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WEX Inc acquires Optal Limited
Optal Limited has been sold to WEX Inc, which includes an acquisition of eNett Limited, with the assistance of Herbert Smith Freehills.
Naomi Neilson
Firm: Herbert Smith Freehills (Optal Limited)
Value: The agreement provides for a total consideration of approximately US$1.7 billion, including approximately US$1.275 billion in cash and approximately 2 million shares of WEX common stock to be paid to the sellers.
Area: Financial services.
Key players: The team was led by partner Raji Azzam, who was supported by senior associate Claire Thompson and solicitors Nikki Dalla Valle and Amber Kennedy.
The team was assisted by colleagues in London, including partners Barnaby Hinnigan and Alex Kay, and senior associate Lucy Robson. They were assisted by partner Siddhartha Sivaramakrishnan and senior associate Jin Kong.
Deal significance: The parties announced their entry into a definitive agreement on 24 January 2020 and is expected to be completed by mid-2020, subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.
Mr Azzam said: “Optal is a real Australian fintech success story and we are proud to have supported them on this milestone transaction.
“An area of complexity in this transaction was the deal structure, which involves the sale of two companies with different shareholder bases, in a single transaction, as well as the issue of US common stock to a disparate group of shareholders across multiple countries.
“This was coupled with multijurisdictional regulatory regimes and global counterparties in the UK, US, and Australia. This was a truly international transaction, which demonstrates the value that our firm’s global platform and expertise in the financial services and technology sectors can bring to our clients”.
Naomi Neilson
Naomi Neilson is a senior journalist with a focus on court reporting for Lawyers Weekly.
You can email Naomi at:
