Login
Ai-Media acquires Alternative Communications Services
Norton Rose Fulbright has advised Ai-Media on the acquisition of Alternative Communications Services.
Tony Zhang
Firms: Norton Rose Fulbright (Ai-Media)
Value: Undisclosed.
Area: M&A
Key players: The Norton Rose Fulbright team based in Sydney was led by corporate M&A partner Ben Smits and supported by senior associate Adam Hunter, associates Hugo Gotterson and Meg Murray, lawyer Sassica Hoolahan and law graduate Joyce Shi.
The Norton Rose Fulbright US team included partner Lior Nuchi and Senior Associate Garry Padrta.
Deal significance: The acquisition follows the recent completion of Ai-Media’s latest fundraising round, which attracted $10.3 million (US$6.6 million) from new and existing investors, including CVC Emerging Companies Fund and US-based technology investor Anzu Partners.
Funds from the latest investment round, which take the total capital raised by Ai-Media to more than $20 million, will be used to help fund the ACS acquisition and accelerate Ai-Media’s international expansion through organic growth and other carefully selected strategic acquisitions.
“This transaction is the largest that we have undertaken to date, and was completed by way of exceptional collaboration in extraordinary circumstances,” Tony Abrahams, Ai-Media CEO and co-founder said.
The acquisition ran to a truncated timetable and the cross-border Norton Rose Fulbright team from Australia and the US advised on the multi-jurisdictional legal aspects of the transaction including the acquisition process, negotiations on the acquisition documentation and closing.
“We are pleased to have assisted Ai-Media [in] the completion of this transaction which is a particularly noteworthy achievement in the current COVID-19 environment,” Mr Smits said.
“The current pandemic and the Trans-Pacific characteristics of the transaction required the team to overcome a number of legal and logistical challenges throughout the course of the deal.”
The acquisition, which closed on 4 May 2020, involved Norton Rose Fulbright working closely with Ai-Media and its other professional advisers in Australia and the US to ensure the most efficient outcome for Ai-Media.
