Hogan Lovells has advised Optimal Payments Plc on the €1.1 billion acquisition of Sentinel Topco Limited and its subsidiaries (Skrill Group) from Sentinel Group Holdings S.A, which is ultimately majority owned by funds managed and advised by CVC Capital Partners SICAV-FIS S.A. and Investcorp Technology Partners. The transformational transaction, announced today, will in part be funded by a fully underwritten rights issue raising gross proceeds of approximately £451 million and new debt facilities of €500 million.
The Optimal Payments Group is a global provider of online and mobile payment processing services. The Skrill Group is one of Europe’s leading digital payments providers businesses providing digital wallet solutions and online payment processing capabilities, and is one of the largest pre-paid online voucher providers in Europe with its paysafecard brand.
The acquisition will create a leading payment and digital wallet provider in the substantial and growing payment processing and digital wallet markets.
The Hogan Lovells team advising Optimal Payments Plc was led by London corporate and equity capital markets partner Maegen Morrison, with additional equity capital markets support from Daniel Simons. US securities advice was led by Peter Kohl. The regulatory advice was led by London financial regulatory partner Roger Tym, with London finance partner Gary Hamp advising on the acquisition financing. Hogan Lovells is supporting the Optimal Payments internal legal team, which is led by General Counsel Elliott Wiseman, Nick Blazey and Lana Rabinovitch.
Commenting on the transaction, Maegen said:
“This is a strategic transformational acquisition for Optimal Payments Plc, propelling them to the top of a fast moving, opportunity driven global digital payments market. It provides the scale and reach to drive further growth of the business in response to the rapidly expanding payment processing and digital wallet markets, particularly within the online gambling sector which is currently very active. This has been an incredibly exciting transaction. It is a reverse takeover and involves one of the most significant acquisition finance rights issue that has been undertaken in the London market in recent years. It has been a privilege to advise Optimal Payments on such an important, transformational transaction for it and we look forward to its future, with its stated intention of seeking a Main Market listing and FTSE 250 Index Inclusion.”
