Deal: Global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright has advised Retail Finance Intelligence Pty Ltd (RFi Group), a global intelligence and media provider that specialises in financial services data, on its majority stake sale to Diversis Capital Partners I LP, a Los Angeles-based private equity fund focused on data and technology investment portfolios.

Value: Undisclosed.

Area: M&A.

Key players: The team was led by corporate M&A partner Ben Smits, with his local team comprising senior associate Adam Hunter, associate Liya Wu, associate Laura Bernhardt and lawyer Joyce Shi, and with assistance from Norton Rose Fulbright’s US team led by San Francisco partner Lior Nuchi and New York partner Michael Flamenbaum.

Deal significance: The deal was a strategic growth investment by Diversis to build planning and operational expertise into RFi Group’s technical data-as-a-service capabilities. 

As part of the transaction, RFi Group co-founders Charles Green and Alan Shields will maintain a significant minority ownership in the company and continue to lead in their roles as chief executive and COO, respectively. 

The deal, and their ongoing involvement, continue RFi Group’s strong growth trajectory in the financial services data space.

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“This partnership will enable RFi to better serve the increasingly sophisticated digital data needs of our global client base as we expand our footprint and services,” Mr Green said.

The Norton Rose Fulbright team advised on all aspects of the transaction, including negotiation, drafting and review of key and ancillary transaction documents from the letter of intent stage through to closing.

“We have been privileged to closely support RFi for many years, and are delighted to see such a talented group attract investment from a leading PE investor in this space,” Mr Smits said.

“This mandate involved a coordinated and joint effort across multiple timezones allowing RFi to demonstrate its global proficiency. We look forward to seeing RFi continue to succeed in its next iteration with this strategic investment.”

“RFi has built a fantastic data-driven insight offering over the last decade and we are really excited to welcome Diversis as our strategic partner,” Mr Green added.

“Diversis brings world class strategic planning and operational expertise to the group as we look to build out our technical and data-as-a-service capabilities,” Eleena Broadfoot, RFi Group CFO, said.

“Ben Smits and the legal team at Norton Rose Fulbright provided valuable support in navigating the investment deal to completion. They enabled us to successfully execute a deal crossing various territories during a global pandemic, and were exceptionally agile and pragmatic.”