Shift4 (NYSE: FOUR), the leader in integrated payments and commerce technology, and Global Blue (NYSE: GB), the leading specialty payments and technology platform enabling tax-free shopping, dynamic currency conversion, and payments solutions to the world’s largest retail brands, have announced they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Shift4 will acquire Global Blue for US$7.50 per common share in cash, representing approximately a US$2.5 billion enterprise value. Subject to the terms of the definitive agreement, Shift4 will acquire Global Blue, which is incorporated in Switzerland and listed on the NYSE, through a tender offer and subsequent statutory squeeze-out merger. As part of the transaction, Shift4 also announced that two current shareholders of Global Blue, Ant International, and Tencent, intend to remain shareholders in the combined business.

Latham & Watkins LLP represents Shift4 in the acquisition with a corporate deal team led by New York partners Andrew Elken and Leah Sauter, with associates Maya Rahwanji, Shirley Zhang, Patrick O’Neal, and Owen Brody; a UK team led by London partner Katie Peek, with associates Cyrus Fung and Stuart McRobbie; a German team led by Düsseldorf counsel Lucas Schweitzer, with associate Alex Belk; and a French team led by Paris partner Pierre-Louis Cléro and counsel Xavier Nassoy, with associate Juliette Gilioli. Advice was also provided on capital markets and equity investment matters by New York partners Marc Jaffe, Ian Schuman, and Adam Gelardi, with associate Zoey Wu; on US regulatory matters by Washington, D.C. partners Makan Delrahim and Peter Todaro, and New York partner Katherine Rocco, with associates Charlie Beller and Ned Brose; on ex-US regulatory matters by London partner David Little, with associates Oscar Hayward and James Mathieson; on FDI matters by Hamburg partner Jana Dammann de Chapto, with Frankfurt associate Enno Mensching; on US finance matters by Washington, D.C. partners Manu Gayatrinath, Christopher Bezeg, Melissa Fabian, and Jason Licht, with associates Shane Alexander, Jen Goldshtein, and Eamon Bousa; on UK finance matters by London partner Hayden Teo, with associate Felix Buddee; on intellectual property matters by New York partner Jeffrey Tochner, with associate Sebastian Moss; on US data privacy matters by Washington, D.C. partner Jennifer Archie and Houston counsel Robert Brown II, with associates Priyanka Krishnamurthy; on UK data privacy matters by London partner Fiona Maclean, with associate Tim Neo; on tax matters by New York partner Eric Kamerman, with associate Chris Zhao; on US employee matters by New York partners Bradd Williamson and Megan Alessi, with associate Anne Bracaglia; on UK employee matters by London partner Kendall Burnett, with associate Joseph Goddard; on French employee matters by Paris partner Matthias Rubner, with associate Cosma Scutiero; on German employee matters by Munich partner Kristina Hufnagel, with associate Martina Hoelzer; on Spanish employee matters by Madrid partner Naiara Rodriguez-Escudero, with associate María Goñi; on public company representation matters by New York counsel Emily Corbi, with associates Naseem Faqihi Alawadhi and Ashley Lee; on fintech matters by Washington, D.C. partner Barrie VanBrackle, with associate Justin Talarczyk; on financial regulatory matters by London partner Stuart Davis, with associates Sam Maxson, Maria Georgiou, and Ema Uncovska; on CFIUS matters by Washington, D.C. counsel Catherine Hein, with associate Elliot Hecht; on US ABAC matters by Washington, D.C. counsel Katherine Sawyer, with associate Faiza Hasan; on UK ABAC matters by London partner Clare Nida; on Italian ABAC matters by Milan partner Cesare Milani; on French ABAC matters by Paris partner Fabrice Fages, with associate Andra-Cristina Tihauan; on US sanctions matters by Washington, D.C. counsel Ruchi Gill, with associates Matthew Crawford and Monica Calce; on UK sanctions matters by London partner Robert Price, with associate Amaryllis Bernitsa; and on RWI matters by Los Angeles partners S. Drew Levin and Harrison White, with associate Enrique Covarrubias.