[Cologne, ] GÖRG Partnerschaft von Rechtsanwälten mbB advised the publicly traded company SendR SE, Hamburg—one of Europe’s largest independent digital music service providers—on the sale of its subsidiaries finetunes GmbH and Phonofile AS to Orchard Enterprises Entertainment GmbH for a purchase price of approximately 20 million euros.
The transaction was subject to the approval of the SendR SE Annual General Meeting, which approved the sale in July 2017, and various carve-out measures.
finetunes GmbH is one of the leading independent clearinghouses for the digital exploitation of music rights, with a catalog of over 120,000 artists and more than 700,000 tracks, most of which are licensed by independent music labels. finetunes GmbH’s clients include numerous online portals (such as iTunes) and streaming platforms (such as Spotify). Norwegian-based Phonofile AS has been active in the field of digital music distribution since its founding in 1999 and is now one of the largest digital music service providers in Northern Europe.
The Orchard Group is an internationally operating music service provider that is part of the Sony Music Entertainment group. With the acquisition of finetunes GmbH and Phonofile AS, The Orchard has become one of the world’s leading music service providers of independent music, film, and video content.
The GÖRG team was supported on matters of Norwegian law by the law firm Haavind AS, Oslo, Norway.
Advisors to SendR SE
GÖRG Partnership of Attorneys mbB
Dr. Michael Schaumann, Associate Partner, Lead Counsel/M&A, Cologne/Hamburg
Dr. Alexander Kessler, Partner, Corporate Law/Capital Markets Law, Cologne
Dr. John-Patrick Bischoff, Associate Partner, M&A, Hamburg
Dr. Christian Bürger, Associate Partner, Antitrust Law, Cologne
Dr. Michael Zenker, Associate Partner, Corporate and Capital Markets Law, Cologne
Dr. Anna Recker, Associate, Corporate and Capital Markets Law, Cologne
Adrian Kesting, Associate, M&A, Hamburg
Haavind AS, Norway
Hans-Christian Donjem, Associate Partner, M&A/Corporate Law, Oslo
Advisors to The Orchard Enterprise Entertainment GmbH
Taylor Wessing
Carsten Bartholl, Partner, Lead Counsel/M&A/Corporate Law, Hamburg
Dr. Oliver Rothley, Partner, Corporate and Capital Markets Law, Munich
Xiaowen Paulus-Ye, Salary Partner, M&A/Corporate Law, Hamburg
Christian Kupfer, Associate, M&A/Corporate Law, Hamburg
Philipp Köppen, Associate, M&A/Corporate Law, Hamburg
Steenstrup Stordrange, Norway
