Olswang advises Munich headquartered agency on the acquisition of Seven Publishing in the UK

This article was produced by Olswang LLP, which joined with CMS on 1 May 2017.

The M&A team at international technology, media and telecoms law firm Olswang has advised Munich-based C3 (Creative Code & Content) on the acquisition of London-based Seven Publishing.

The deal sees Seven, an award-winning international content marketing agency, join forces with C3, ranked the most creative marketing agency in Germany for the fourth year running, to form an international strategic alliance with a client portfolio ranging from Sainsbury’s to Porsche and combined annual turnover of almost €100 million.

C3 is itself the result of an alliance between German media conglomerate Hubert Burda Media and renowned agency KircherBurkhard. It is Germany’s largest content marketing agency with more than 50% of Germany’s DAX 30 as long term clients.

This deal follows Olswang’s work last month on Burda GmbH’s participation in a $27m Series C funding round in Vinted.com, a Lithuania-headquartered online clothing marketplace and social network.

Mark Bertram, Olswang Partner and Head of the firm’s international Corporate practice, said:

“It’s been great working with the C3 team for the first time and closing another deal for the wider Burda group. Seven is one of the UK’s most prominent content marketing agencies that will, I am sure, enhance and accelerate C3’s offering. Predicted spend on content marketing in the UK alone this year is more than £5bn so C3’s acquisition seems particularly astute and well-timed.”

The Olswang team was led by Olswang Partner and Head of its international Corporate practice Mark Bertram, along with Senior Corporate Associate Theo Godfrey, Corporate Associate Rebecca Davis, Commercial Partner Iain Stansfield, Commercial Associate Louise Gordon-Jones, Real Estate Senior Associate Colin Brett, Employment Associate Rob Armstrong, Tax Barrister Robert Sartor, and Employee Benefits and Shares Schemes Senior Associate Catherine Merry.