US$3.15 billion transaction – Noerr advises Lazada shareholders on complete takeover by Alibaba

Lazada shareholders will receive proceeds of more than a billion US dollars from the complete takeover of the leading South-East Asian shopping portal by China’s internet giant Alibaba. The sellers, who include more than 20 existing shareholders such as Rocket Internet, Tesco, Kinnevik, Summit Partners and J.P. Morgan relied on Noerr’s advice during the transaction (which Lazada values at US$3.15 billion) like during the investment in Alibaba a year ago.

The acquisition means that Alibaba will increase its stake in Lazada from 51 to 83 per cent. The sale results from the put-call agreement that was announced in connection with Alibaba’s investment in Lazada in April 2016 –  at that time based on a valuation of 1.5 billion US dollars for the company. The existing shareholders also relied on advice provided by the Noerr team led by Sascha Leske at that time. The transaction was awarded the title of “M&A Deal of the Year: Southeast Asia” at the American Lawyer’s Asia Legal Awards – and is now followed by Part 2 of this successful instruction.

Advisors to Rocket Internet and Lazada’s existing shareholders: Noerr

Dr Sascha Leske (Berlin/New York, lead), Prof. Christian Pleister (Frankfurt/Berlin), associates: Dr Laurenz Tholen, Dr Anna Olbrys-Sobieszuk, Lucie Rohr (all Berlin), Dr Philipp Heer, Dr So-Ang Park (both New York, all Private Equity) (known from the market)