Baker McKenzie has advised EQT Private Equity and other selling shareholders in relation to the sale of their interests in the DataFlow Group ("DataFlow" or "Company"), a leading international provider of credential verification services, to Arcapita Group Holdings Limited (“Arcapita"), the global alternative investment firm.
Baker McKenzie had assisted EQT Private Equity on the original acquisition of its majority stake in DataFlow in 2014 from the founders.
Under EQT Private Equity's tenure, the Company has transformed into a digitally enabled, leading credential service provider of regulation-mandated pre-employment primary source verification (PSV) services, with a global network of more than 160,000 issuing authorities across 190 countries.
The cross-office, cross-practice Baker McKenzie team was led by Private Equity/M&A Partners Derek Poon and Tracy Wut. Baker McKenzie's core team included Byron Frost (Counsel, Tokyo), Sunny Li* (Associate, Hong Kong), Angie Yeung (Senior Associate, Hong Kong) and Xinxing Chen** (Partner, Hong Kong) from the Firm's Private Equity/M&A practice, along with David Monnier (Partner, Riyadh), Harikumar Pillay (Principal, Singapore***) and Vivian Tsang (Associate, Hong Kong) from the Antitrust & Competition practice, Carrie Lui (Special Counsel, Hong Kong) from the Tax practice, and Mini vandePol** (Partner, Hong Kong) and Gerald Lam (Senior Associate, Hong Kong) from the Investigations, Compliance & Ethics practice.
Commenting on the deal, Derek, who is the Head of Baker McKenzie's Asia Pacific Private Equity Practice, said: "We are very pleased to have assisted EQT Private Equity in relation to this transaction, which strongly positions DataFlow for its next phase of growth with Arcapita."
For further details about the transaction, please refer to Arcapita press release.
*Registered Foreign Lawyer (Associate equivalent)
**Registered Foreign Lawyer (Partner equivalent)
*** Singapore member firm Baker McKenzie Wong & Leow