Penningtons Manches Cooper advises Seedrs on $100 million acquisition by Republic

Posted: 08/09/2022

The corporate team at Penningtons Manches Cooper has advised Seedrs, Europe’s leading online private investment platform, on its completed acquisition by Republic for $100 million. This is a landmark transaction which creates a business working globally to transform the world of private investment.

Seedrs recently celebrated its ten year anniversary having facilitated over 1,700 campaigns and £2 billion in investment during that time. They also announced growth of 50% year on year, funding a record 310 deals and powering 17,000 secondary market trades in the last 12 months alone.

Republic, a US fintech company, allows people to invest in private market equity, debt or crypto offerings through its retail platform. It has almost $1 billion under management through its private asset management practice.

Jeff Kelisky, who remains as Chief Executive Officer of Seedrs and will take up the additional role of Executive Vice President for Republic, commented: “As the new leader of the now-global Republic Retail organisation, of which Seedrs will serve as the European arm, my goal is to both further accelerate investment opportunities for our combined 2.5 million members globally as well as open up new fundraising audiences for high-growth businesses like the 1,370 currently active in our combined portfolio.”

The corporate team advising Seedrs, building on a client relationship of more than 10 years, was led by partner James Went with senior associate Dominique Sabatini. The wider team included support from corporate tax partners Stephen Goldstraw and Kathy Hills on tax and employee share option matters. Unusually, for a private company sale, due to the cross-border and complex nature of the transaction, it was structured as a scheme of arrangement, involving a court sanction process in addition to approvals by Seedrs shareholders.

Jeff Lynn, founder and chairman of Seedrs said: "Our long term relationship with Penningtons Manches Cooper has been a key factor in Seedrs' success. We are deeply appreciative of the expert advice and support they have given us on a wide range of matters for over a decade, and we are particularly grateful to James and Dominique for helping to execute this complex transaction which represents a major step in Seedrs' journey."

James Went, corporate partner at Penningtons Manches Cooper said: “We are delighted to have worked with the team at Seedrs on bringing this key strategic transaction to a close. We’ve worked with Seedrs since before its launch and it’s been fascinating to see how Jeff Lynn and Carlos Silva, as founders, and Jeff Kelisky as CEO, with the rest of the Seedrs team, have grown the business to this stage. They can be rightly proud of what they’ve built and in combination with Republic it seems exciting times are ahead.”

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