CHSH advised HP on the complete separation of its PPS business from the rest of its activities in Bulgaria. This included advising HP on the incorporation of new entities, the structuring of the separation (demerger vs. asset deal), labour law matters, including people and asset transfers, as well as data protection issues within the context of physical and virtual data separation.
The transaction was very challenging and innovative due to the complexity of the separation, which involved more than 170 countries, and the structure of the deal. The team at CHSH had to coordinate several work streams at a global level. The transaction was not a simple demerger or sale of a business unit, but a global separation of part of the entire business of HP, which meant that for each entity in every jurisdiction the PPS/Inc business had to be carved out and transferred to a completely new company structure. In the end, two completely separated HP company structures were established without there being any direct link between the two.
This naturally involved every possible legal aspect, including corporate law, labour law, issues relating to people and asset transfers, the transfer/assignment of commercial contracts, the restructuring or implementation of new financial facilities, taking into consideration tax and business aspects, as well as consultation with syndicates and in some cases legal assistance relating to approvals/notifications of authorities.
HP Bulgaria is one of the largest employers in the IT sector in Bulgaria with more than 4,000 employees.