Frankfurt a. M. — Novalpina Capital has financed the founders Shalev Hulio and Omri Lavie and the management of NSO Group in their buy-out and advised them on the acquisition of NSO Group from Francisco Partners and other shareholders. — NSO Group is a leading global cyber security company headquartered in Luxembourg with additional locations worldwide (including Israel, Cyprus and Bulgaria).
Novalpina Capital Capital was advised by the Frankfurt, Munich, London and Boston offices of the international law firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP in the buyout led by the management of NSO Group and the acquisition of NSO Group from Francisco Partners and other shareholders.
The management team and founders of NSO Group today announced the acquisition of the company from global private equity firm Francisco Partners. NSO Group develops technology that helps government intelligence and law enforcement agencies prevent and investigate terrorism and crime to save lives. Established from the combination of Israeli and European cyber technology companies, NSO Group has since become a global leader in providing cyber intelligence and analytics solutions to governments. The company has grown rapidly and finished 2018 with revenues of $250 million, and dozens of licensed customers.
Advisors to Novalpina Capital: Gotshal & Manges LLP
The Weil transaction team is led by partner Prof. Dr. Gerhard Schmidt and supported by partners Tobias Geerling (Tax, Munich), Dr. Kamyar Abrar (Antitrust, Frankfurt), Ludger Kempf (Tax, Frankfurt), as well as Counsel Dr. Heiner Drüke (Corporate, Frankfurt) and associates Manuel-Peter Fringer, Madleen Düdder, Alexander Pfefferler, Daniel Zhu, Andreas Fogel (all Corporate, Munich), Julian Schwanebeck (Corporate, Frankfurt), Julia Hübner, Alisa Preissler, Kai Yan (all Tax Frankfurt) as well as Boston partner Matthew Goulding and associate Michael Messina (both Corporate).
The Weil team involved in the acquisition financing is led by Frankfurt Finance Partner Dr. Wolfram Distler and London Finance Partner Tom Richards and was supported by Associates Thomas Zimmermann (Munich) and Julia Tschickardt (Frankfurt) as well as Alistair McVeigh and Conor Campbell (both London).
Francisco Partners was assisted in the transaction by Paul Hastings (partners Mike J. Kennedy and Jeffrey C. Wolff, San Francisco office).
The founders of NSO Group relied on partners Roy Caner and Viva Gayer of EBN & Co. in Tel Aviv.
About Weil
Weil, Gotshal & Manges is an international law firm with approximately 1,100 lawyers, including about 300 partners. Weil is headquartered in New York and has offices in Boston, Dallas, Frankfurt/Main, Hong Kong, Houston, London, Miami, Munich, Paris, Beijing, Princeton, Shanghai, Silicon Valley, Warsaw and Washington, D.C.