Lovells

Lovells advised two Spanish individuals on the sale of Arsys to The Carlyle Group and Mercapital. The deal, valued at €160 million, closed on 19 December and is subject to competition clearance.  

Arsys is currently Spain's leading provider of domain name registration and web hosting services and one of the main industry leaders in Europe.  The company was founded as an Internet Access Provider and gradually diversified its activity to include other Internet services (such as domain registration and web hosting).  Taking advantage of the rapid growth of the sector, Arsys eventually became an Internet Service Provider (ISP), which is the core of its current business activity. To date, the company has more than 500,000 domain names registered, more than 170,000 customers, employs over 250 people and provides services to more than hundred countries through arsys.es, arsys.fr and arsys.pt.  

The Carlyle Group and Spanish private equity firm Mercapital agreed to acquire Arsys for €160 million. Carlyle and Mercapital have invested equally to acquire a majority stake in the business, while the company founders will retain a minority stake.  The completion of the transaction is subject to approval by the European Competition authorities.   

The Lovells team was led by partner José M. Balañá and senior associate Graciela Llaneza.  Tax advice was provided by counsel Miguel Baz.