Azets advises on VesselsValue sale to Veson Nautical
Azets’ team included Heather Williams, Tax partner, based in Southampton, and Tina Harris, director of Tax, and Mike Middleton, Tax partner, both based in Portsmouth, with support from the Solent Corporate Finance team led by Rob Holmes, partner
Azets has revealed it was instructed by VesselsValue to advise on its sale to Veson Nautical for an undisclosed sum.
Founded in 2011, VesselsValue provides a market leading online platform for ship valuations, market analysis and insights utilising a dataset of more than 81,500 vessels.
Wilsons Solicitors LLP also advised VesselsValue on the sale.
The multi-disciplinary team at Wilsons Solicitors LLP was led by James Johnson, partner, and head of Corporate, with support from specialists from across the firm’s Corporate, Employment and Corporate Tax teams.
Azets’ team included Heather Williams, Tax partner, based in Southampton, and Tina Harris, director of Tax, and Mike Middleton, Tax partner, both based in Portsmouth, with support from the Solent Corporate Finance team led by Rob Holmes, partner.
VesselsValue employs 230 people, has 2,500 users and works with more than 600 global companies including major banks, leasing companies, shipowners, investment funds, hedge funds, lawyers, advisors and government regulators.
VesselsValue stated: “The teams at Wilsons Solicitors LLP and Azets did a fantastic job for us on what is an incredibly important milestone in the VesselsValue story. The transaction was complex and a challenging process which they guided us through with great skill and dexterity.
“Through their hard work and diligence, we managed to meet a very demanding timetable and successfully closed the deal, and we are grateful to all the professionals who worked on the transaction for helping us achieve this.”
Williams said: “This was a great opportunity to work with the team at Wilsons Solicitors LLP on this exceptional project. This was a real team effort by Azets and included transaction support, restructuring options, review of UK tax implications, business and company valuations, VAT advice, review of SPA and tax warranties, review of operation of EMI scheme, technical support and corporate finance support.
“It was a technically complex operation, especially with regard to matching UK and US taxes, the separation of businesses and rollover arrangements. We feel it demonstrates that we can advise on a transaction of this scale and complexity and that leading professional services firms are comfortable referring this type of work to us.”
VesselsValue, which has nine offices worldwide, including London, Singapore, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Oslo and Ryde, Isle of Wight, specialises in daily updated ship values and data, based on the latest market insights.
