Experience
Halma Acquisitions
Growing a business is challenging, even with the opportunities offered by today’s global marketplace. Expanding your product and service offerings to your customers requires a strategic vision and focused plan, as well as the resources to pull it all together.
Halma, p.l.c., is an international group of technology companies with its headquarters outside of London, England. Halma has worked with Dinsmore for nearly 25 years. In that time, Dinsmore has represented Halma through a multitude of acquisitions, both domestically and abroad, as Halma has grown to become a global leader in health and safety technology.
When the opportunity recently arose to acquire two companies to boost Halma’s Health and Analysis sector, the company again turned to Dinsmore for counsel. The acquisitions of California-based Sensorex, Inc. and Pennsylvania-based Accutome, Inc., offered myriad challenges. As the deals progressed, it appeared Halma would be able to announce the closings of both transactions to the Stock Exchange on the same day.
Our team worked to structure the asset purchase of Sensorex for $37.5 million and the stock purchase of Accutome for an initial payment of $20 million, handling everything from negotiating and drafting the documents to managing the legal due diligence for both transactions. We assisted Halma with the intellectual property, benefits and employment components of each deal and assisted with all details of closing.
On the Accutome deal, we were faced with the unique task of sequentially structuring the deal to comply with tax law related to the acquisition of Accutome’s Dutch subsidiary. Because of the tax implications of acquiring a subsidiary through one Halma affiliate, while acquiring the parent company through another affiliate, we were asked to ensure that the transaction involving the subsidiary was closed before the U.S. transaction was completed. This required that we coordinate compliance with Dutch requirements in real time, in order to complete the transaction prior to opening of the European markets.
Accutome is primarily known for designing diagnostic equipment used to identify eye conditions and for innovative surgical instruments. Sensorex, a manufacturer of electrochemical water sensors, will enable Halma to enhance its water analysis and water quality programs. Assisted by Dinsmore’s counsel, Halma continues to grow and expand its product offerings to clients and position itself as an industry leader.
Performed Due Diligence on a Potential Acquisition Target
We performed key diligence on a U.S. target for acquisition by European companies ultimately owned by a Chinese conglomerate. We assisted the client to understand the target in detail, and then ultimately did not pursue the transaction, which was a win for the client.
Represented Our Client During the Acquisition of a Manufacturer
We represented our client, an industrial product and infrastructure services company, during its acquisition of Freeman Enclosure Systems, LLC, a manufacturer of custom generator enclosures used by data centers and large commercial and industrial facilities. Under the deal, Freeman kept its name but began operating as a subsidiary of IES Infrastructure Solutions. The acquisition also included Freeman’s 143,000-square foot manufacturing facility.
Pitts v. Valvoline Instant Oil Change (Fifth District Court of Appeals, Stark County, Ohio)
Morris v. Ashland Inc. (N.D. Ill.)
Sale of equity
The deal was structured as a stock sale. As part of the deal, our clients also received equity in the acquiring company, which was structured as a rollover allowing the use of pre-tax dollars for the equity exchanged. The result was a significant tax savings for our clients, who also maintained their management and oversight roles.