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Australian intellectual property (IP) legal services giant IPH Limited (ASX: IPH) has reached an agreement to acquire New Zealand IP firm Baldwins Intellectual Property.
The transaction will be completed by IPH's subsidiary AJ Park IP and will see IPH pay approximately $7.4 million for the NZ firm, including a deferred consideration of approximately $400,000.
AJ Park IP will acquire the patent attorney business of Baldwins and the benefit of Baldwin's legal business through the acquisition of that legal business by AJ Park IP's allied law firm AJ Park Law.
The transaction still requires the approval of the New Zealand Commerce Commission, but IPH expects the transaction to be completed by the first quarter of FY21.
Baldwins is a legacy law firm in New Zealand, established in 1896 with offices in Auckland and Wellington. In FY20 the firm generated approximately NZ$2 million in EBITDA.
The NZ firm has a large variety of clients including large multi-national corporations like Harley-Davidson, as well as universities, government agencies, startups and individual inventors.
"Baldwins is a highly regarded firm in the New Zealand market and we believe this acquisition will give our merged businesses greater depth and provide our clients with access to a complementary team of experienced IP professionals," says AJ Park managing director Dr Andrea Dickens.
"We look forward to welcoming the Baldwins partners and staff to AJ Park."
The initial purchase consideration is to ben settled approximately 65 per cent in cash and approximately 35 per cent in new IPH shares, with the deferred consideration to bebe settled in cash.
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