Valora Holding AG (SWX:VALN) entered into an agreement to acquire BackWerk Service GmbH from EQT Mid Market GP BV, a fund managed by EQT Partners AB and other minority shareholders for an enterprise value of €190 million on cash and debt free basis on September 18, 2017. Valora intends to conduct a capital increase in a bid to raise capital, with some of the proceeds to be used to refinance the acquisition. The acquisition will be financed by undrawn syndicated loan (CFA) and cash on balance sheet. BackWerk had external sales worth of €200 million in 2016. BackWerk will be managed from its head office in Essen, where it will operate as part of Valora’s Food Service Division and its management team will stay on board to ensure the continuity. The acquisition is subject to German Federal Cartel Office (Bundeskartellamt). As of October 26, 2017, the transaction was approved by German Federal Cartel Office. The acquisition is expected to close in fourth quarter of 2017. The transaction will be accretive to Valora’s growth, margin profile and EPS from 2019. William Blair & Company, L.L.C. acted as financial advisor to EQT Partners AB. Christoph Brenner, Thomas Schmid, Andrea Köhler, Markus Schmid, Verena Schwarz, Stefan Schultes-Schnitzlein, Till Steinvorth, André Zimmermann, Louisa Kallhoff and Felix Schäfer of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe (Europe) LLP acted as legal advisors to EQT Partners AB. Florian Kusznier, Hanno Wollmann, Julia Wasserburger, Manuel Ritt-Huemer, Arzu Cakmak, Franziska Oczlon, Natalia Wolfschwenger, Una Campara, Teresa Waidmann, Dominik Hofmarcher, Clemens Gaugusch, Andreas Natterer, Veronika Wolfbauer, Eva Možina and Nives Slemenjak of Schönherr Rechtsanwälte Gmbh, Patrick Kaffiné, Stefan Mayer, Jörn Wöbke, Eike Bicker, Wolfgang Bosch, Tim Weber, Thomas Winzer, Jacob von Andreae, Rüdiger Schmidt-Bendun, Jan Philipp Mohr, Vanessa Carduck, Julian Klose, Philipp Naab, Marcus Reischl, Svenja Bender, Oksana Weber-Kim, Jonas Rybarz, Konrad Discher, Thorsten Glombik, Christian Heinrichs, Tobias Abend, Alexander Fritzsche, Sergej Bräuer, Kevin Grimmeiß, Matthias Werner, Benjamin Herz, Tajan Tober and Simon Wagner of Gleiss Lutz, Christoph Neeracher, Luca Jagmetti, Raphael Annasohn, Raphael Egger, Sarah Nyfeler, Laura Widmer and Sabrina Schalcher of Bär & Karrer AG, Adrian West of Travers Smith LLP and Allard Metzelaar of Stibbe N.V. acted as legal advisors to Valora Holding AG. Barbara Koch-Schulte of P+P Pöllath + Partners acted as the legal advisor to EQT Partners. Sabine Schomaker, Ulf Gosejacob, Michael Beyer and Jacqueline Urbing of Taylor Wessing acted as legal advisors for EQT while Michael Adolf, Sandro Schwenke, Fabian Böser, Eric Hoppe and Hanjo Köhler of Ernst & Young acted as accountants. Thomas Weitkam and Matthias Töke of Clifford Chance acted as advisor for banks. JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) acted as financial advisor for Valora Holding AG (SWX:VALN).