Akin Advises Helios Investment Partners on Sale of Solevo

April 26, 2023

Reading Time : 1 min

Contact:

Jacinta O'Shea-Ramdeholl

Director of Communications

Sarah Richmond

Senior Communications Manager

(London) – Akin has advised Helios Investment Partners, the largest Africa-focused private investment firm, on the completion of the sale of Solevo, a leading African distributor of speciality chemicals, to Development Partners International (DPI).

A group of investors led by DPI acquired 100% of the Solevo business from Helios on April 18, 2023.

Helios acquired Solevo in 2017 (in a deal led by Akin partners Shaun Lascelles and Simon Rootsey). Helios’ value creation strategy over the investment period transformed the company into a leading distributor of speciality chemicals across the most important life sciences and industrial segments, drove the institutionalization of the business and positioned it for continued growth.

More details on the transaction can be found here.

The Akin team advising Helios was led by mergers & acquisitions partner Simon Rootsey, and the core team included corporate counsel Jing Ng and Becky Fielding and associates Ben Balzan and Lucy Jordan, tax partner Matthew Durward-Thomas and counsel Mohammed Natha, antitrust/international competition partner Scott Pettifor, and finance partner Amy Kennedy and associate Tim Kennedy.

In 2019, Shaun and Simon advised Helios as one of the major selling shareholders in Helios Towers’ $1.45 billion initial public offering on the premium listing segment of the London Stock Exchange (learn more here). 

Akin is a leading international law firm with more than 900 lawyers in offices throughout the United States, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

# # #

Share This Insight

© 2024 Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP. All rights reserved. Attorney advertising. This document is distributed for informational use only; it does not constitute legal advice and should not be used as such. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Akin is the practicing name of Akin Gump LLP, a New York limited liability partnership authorized and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority under number 267321. A list of the partners is available for inspection at Eighth Floor, Ten Bishops Square, London E1 6EG. For more information about Akin Gump LLP, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP and other associated entities under which the Akin Gump network operates worldwide, please see our Legal Notices page.