Taylor Wessing advises Lightspeed on the acquisition of Gastrofix

Lightspeed POS Inc. (TSX: LSPD), one of the world's leading omnichannel point-of-sale platforms, has acquired Gastrofix GmbH, a leader in cloud-based POS hospitality software in Germany, headquartered in Berlin. International law firm Taylor Wessing advised Lightspeed on the transaction. The team was led by Munich partner Dr. Philip Cavaillès.

At Closing, Lightspeed paid approximately US$ 61 million in cash and issued 1,437,930 subordinate voting shares in Lightspeed POS, Inc. at a value of US$ 28.16 per share. In addition, the sellers may receive up to US$ 10.6 million in cash and an additional 250,598 subordinate voting shares in Lightspeed POS, Inc. at a value of US$ 28.16 per share if the revenue targets in Germany are exceeded. Certain Gastrofix employees may receive up to US$ 4 million in cash and 95,464 shares of Lightspeed at a value of US$ 28.16 per share if various performance objectives are met.

Lightspeed (TSX: LSPD) is a cloud-based commerce platform powering 57,000 customer locations in over 100 countries around the world. With smart, scalable, and dependable point of sale systems, it's an all-in-one solution that helps restaurants and retailers sell across channels, manage operations, engage with consumers, accept payments, and grow their business. Headquartered in Montréal, Canada, Lightspeed is trusted by favorite local businesses, where the community goes to shop and dine. Lightspeed has grown to over 900 employees, with offices in Canada, USA, Europe, and Australia.

With the acquisition of Gastrofix GmbH, based in Berlin and Hamburg (sales 2019: approx. US$ 12.5 million German GAAP and HGB), the Canadian company is expanding its portfolio by one of the most successful iPad POS system in Europe with approx. 8,000 customer locations.

This acquisition is timely as German fiscal laws being introduced in 2020 could push merchants and restauranteurs to upgrade to cloud-based POS systems to help them run their businesses and meet new regulatory requirements.

The contact to Lightspeed came through Alexander Roth, partner in the Taylor Wessing office in Menlo Park, USA.

Advisors to Lightspeed POS Inc.:

Taylor Wessing: Dr. Philip Cavaillès (Lead Partner, M&A), Dr. Peter Hellich (Partner, M&A), Alexander Roth (Partner, M&A, Menlo Park), Dr. Daniel Schrembs (Senior Associate, M&A), Till Schwichtenberg (Associate, M&A), Dr. Christian Altenhofen (Associate, M&A) (all Munich), Lisa Seidel (PSL/Professional Support Lawyer, M&A, Hamburg),

Clemens Niedner (Partner, Banking & Finance), Ulf Gosejacob (Salary Partner, Banking & Finance), Claus Goedecke (Partner, Banking & Finance), Dr. Michael Beyer (Senior Associate, Finance), Georg Havlik (Senior Associate, Banking & Finance), Lucas Merschmöller (Associate, Finance) (all Frankfurt),

Prof. Dr. Jens Escher (Partner, Tax), Dr. Philipp Weiten (Senior Associate, Tax), Johanna Thünnesen (Associate, Tax) (all Dusseldorf),

Dr. Michael Kieffer (Salary Partner, Commercial), Dr. Verena Ahmann (Salary Partnerin, IP), Dr. Tim Schwarz (Senior Associate, IP/IT/Data Privacy), Michael Wietzorek (Associate, Commercial), (all Munich),

Dr. Kilian Friemel (Partner, Employment), Dr. Christian Maron (Salary Partner, Employment), Dr. Michael Beer (Senior Associate, Employment), Thomas Reinshagen (Senior Associate, Employment), Katja Schiffelholz (Senior Associate, Employment), Gabriela Seeliger (Associate, Employment) (all Munich),

Dr. Marco Hartmann-Rüppel (Partner, Competition), Dr. Stefan Horn (Senior Associate, Competition) (both Hamburg),

Dr. Michael Brüggemann (Partner, Public Procurement, Dusseldorf),