Ashurst advised a leading financial institution on the granting of a €28 million credit facility to Global Savings Group (GSG). The loan serves the purpose of financing the acquisition of the leading French digital cashback player iGraal. GSG acquires iGraal from M6 Group through an acquisition in cash of € 35 million and an exchange of shares. The acquisition is one of the largest transactions in this industry in recent years.
Munich-based GSG is the leading European Commerce Content platform. The acquisition of iGraal makes GSG the largest European savings, cashback and shopping content platform. iGraal with headquarters near Paris is the market leader in the French online cashback segment and valued at €123.5 million. In 2019, GSG and iGraal jointly saw more than six million members using its loyalty tools and connected advertisers to around 400 million consumers.
The Ashurst team was led by partner Anne Grewlich (Finance, Frankfurt) and counsel Christiane Bestgen (Finance, Munich). They were assisted by associate Franziska Sauer and paralegal Ariana Fazlic (both Finance, Munich), partner Pierre Roux, counsel Thomas Ehrecke and junior associate Camille Louis-Joseph (all Finance, Paris) as well as partner Anne Reffay and junior associate Louis Rainguenet (both Corporate, Paris). Counsel Dr Fabian Klein (Frankfurt) advised on IP matters. Advice on tax law was provided by partner Dr Anders Kraft, senior associate Dr Susanne Knoch (both Frankfurt), partner Emmanuelle Pontnau-Faure and associate Solène Guyon (both Paris).