CMS advises shareholders in assistance systems developer SemVox on sale of shares to paragon

Stuttgart – The shareholders in SemVox GmbH have signed an agreement on the sale of 82% of their shares in the company to paragon GmbH & Co. KGaA. Acquiring SemVox GmbH gives paragon GmbH & Co. KGaA access to efficient solutions for voice control, multimodal human-machine interaction and intelligent assistance systems based on Artificial Intelligence (AI), primarily for use in the automotive sector. Completion of the deal is expected at the start of October.

A team headed by CMS partner Dr Maximilian Grub advised the SemVox shareholders on all aspects of the sale, especially contract design and the associated negotiations. The four founders of SemVox are retaining a total stake of 18% in the company. The team led by Dr Maximilian Grub also advised on all legal aspects in this regard, in particular on the structuring of the shareholder agreement together with an option agreement.

SemVox GmbH will be renamed paragon semvox GmbH and form a new division for digital assistance systems within the paragon group. This move sees paragon entering the digital market in line with its announced intention. SemVox is regarded as a leading B2B technology supplier for proactive assistants based on AI and machine learning. Numerous vehicle types are already fitted with SemVox technology. This extension of the paragon product portfolio enables OEMs to source end-to-end solutions for voice assistance systems from a single partner.

SemVox has more than 60 employees in Germany and sales in the middle single-digit millions.

paragon is listed on the Prime Standard of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and expects to generate sales of EUR 180 to 185 million in 2018.

CMS Germany

Dr. Maximilian Grub, Lead Partner
Dr. Peter Baisch, Partner
Stefan-Ulrich Müller, Partner
Dr. Tobias Will, Senior Associate
Simone Philipp, Associate, alle Corporate
Dr. Axel Funk, Partner
Dr. Huy Do Chi, Associate, beide TMC
Dr. Tobias Schneider, Partner, Tax law
Dr. Werner Walk, Partner, Labor, Employment & Pensions 

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