Baker McKenzie advised Sunstar, the international healthcare company with 90 years’ experience in oral health, on the acquisition of a majority stake in European software technology company Playbrush, a pioneer in digital oral hygiene.
The acquisition by the globalbusiness, headquartered in Switzerland, aligns its preventative and holistic healthcare expertise with Playbrush’s smart software solutions. The result is a joint mission to create a new smart prevention platform for personal care and to become the world’s leading connected healthcare partner.
Austrian Baker McKenzie lawyers led by Gerhard Hermann advised Sunstar Group on all legal aspects of the transaction. "This transaction is a great success for our client as well as for us. The majority stake in Playbrush will enable Sunstar to seize digital growth opportunities via new data-driven business models in oral care", comments Baker McKenzie Corporate/M&A Partner, Gerhard Hermann.
Founded in Japan in 1932 and now headquartered in Switzerland, Sunstar is one of the leading oral-care companies in the world with its flagship brands G.U.M., Butler and Ora2. Over the past decades it has developed several distinctive businesses and today, Sunstar is a leading global company in the Mouth & Body Care field, along with a major presence in the Health & Beauty Care and in the Environment & Amenity business fields. It is also a world-leader in the Safety Support & High Technology field. With more than 4000 employees across the world, its products and services are distributed in more than 100 countries, with an annual turnover of around 1.2 billion CHF (2020). (www.sunstar.com)
Playbrush was founded by Paul Varga, Matthaeus Ittner and Tolulope Ogunsina. The multi-award-winning technology start-up has offices in Vienna and London and is the innovation leader in smart Oral Care in Europe and beyond. Since 2015 Playbrush is developing and marketing smart toothbrushes and digital oral care subscriptions to revolutionize how children, families and adults take care of their teeth. The latest invention is the Playbrush Smart One, a best-in-class smart toothbrush that provides intelligent feedback to improve the brushing performance of everyone. Since its inception Playbrush has won multiple global prizes and was just recently awarded an investment by the Google for Startups Black Founders Fund. (www.playbrush.com)
The Corporate Practice Group of Baker McKenzie Vienna specializes in cross-border M&A and venture capital transactions. Among others, the Corporate Practice Group recently advised Tencent Holdings Ltd. on its investment into Viennese start-up GoStudent in Series C financing round, the Carinthian energy producer Kelag on the acquisition of small hydropower plants in France and Portugal from the German RWE Group, the private equity investor Apollo on its investment in the Sazka Group, Chr. Hansen Holding A/S on the acquisition of all shares in HSO Health Care GmbH and Dairyfem R&D GmbH from an Austrian investor group and Amplifier Game Invest on the acquisition of the newly founded Austrian game developer Rare Earth Games.
Legal advisor to Sunstar Suisse S.A.:
Baker McKenzie
Lead:
Corporate/M&A: Gerhard Hermann (partner, Vienna)
Team:
Corporate/M&A: Eva-Maria Ségur-Cabanac (partner, Vienna), Edmund Schuster (counsel, Vienna), Sophie Schubert (associate, Vienna), Klara Kastner (associate, Vienna)
Employment: Philipp Maier (partner, Vienna), Andrea Haiden (associate, Vienna)
IT/IP: Lukas Feiler (partner, Vienna)
Competition Law/Foreign Investment Law: Anita Lukaschek (counsel, Vienna)
Banking and Financing Law: Robert Wippel (counsel, Vienna)