Ashurst advises Capital Four on financing the partnership of Waterland with Horn

Ashurst advised Capital Four on the financing of the investment of Waterland Private Equity in the top management consultancy Horn & Company. Waterland Private Equity and Horn & Company have entered into a 50/50 partnership to create a new growth platform for mid-sized consultancy businesses. The parties have agreed not to disclose the amount of the financing.

Founded in 2009, Horn & Company is one of the leading consultancies in the German-speaking region for the areas of strategy, digitalisation and revenue growth for financial service providers as well as industrial and trading companies. The Düsseldorf-based company today employs a staff of over 100 at six offices in Germany and Austria.

The independent private equity investment group Waterland manages more than €9bn of investor commitments and has made investments in over 800 companies to date. As part of the partnership with Waterland, Horn & Company is expected to evolve into an even stronger brand in the German-speaking consultancy market. For that, the service portfolio, especially in the areas of digital transformation, asset-based consulting and data analytics, will be increased and the expansion of the industrial and trading consultancy business will be supported. In addition, an internationalisation into further European markets is planned. The management team of Horn & Company will continue to actively lead the company.

Capital Four with headquarters in Copenhagen, Denmark, is an industry-leading credit asset management boutique with a team of more than 100 professionals and €15bn in assets under management.

The Ashurst team comprised partner Anne Grewlich, counsel Dr Philipp Vorbeck and transaction lawyer Ena Selimbegovic (all Global Loans) as well as partner Prof Dr Florian Drinhausen (Corporate and M&A) and senior associate Dr Susanne Knoch (Tax). 

Ashurst's German banking and finance practice advises both banks and alternative lenders, private equity investors and companies on domestic and cross-border acquisition, real estate, asset and infrastructure / project finance as well as on financial restructuring and corporate lending.