CMS Advises Clarion Capital Partners on Investment in Moravia IT

CMS has advised Clarion Capital Partners, a New York-based middle market private equity firm, on its acquisition of a majority interest in the Moravia IT global localization and translation business. Other firms advising Clarion included Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, and Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo. Moravia was represented by the UK-based Kemp Little law firm.

N M Rothschild & Sons Limited provided debt advisory services. Ceska sporitelna, part of the Erste Group Bank, and Komercni banka, part of the Societe Generale Group, jointly arranged the acquisition financing for the transaction.

Moravia was founded in 1990 by Eva and Rudolf Forstinger, life-long translators, in Brno, in the Czech Republic. The company was initially founded as a translation agency to provide translation of technical documentation, sworn translations and conference interpreting. By 2014 the company’s revenues exceeded USD 100 million, making the translation and localization company the first in the language services industry to achieve the hundred-million–dollar milestone through organic growth alone. That year, Moravia expanded its staff in each of its major global locations, and relocated to new offices in Nanjing and Seattle, while adding satellite offices in Brno and and Rosario (in Argentina).

“This is a major milestone for Moravia, a company my parents founded 25 years ago and which I led in various positions over the years,” said Katerina Janku, Moravia’s co-founder and co-owner. “I remain committed to Moravia as a significant shareholder and look forward to working with Clarion as a member of the Board of Directors of the newly formed holding company that will own Moravia, helping to take the company to the next stage of development.”

CMS advised Clarion on all legal aspects of the transaction, including the due diligence, transaction documents, lease and employment negotiations, financing provided by Erste Bank and Komercni banka, and the implementation of the investment structure. The transaction spanned seven countries: Czech Republic, Hungary, China, US, Argentina, Japan, and Ireland. CMS advised on Czech, Hungarian, and Chinese aspects of the deal, and coordinated the input from the other jurisdictions.

The CMS team was led by Prague-based Corporate Partner Helen Rodwell, and included Partners Lukas Janicek and Ana Radnev, and Associates Barbora Dubanska, Lukas Valusek, Frances Gerrard, and Jakub Tomsej.

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