Turunc provided Turkish legal advice and the Kyriakides Georgopoulos Law Firm acted as Greek legal advisor to Israel's Rivulis Irrigation Ltd. in relation to its acquisition of 100% of the shares in the Greek company Eurodrip SA from US fund Paine Schwartz Partners, LLC. Israel's Naschitz, Brandes, Amir & Co. was lead counsel for the buyers, while Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and A. S. Papadimitriou & Partners advised the sellers.
According to a Rivulis press release, "the merged company will have unparalleled market coverage with 18 factories around the world and 1,800 employees across 5 continents and 30 countries. Growers around the world will benefit from an extensive product and solution offering, consisting of trusted industry brands such as T-Tape, Ro-Drip, Hydrogol, D5000, Eolos, Compact, PC2, and Olympos. The merged company will be headquartered in Gvat, Israel and will be named Rivulis Irrigation, Ltd. Richard Klapholz, the current CEO of Rivulis Irrigation, will lead the merged company."
The Rivullis press release continued that: "All current shareholders of the two companies – FIMI Opportunity Funds, Israel’s leading private equity fund (FIMI), U.S. based Paine & Partners, LLC (Paine & Partners) and Dhanna Engineering of India – will remain shareholders of the merged company and will remain active on the Board of Directors, ensuring continuity and providing strong support for the success of the merged company. FIMI will maintain a majority stake and Gillon Beck, the current Chairman of Rivulis Irrigation and Senior Partner at FIMI, will serve as the Chairman of the merged entity. The company will continue to support both the Rivulis and Eurodrip brands, and will remain strongly committed to its mission of providing continuous innovation, and strong service to help growers to optimize yields sustainably and economically while addressing water and land scarcity."
Rivulis Irrigation is a global drip and micro irrigation manufacturer. According to the Rivulis press release, "with 1,000 employees and 11 factories in 25 countries, and a global distribution network of well over 1, 350 dealers and OEM partners, Rivulis Irrigation is a major player impacting the growing move of agriculture to drip irrigation. Rivulis Irrigation was established in June 2014, when FIMI acquired the former John Deere Water division from John Deere. The fund, together with the current management of the company and its employees, succeeded in turning the company around in an exceptionally short time, effectively leveraging the 5 decade long expertise of the original founding companies (Plastro, T-Systems and Roberts Irrigation)."
Eurodrip, which was established in 1979, manufactures and supplies integrated drip irrigation solutions for agricultural and landscaping applications. According to Rivulis, Eurodrip's products "include integrated drip line solutions, flat and round drippers, blank tubes and other irrigation products. Eurodrip has a market presence in over 70 countries, with operating subsidiaries in the U.S., Turkey, Greece, Egypt, Jordan, Peru, Mexico and Chile, and employs more than 700 people worldwide. In 2013, Eurodrip was acquired by Paine & Partners LLC, a value-driven private equity firm that focuses on complex investment opportunities in the fast-growing, dynamic global food and agribusiness sectors."
The Turunc team was led by Partner Kerem Turunc, who reported being "extremely happy to have worked on this multi-jurisdictional deal which will help the Turkish agriculture sector manage its water resources more efficiently and increase efficiency." Turunc was supported by Associates Grace Maral Burnett, Nilay Onal, Gozde Kiran, Beste Yildizili, and Naz Esen.
The Kyriakides Georgopoulos team was led by Partner Claire Pavlou, working with Senior Associate Aggeliki Stratiki.
The A.S. Papadimitriou & Partners team advising the sellers was led by Partner Elena Kossena, assisted by Associate Anastasia Fanourgaki.
