HWL Ebsworth has advised Citation Group on its successful off-market takeover bid for foundU Holdings Limited.
Citation’s takeover bid was supported by the foundU directors and was conducted in accordance with a Bid Implementation Deed entered into by the parties at commencement of the transaction.
This marks the fifth acquisition HWLE has assisted Citation with since Citation entered the Australian marketplace in 2021 with its acquisitions of FCB Group, QMS, Best Practice Certification and PwC Compliance Services (ISO) prior to the foundU acquisition. HWLE also assisted with Australian aspects of the recent investment by HarbourVest Partners in Citation Group, joining forces with Hg and KKR to propel Citation’s growth ambitions including continued international expansion.
Citation Group provides compliance software and technology-enabled compliance services (including employment law, HR, workforce health & safety, e-learning and certification solutions) to circa 120,000 SMEs in the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Canada.
foundU is a payroll-led, cloud-based, end-to-end workforce management platform, with a single user experience designed specifically to handle and automate the complexities of onboarding, rostering, training and paying employees. Its software handles multi-site operations, shift-based workforces, and complex payroll configurations, which helps businesses to manage labour costs proactively and reduce the cost of payroll processing. foundU is based in Brisbane and provides its software to more than 70,000 monthly active users at more than 650 unique clients across multiple industries including hospitality, labour hire, manufacturing and healthcare.
The deal team was led by Brent van Staden (Partner) and Sam Dwyer (Partner) with assistance from Michael Napoli (Special Counsel), Paul Lewis (Special Counsel) and Damien Gillespie (Special Counsel), Yi Tung (Associate) and Angus Clugston (Solicitor), Jinni Tang (Solicitor) and Michael Miles (Solicitor). The deal team was supported with FIRB advice from Yan Li Wang (Partner) and Jocelyn Zeng (Consultant), Competition advice from David Fleming (Partner) and Alexander Shepherd (Senior Associate), IP and IT advice from Matthew Craven (Partner), Scott La Rocca (Special Counsel) and Kimberley Chen (Solicitor) and Employment advice from Chris Egan (Partner) and Pete Callil (Associate).
Commenting on the foundU acquisition, Sam Dwyer said: “It has been a pleasure assisting Citation with their continued growth in the Australian marketplace. This deal demonstrated the strength of the firm’s national footprint and full service offering, with team members from our Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne offices working together seamlessly to deliver an exceptional outcome for our client.”
Note to Editors:
HWL Ebsworth is the largest legal partnership in Australia according to the most recent partnership surveys published by the Australian Financial Review.
The firm comprises 1,765, staff including 276 Partners, 1,098 other legal staff and 391 support staff across offices in nine locations – Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Darwin, Melbourne, Hobart, Norwest (Northwest Sydney), Perth and Sydney.
HWL Ebsworth is an independent, nationally integrated, full service commercial law firm, providing tailored and commercially oriented legal services.
HWL Ebsworth operates a different business model to the other leading national law practices, and this allows us to offer unrivalled value for money without compromising quality and service. Our low ratio of solicitors to partners ensures that our clients receive optimal access to partner resources for all matters.
For further information, please contact:
Russell Mailler, Chief Executive Partner (03) 8644 3569 or rmailler@hwle.com.au
Angelique Kear, Head of Marketing (02) 9334 8541 or akear@hwle.com.au