Morrison Foerster is advising Berlin-based SellerX Germany GmbH (SellerX), a leading eCommerce aggregator in Europe, on the acquisition of Elevate Brands, one of the most established eCommerce aggregators in the U.S., as well as a simultaneous financing round.
The intended transaction will strengthen SellerX to become one of the largest and most profitable global consolidators of eCommerce brands with total sales of over €400 million, a strong global footprint, and a diversified product portfolio of over 80 Amazon-native consumer brands. In connection with the acquisition, a number of existing SellerX shareholders are investing new equity financing of more than €60 million which provides additional capital for M&A opportunities for the combined business.
The transaction is structured as a complex transatlantic share-for-share merger, and Morrison Foerster is advising SellerX on all corporate, employment, executive compensation, antitrust, national security, tax, and technology transaction aspects.
The completion of the transaction is subject to customary closing conditions. The purchase price and other transaction details were not disclosed.
The cross-border MoFo team is led by New York corporate/M&A partner Omar E. Pringle, Berlin corporate/M&A partner Dr. Dirk Besse, and Berlin counsel Tobias Hoppe, with support from New York associate Amy Chen.
The broader MoFo team in Germany includes Ercem Cardak, Dr. Omid Ebrahimzadeh (both associates) and Paula Katharina Paprocki (senior associate); Dr. Jens Hackl (counsel, antitrust); Hanno Timner (partner, employment & data protection); Dr. Jens-Uwe Hinder (partner) and Lukas Kawka (counsel, both tax).
The broader MoFo team in the U.S. includes Rebecca Chacon Naranjo, and Shams Alaa Haidari; Washington, D.C. antitrust partner Megan E. Gerking with associate Evan M. Harris; Washington, D.C. employment partner Andrew R. Turnbull with associate Eric Gebert; San Francisco executive compensation of counsel Brooke L. Monahan with associate John D. O’Neill; Washington, D.C. national security partner Charles L. Capito with associate Jonathan M. Babcock; New York tax partners Anthony J. Carbone and Katherine Erbeznik with associate Philip S. Jaworskyj; and New York technology transactions partner Anthony M. Ramirez with associate Wendy Chu.
The SellerX in-house team is led by general counsel Tomasz Krzywicki and further includes Rachel Davidson, Serra Onal (both Senior Legal Counsel M&A and Corporate), Caitlin Green (Associate Legal Counsel), Olivier de Combret (Head of IP), Barbara Radon (Head of Regulatory & Compliance), Nadia Trabelsi (Director of ESG), and Taru Tenhovaara (Legal Counsel Data Protection).
