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CERHA HEMPEL advises Mississippi Ventures on its acquisition of a stake in HEMA

CERHA HEMPEL has advised Mississippi Ventures B.V. ("Mississippi Ventures") on its acquisition of 50% of the shares in HEMA B.V. ("HEMA"), a Dutch retail chain (the "Transaction").

CERHA HEMPEL has advised Mississippi Ventures B.V. ("Mississippi Ventures") on its acquisition of 50% of the shares in HEMA B.V. ("HEMA"), a Dutch retail chain (the "Transaction").

A consortium consisting of Mississippi Ventures and Parcom, a Dutch private equity firm, entered into a final agreement with the previous owners on 17 December 2020 to acquire 50% of the shares in HEMA. The parties had already announced on 21 October 2020 that they had reached a preliminary agreement on the Transaction subject to the completion of a satisfactory due diligence review and the securing of transaction financing. Closing is subject to approval by the competition authorities and is scheduled for the first quarter of 2021.

HEMA is a Dutch retail chain with over 750 outlets, predominantly in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France, Luxembourg, the UK and Austria. Immediately prior to announcing the sale, HEMA completed a comprehensive refinancing process. As part of this process, the bondholders acquired all shares in HEMA in exchange for financial concessions.

Mississippi Ventures is an investment company owned by the Van Eerd family, which has successfully been operating the "Jumbo" supermarket chain in the Dutch food retail sector for decades.

CERHA HEMPEL acted as local counsel for Mississippi Ventures in Austria under the leadership of Allen & Overy Netherlands. The team at CERHA HEMPEL consisted of Albert Birkner (Managing Partner, Corporate/M&A, Takeovers), Alistair Gillespie (Senior Associate, Corporate/M&A, Takeovers), Jakob Weber (Associate, Corporate/M&A, Takeovers), Christopher Peitsch (Senior Associate, Labour Law), Matthias Nödl (Senior Counsel, Real Estate & Construction), and Julia Haumer-Mörzinger (Associate, Real Estate).