Herbert Smith Freehills advises Weir on its AU$1.35 billion (£657 million) acquisition of mining software provider, Micromine

Leading international law firm Herbert Smith Freehills has advised The Weir Group PLC (Weir) on its AU$1.35 billion (£657 million) acquisition of top-tier global mining software provider, Micromine from its current shareholders, including private equity firm Potentia Capital.

Herbert Smith Freehills has also advised Weir on the financing aspects of the proposed acquisition.

Micromine is an Australian-headquartered, leading software provider to the mining industry, with comprehensive solutions across the upstream mining value chain from exploration through mine design and planning, operational scheduling and mining operations.

The proposed acquisition will accelerate Weir’s technology roadmap and expand Weir’s digital capability by creating a sector-leading globally scaled platform to optimise performance across the mining process.

The Herbert Smith Freehills team was led by Chair and Senior Partner Rebecca Maslen-Stannage and Corporate partners Mia Harrison-Kelf and Mike Flockhart, with support from partners Gabrielle Wong, Kristen Roberts and Patrick Lowden (Finance), Stephanie Panayi and Kyriakos Fountoukakos (CRT), Tess Mierendorff (IP), Peter Jones (TMT) and Michael Gonski (Employment).

The transaction team were supported by executive counsel Ying Yi Soh and Rommo Pandit, of counsel Camille Puech-Baron and Stacey Pang and senior associates Philip Aitken, Samuel Gonski, George Psaltis and Jason Hitch. The team also included lawyers from HSF in Sydney, London, New York, Brussels, Johannesburg, as well as the HBT team in Jakarta.

Rebecca Maslen-Stannage said “We are delighted to have supported Weir on this acquisition, which accelerates Weir’s strategy for sustainable digital mining at a key time in the industry. We look forward to continuing to work with the Weir team to achieve their strategic objectives”.

Mia Harrison-Kelf added “The Weir team were a pleasure to work with and this transaction was a great example of the Herbert Smith Freehills team coming together to support our global clients on their market-leading transactions”.

Herbert Smith Freehills previously advised Weir on its US$1.3 billion acquisition of ESCO Corporation and £275 million sale of its Flow Control Division to First Reserve.