Herbert Smith Freehills advises Avedon on the acquisition of Cumulocity

Herbert Smith Freehills has advised Avedon Capital Partners on the acquisition of all shares in IoT platform provider Cumulocity GmbH from Software GmbH. The advisory services also entailed setting up the investor structure for Cumulocity, with Avedon as lead investor. Alongside institutional investors, the Cumulocity management joined the investor consortium through a management buy-out.

Founded in 2011, Avedon Capital Partners is an independent investment company based in Amsterdam and Düsseldorf that focuses on supporting growth-stage companies in the Benelux and DACH regions.

Cumulocity GmbH, with headquarters in Düsseldorf, Germany, was founded in 2012. Since 2017, Cumulocity has been a subsidiary of Software AG (legal predecessor of Software GmbH), which in turn is part of the portfolio of US investment firm Silver Lake.

For years, Cumulocity has been regarded as one of the leading platforms for IIoT, recognized for its strong product-market fit and reputation among industrial equipment manufacturers across various sectors. Within the Software AG group, the company has evolved from a startup to a full-fledged scale-up. Its cutting-edge technology is now utilized by hundreds of companies across diverse industries worldwide. One of the largest and most competitive growth markets for the German-based company is in the United States, where Cumulocity has already achieved significant success. The company also serves customers in over 30 further countries, offering a comprehensive full-service approach, 24-hour support, CloudOps, and customized AIoT solutions.

Adviser Avedon Capital Partners:

Herbert Smith Freehills:

Düsseldorf/Frankfurt: Dr Christian Johnen, Dr Sönke Becker (both lead), Gregor Klenk (all Corporate); Dr Marius Boewe (FDI); Moritz Kunz, Dr Anja Lingscheid (Counsel; both Employment); Dr Steffen C. Hörner (Tax); Dr Marcel Nuys (Antitrust); Stefanie Herkert (Real Estate); Dr Fritz Kleweta (Finance); Associates: Sören Flecks, Marjel Dema, Christoph Hempel, Tobias Beuker, Franciska Meier, Dr Marius Dicke, Nastasja Bührmann (all Corporate); Dejan Einfeldt (FDI); Dr Simone Ziegler, Julia Ickstadt, Matthias Joschko (all Employment); Eva Jürgens, Dirk Metzler (both Tax); Anne Eckenroth (Antitrust); Florian Möller (Finance)

London: John Taylor (Corporate); Michael Aherne, Mark Howard (Of Counsel; both Employment); Associates: Matthew Gallagher, Raul Vellani, Shuheb Ahmed (all Corporate); Max Kaufman, Louis Austin (both CRT); Hannah Gould, Khan Mir (both Employment)

New York: James Robinson (Corporate); Joseph Falcone (Disputes); Associates: Tyler Hendry, Emily Shapiro, Yash Dattani (all Corporate); Christopher Boyd (Disputes); David Peraza (Finance)

Paris: Christopher Theris, Frédéric Bouvet, Martin Dijos (Of Counsel; all Corporate); Sophie Brézin (Employment); Associates: Lucas Lemasson (Corporate); Guilhem Seronie-Doutriaux (Employment)

International teams from Herbert Smith Freehills in Madrid, Milan, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Dubai, Riyadh and Singapore were also involved, along with partner law firms in more than ten further jurisdictions.