Kocian Solc Balastik has advised Continuum Search Fund on its acquisition of exhibition stand manufacturers Best Expo and IRE — the first acquisition by a search fund in the Czech Republic. The sellers — entrepreneurs Hellen Berends and Petr Kotvas — were advised by Havel & Partners.
Search funds are vehicles enabling investors to provide capital to promising managers. According to KSB Partner Christian Blatchford, “in essence, the concept involves managers searching for, managing the acquisition of, and then running target companies with funding from private investors. The managers can also invest their own money. The managers’ equity stake will increase over time, and on the basis of the financial performance of the acquired companies."
Blatchford explained that, “since this was the first Czech deal, we had to engineer the implementation of these concepts using Czech corporate and contract law. I’d like to think that we found innovative and efficient solutions."
The KSB team was led by Partner Christian Blatchford and included Senior Associates Jan Beres and Ivo Prusa and Associates Tomas Zach and Jakub Porod.
The Havel & Partners team included Partner Vaclav Audes, Associate Veronika Filipova, and Junior Associate Monika Hospudkova.
