider of financial markets data and infrastructure.

Various platform and tech companies

Various platform and tech companies on complex preliminary antitrust investigations focusing on the collection and use of data and how data is shared with third parties.

Volkswagen AG

Volkswagen AG on the continuous implementation of GDPR requirements and on various digital projects concerning vehicle data, connected and autonomous driving, privacy by design, and data commercialisation.

A consumer technology company

A consumer technology company on requests for information from authorities regarding the disclosure of communication data in more than 30 countries and on the writing of terms of use and the design of new products.

AUDI

Freshfields has advised AUDI on its follow-on investment into Austrian auto-tech unicorn TTTech Auto AG as part of a new USD 285 million financing round. As part of this financing round Aptiv plc and AUDI each contributed new equity which brought TTTech Auto’s valuation over USD 1 billion. The transaction is subject to merger control and FDI approvals and is expected to complete in Q1 2022. Freshfields has been advising AUDI since its initial investment into TTTech group, including, particularly, in 2018 on the spin-off of TTTech Auto into a stand-alone enterprise as well as the previous financing rounds. The Freshfields team was led by GT partner Ludwig Hartenau and principal associate Noel Zamani. Antitrust advice was provided by partner Maria Dreher and associate Florian Reiter-Werzin while DR advice was provided by Ingo Borgdorf.

Honeywell

Honeywell on combination of Honeywell Quantum Solutions and Cambridge Quantum Computing. See press release.

Geely

Geely on the investment in the German company Volocopter, an urban air mobility pioneer of electrically powered air taxis based on drone technology.

KAR Auction Services

KAR Auction Services, a global automotive remarketing and technology services company, on the acquisition of the Belgium-based CarsOnTheWeb group (COTW).

Volkswagen AG

Volkswagen AG as IP/IT, Antitrust and CFIUS counsel in its proposed $2.6 billion co-investment with Ford Motor Co. in Argo AI.

VW

VW on its Series F investment in QuantumScape Corporation, a California-based corporation focused on the development of solid-state battery technology, and in related joint venture arrangements with QuantumScape. See press release here and on QuantumScape’s subsequent Nasdaq listing and $3.3bn business combination with SPAC Kensington Capital.

Emerson Electric Co

Emerson Electric Co on the acquisition of a minority stake in German software company, inmation Software GmbH, a global software platform that further deepens Emerson’s data management and integration capabilities, helping customers advance their digital transformation programs and achieve Top Quartile performance.

Emerson’s robust Plantweb™ portfolio and operational technology (OT) expertise combined with inmation’s integrated software platform enable real-time information management across manufacturing, process control and IT systems. inmation aggregates global operational data from across the enterprise into the Plantweb digital ecosystem to create an OT data lake – a centralized storage repository – that serves as the foundation for business intelligence and analytics. Collectively, these capabilities increase data visibility and provide unified, actionable insights for fast decision-making and improved operational performance.

AUTO1 Group AG

Advising on an innovative financing transaction involving the securitisation of asset-backed bonds (a pool of constantly changing used vehicles from a wide variety of manufacturers served as "underlying assets" structured such that the senior notes could be rated with an investment grade rating). See press release here.

CarLotz

Advising CarLotz, Inc., a leading business-to-business consignment-to-retail used vehicle marketplace, in its business combination with Acamar Partners Acquisition Corp., a SPAC. Once the transaction closes, it is intended that CarLotz, Inc. will become listed on NASDAQ. See press release here.

Siemens

Siemens on the development of Mindsphere, a cloud-based open operating platform that connects machines, plants and systems.

Read more about the deal in our case study.

A leading car manufacturer

One of the world’s leading car manufacturers on a digital platform that connects its customers, suppliers and sales teams with a suite of apps.

Read more about the deal in our case study.

Nets

Advising Nets, a leading payment services provider, and its majority owner, Hellman & Friedman, on the all-share merger of Nets into Nexi, in a transaction valued at €7.8bn. The combination creates one of the largest players in Europe with enhanced scale, client reach, distribution network and breadth of offering.

BitPay

Advising and representing BitPay, a US-based virtual currencies payment service provider, in relation to financial services regulators’ questions in Germany and the Netherlands, especially on virtual currency / cryptoassets.

Deposit Solutions AG

Deposit Solutions AG on the regulatory restructuring of its offering platform and on its international expansion.

Debitos

Debitos on a cross-border joint venture agreement with a loan servicing platform.

BitCapital

BitCapital on the regulatory and tax structuring of a new investment fund.

SumUp

SumUp on its proposed acquisition of Tiller Systems, a leading European digital service provider for gastronomy merchants.

Allianz X

Advising Allianz X on the acquisition of finanzen.de Group, operator of an online platform for insurance and financial services.

Advising on a potential issuance of a ‘stable coin’ and other tokens in Austria (potentially an ICO or private placement).

Our client intends to issue a stable coin backed by physical gold stored at warehouses, potentially enabling third parties to invest indirectly in gold by acquiring tokens on a crypto exchange, and using such stable coins to make payments to third parties.

Abacai Partners

Abacai Partners on the establishment of, and their investment into, Abacai Technologies, which is a car insurtech platform. Additionally on a separate equity investment into the Complete Cover Group holding company.

A FinTech

A FinTech on an IT security and data protection incident in Germany and the UK, including advice on data protection law questions, acts as counsel in dealings with supervisory authorities as well as law enforcement agencies and assistance with the handling of individual complaints and legal proceedings.

Trade Republic

Trade Republic on various regulatory and capital market issues including regarding the expansion and internationalisation of its business, in relation to its Series C financing round and regarding the handling of speculations in the securities business.

General Atlantic

General Atlantic on its investment in the Series B funding round of Reliance Health, Inc., an emerging-markets-focused digital healthcare provider primarily based in Nigeria.

EQT

EQT on its acquisition of Siemens Audiology Solutions, a hearing aid manufacturer.

General Atlantic

General Atlantic on its acquisition of a stake in Doctolib, a France-based operator of an online and mobile booking platform connecting doctors and patients.

Essity

Essity on a collaboration with German start-up Colorimetrix regarding the development and customization of a fertility app and the accompanying test strips.

Ottobock

Ottobock on its collaboration with the German/US start-up company Motesque on the development of a sensor system that can measure malposition of the patient as a basis for further therapy supported by a cloud-based SaaS offering.

Genomic Health

Genomic Health on data protection, regulatory and reimbursement eligibility aspects regarding the market entry of the gene expression test ‘Oncotype DX’ in Germany and throughout Europe.

A UK-based hospital

A UK-based hospital on all aspects of its use of patient data – from gathering consent (informed consent and consent for data processing) to anonymisation and partnering with commercial entities.

Temedica

Temedica on collaborations with pharmaceutical companies for the development of patient companion apps to be used for clinical studies and setting up the contractual framework for Temedica’s health insight product offerings.

Grünenthal pharma

Grünenthal pharma on regulatory questions in relation to health applications and telemedicine products.

Fortune 10 company

Fortune 10 company on the development of wearable and other mobility devices.

An industry leader

An industry leader on comprehensive genomic profiling, and a leading provider of electronic medical record (EMR) technology and real-world evidence data solutions, in a multimillion-dollar collaboration with OneOncology to advance personalized cancer care.

A Fortune 100 company

A Fortune 100 company A Fortune 100 company on its collaboration agreement with Premier, a leading healthcare improvement company, to enable projects involving healthcare data analytics and the development and commercialization of patient and provider healthcare solutions.on its collaboration agreement with Premier, a leading healthcare improvement company, to enable projects involving healthcare data analytics and the development and commercialization of patient and provider healthcare solutions.

A global pharmaceutical compan

A global pharmaceutical company on its development deal to incorporate a dosing system regulated as a medical device into the company’s app.