Finance Monthly October 2019 Edition

58 www.finance-monthly.com TRANSACTION REPORTS Foresight Williams Technology EIS Fund Makes GBP 1.5 Million INSPHERE Investment Legal Advisor to Foresight Williams Technology EIS Fund: Due Diligence Provider: Foresight Williams Technology EIS Fund Invests £1.5 million into Industry 4.0 Metrology Experts INSPHERE Foresight Group LLP has announced a £1.5 million investment from the Foresight Williams Technology EIS Fund into INSPHERE Ltd., experts in measurement and automation using innovative value-added metrology. INSPHERE was founded in 2013 by CEO Ben Adeline and CTO Oliver Martin, originally providing metrology consultancy, sub-contract management and training to manufacturing businesses including Rolls- Royce, Airbus and Jaguar Land Rover. Industries such as aerospace, automotive and defence all employ highly automated manufacturing processes which rely on production lines of robots performing precise and repeatable actions. Measurement technologies have traditionally been used to verify parts at the end of the production line. Faults or defective parts found at this stage are either scrapped or require expensive re-work. These faults can be caused when a robot is not set up correctly or drifts even slightly out of position. It can be problematic and laborious to determine the root causes in the production line resulting in costly downtime or poor-quality parts if problems are unresolved. The Fund’s investment will be used to develop and accelerate the commercialisation of INSPHERE’s new products, build sales and scale the business. RW Blears, with Partner Adam Lawrence and Associate Chris Spencer, acted as legal adviser to the Foresight Williams Technology EIS Fund. Palamon Capital Partners Acquires 49% of Business School24 Legal Advisors to Il Sole 24 ORE: Legal Advisor to Palamon Capital Partners: Palamon Capital Partners to Acquire Business School24 Palamon Capital Partners is to acquire Business School24, the education and training unit of Il Sole 24 ORE, Italy’s leading business newspaper. Palamon will acquire 49% of the company at an enterprise valuation of €80 million with a call option to acquire an additional 2% in May 2018. The sale agreement has arrangements in place for Palamon to acquire additional equity with Il Sole agreeing to retain a minimum 20% strategic stake in the company going forward. Business School24 is a leading player in the tertiary education segment in Italy and provides professionally-oriented education and training. Fabio Massimo Giuseppetti, partner of Palamon Capital Partners, says: “Business School24 is one of the most widely respected education brands in Italy and it is playing a key role in overcoming the structural disconnection between tertiary education and graduate employment. We are therefore delighted to be partnering with Il Sole 24 ORE to help accelerate growth in the provision of specialised vocational training and a pathway to the labour market for young Italians. We look forward to working with the talented management team and building out the platform over the years to come.” Franco Moscetti, CEO of Il Sole 24 ORE, adds: “We are thrilled to be partnering with Palamon to accelerate the expansion of our education services across offline and online channels. Their track record in the education sector and understanding of the industry dynamics convinced us of their ability to successfully capture the market opportunity in Italy.” Tombari D’Angelo e Associati, with Prof. Avv. Umberto Tombari and Avv. Cristina Brancato, acted as legal advisers.