The Goodwin team has advised ICG Europe's Mid-Market Fund II ("ICG") on its bespoke financing solution for First Wave I Limited ("Hakim Group"). ICG invested alongside existing private capital firm All Seas Capital, and are partnering with members of the Hakim Group management team who are rolling over a significant stake into the go-forward financing structure.
Hakim Group was founded in 2005 by entrepreneur and optometrist, Dr Imran Hakim. In that time, the family-run group has grown rapidly to become the UK's largest group of opticians and audiologists, through over 300 strategic acquisitions and partnerships across the UK, Ireland and the Channel Islands.
ICG is a global alternative asset manager with over $112 billion in assets under management. ICG operates from over 20 locations globally and invests its clients' capital across Structured Capital; Private Equity Secondaries; Private Debt; Credit; and Real Assets.
The cross practice team at Goodwin advising on the deal was led by Richard Lever, Carl Bradshaw, Saya Sharma and Angus Simpson (Private Equity), with support from Megan Gibson, Apsana Rai, Matt Nestor, Priscilla Alao and Hakyung Lee (Corporate), Simon Fulbrook, Paul Gray, Tom Plowman, Thibaud Frouin, Patrick Clarke (Finance), Dulcie Daly (Tax), Alex Fisher, Akshay Chauhan and Matthew Poon (Employment), Martin Smith and Sam Cramer (Real Estate), Gretchen Scott, Curtis McCluskey, Joe Ndep, Genevieve Watt, Rachel Thurbon, Alexandra Mulligan and Claire Li (Commercial, IP and Data Protection), and Andrew Henderson, Tim Worden, Lucy Sharples and Oliver Walker (Regulatory) and Ai Tajima (Litigation).
For more information on the deal, please read the press release here.