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Quadrant completes acquisition of Quad Lock
Gilbert + Tobin and Hall & Wilcox have advised on the acquisition between Quadrant Growth Fund and Quad Lock.
Tony Zhang
Firm: Gilbert + Tobin (Quadrant); Hall & Wilcox (Quad Lock)
Deal: G+T has advised Quadrant Growth Fund on the acquisition of a majority stake in phone mount start-up Quad Lock.
Hall & Wilcox has advised the co-founders of start-up Quad Lock, Rob Ward and Chris Peters, on the sale of a majority interest in their company to Quadrant Growth Fund.
Area: M&A.
Key players: The G+T team was led by corporate advisory partner David Josselsohn with support from lawyers Elizabeth Cameron, Ashleigh Kern, Alexandra Meade and Annabel Kirkby and on the debt financing, led by banking and infrastructure partner Gail Christopher with support from lawyers Elizabeth Athanassios and James Soussa.
The corporate team was also supported by specialists throughout the firm including IP partners John Lee and Lisa Lennon and lawyers Vanessa Farago-Diener, Joanna Tsaprounis, Mindaugas Skavronskas, Paige Bisset, Michelle Xu and Simone Hall.
The Hall & Wilcox team was led by partner Oliver Jankowsky and senior associate Chevi Levin along with support from partner Deborah Chew and lawyers David Holland and James Fisher.
The cross-practice team also included partner Mark Inston, senior associate Jeanette Lui and lawyer Tammy Qu (banking & finance), partner Alison Baker and lawyer Nhu-Thuy Dinh (employment), partner Matthew Curll (insurance) and partner Ben Hamilton and lawyer Tamara Charlwood (IP).
Deal significance: Quadrant and Quad Lock’s owners signed a deal which will give the company a berth in the $400 million Quadrant Growth Fund, run by busy dealmakers Justin Ryan and Simon Pither.
The capital injection provided by the Quadrant deal will help fund Quad Lock’s plans to develop its product line and expand beyond Australia.
Quad Lock’s founders said they felt Quadrant understood the pair’s approach from the first meeting, in particular “the opportunities that [direct-to-consumer] brands present.”
G+T’s market-leading corporate advisory and banking + infrastructure teams advised on all aspects of the transaction including structuring, due diligence and financing.
“We are pleased to have advised our long-time client Quadrant [on] this transaction and are excited to watch Quad Lock’s growth and development under their partnership with the founders,” Mr Josselsohn said.
The acquisition includes both Quad Lock and its parent brand Annex Products.
“We were thrilled to advise Quad Lock, which is a great success story. Led by two passionate founders, Rob and Chris, they are a small Australian ‘backyard’ company which has gone global,” Mr Jankowsky said.
“The investment by Quadrant will allow them to grow into an even better business with a bigger and broader product range.”
Hall & Wilcox advised on all aspects of the transaction, including legal due diligence, deal structuring, negotiating the sale agreement and the shareholders’ deed for the ongoing management of the business.
“Working with Oliver, Chevi and the broader Hall & Wilcox team was great, as we always felt they had our best [interests] in mind,” Mr Ward said.
“The deal was done during lockdown and the Hall & Wilcox team didn’t miss a beat adapting to the changing conditions.”
Founded in 2011, Quad Lock is a global company designing and manufacturing innovative smartphone mounting systems that secure smartphones to bikes, motorbikes, cars and sports armbands. It supplies its products to more than 100 countries.
