Osborne Clarke advises Circle Internet Services, Inc. in the acquisition of Ponicode

Osborne Clarke has advised Circle Internet Services, Inc. ("CircleCI"), a major US player in the field of software engineering and continuous integration and deployment (CI/CD) practices, in the acquisition of 100% of Ponicode (now CircleCI France) from its founders and existing investors. Ponicode specializes in the design and development of coding solutions for developers.

This acquisition will enable CircleCI to strengthen its presence in Europe, following the acquisition of the Dutch company Vamp in 2021, and will optimize synergies between its various entities.

CircleCI will thus consolidate its ability to accelerate the development of high-quality softwares for its clients and their rapid and efficient delivery, while Ponicode will benefit from CircleCI's know-how and increase its capacity to build new shift-left testing functionalities.

Osborne Clarke's teams were involved in the legal structuring of the transaction and the reinvestment of the selling shareholders in CircleCI, the legal, tax and employment due diligences, as well as the drafting and negotiation of the legal documentation relating to the transaction.

CircleCI advisors : Osborne Clarke

•  Lead – M&A (Catherine Olive, partner, Cyrille d’Amécourt, senior associate and Anthony Chung, associate)

•  Commercial /IP/IT (Xavier Pican, partner, Laurene Zaggia, senior associate, Alix Taverne and Alice Vigne, associates)

•  Employment aspects (Jérôme Scapoli, partner and Valentino Giammarresi, associate)

•  Tax aspects (Dorothée Chambon, partner and Aminata Sarre, associate)

Founders sellers and investors:

•  Firm law Gramond & Associés (Corinne Cousseau, partner)

•  The investment bank Inflexion Points Technology Partners SAS (Frederic Aries, partner, and Flavian Girard, partner)