Frank­furt a. Main — Baker McKen­zie has advi­sed Berlin-based tech subscrip­tion service Grover on the closing of an asset-based finan­cing. An exis­ting debt finan­cing from Varen­gold Bank AG will be increased to €250 million. With the fresh capi­tal, the Circu­lar Economy company is ushe­ring in the next major phase of growth.

“With the successful closing of the finan­cing round, we were able to support our client in the imple­men­ta­tion of its growth stra­tegy and the further expan­sion of its product port­fo­lio,” commen­ted Dr. Patrick Mitt­mann, the lead part­ner at Baker McKen­zie on the transaction.

Varen­gold Bank AG is a German credit insti­tu­tion that was foun­ded in 1995 and since 2013 has had
has a full banking license. In addi­tion to its head­quar­ters in Hamburg, the bank main­ta­ins bran­ches in
in London and Sofia. The core busi­ness areas are Market­place Banking and Tran­sac­tion Banking.
(Commer­cial Banking), the focus is on coope­ra­tion with Euro­pean fintechs, espe­ci­ally lending plat­forms. The port­fo­lio offe­red includes funding, debt and equity capi­tal markets products, fron­ting services of products requi­ring a banking license and inter­na­tio­nal payment services.

Grover (Grover.com) is one of the Euro­pean market leaders in consu­mer elec­tro­nics rental commerce. As a pioneer of the Access Economy, Grover offers its custo­mers access to the latest tech­no­logy in a flexi­ble, monthly subscrip­tion model. Both consu­mers and busi­nesses can choose from more than 2,000 tech products — from smart­phones and laptops to gaming, VR and smart home gadgets. They bene­fit from special flexi­bi­lity and full usage rights for a frac­tion of the purchase price. Grover’s service allows its users to keep, change, buy or return products depen­ding on their indi­vi­dual needs. Grover rents products in Germany via its own plat­form (Grover.com) and its broad online and offline part­ner network, which includes Europe’s leading elec­tro­nics retail group Media­Markt­Sa­turn as well as Gravis, Conrad and others.

Baker McKenzie’s Banking & Finance team provi­des ongo­ing support for a large number of German and inter­na­tio­nal loan finan­cings. Regu­lar clients include ING Bank, DZ Bank, LBBW, Commerz­bank, MUFG, UBS, BNPP, DEKA, SCB, RBS and Berlin Hyp.

Legal advi­sor Grover: Baker McKenzie
Lead: Banking & Finance: Dr. Patrick Mitt­mann (Part­ner, Frankfurt)
Other lawy­ers invol­ved: Banking & Finance: Kath­rin Marchant (Part­ner, Frank­furt), Dr. Robert Wippel (Coun­sel, Vienna)

About Baker McKenzie
Baker McKen­zie advi­ses clients to successfully deal with the chal­lenges of globa­liza­tion. We solve complex legal problems across natio­nal borders and legal fields. Our unique culture — grown over 70 years — enables our 13,000 employees to under­stand local markets while opera­ting inter­na­tio­nally. We use the trus­ting and friendly coope­ra­tion in our inter­na­tio­nal network for the bene­fit of our clients.

In Germany, around 200 lawy­ers with proven profes­sio­nal exper­tise and inter­na­tio­nal expe­ri­ence repre­sent the inte­rests of their clients at the offices in Berlin, Düssel­dorf, Frankfurt/Main and Munich. As one of the leading German law firms, Baker McKen­zie advi­ses natio­nal and inter­na­tio­nal compa­nies and insti­tu­ti­ons in all areas of commer­cial law.