Eversheds Sutherland advises UnitySC on its acquisition by Merck

With this acquisition, Germany- based Merck expands its portfolio of key technologies required for the AI applications, such as AI data centers, autonomous vehicles, 5G, smartphones and virtual reality.

Headquartered in France near Grenoble, UnitySC employs approximately 160 people, of whom 70 work in R&D. UnitySC’s measurement and testing technology enables the production of faster, smaller, and more efficient computer chips. It optimizes the quality, yield and manufacturing costs of chips used in applications related to Artificial Intelligence (AI), High-Performance Computing (HPC) and High-Bandwidth Memory (HBM).

The acquisition is realized among the shareholders of UnitySC for an amount which includes a payment of € 155 million as well as further milestone-based payments. The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of 2024, it requires a French work council’s consultation and would remain subject to regulatory approval and other closing conditions.

UnitySC was advised by Eversheds Sutherland in France by Catherine Detalle (partner), Raphaël Sendowski (counsel) and Vladimir Legrand (associate) on the corporate/M&A aspects of the operation, Philippe de Guyenro (partner) and Marine Cousin (associate) on tax law, Déborah Attali (partner) and Nicolas Etcheparre (counsel) on employment law, Alexis Werl (partner), Jonathan Trèves (counsel) and Victoria Varela (associate) on litigation, and Gaëtan Cordier (partner) on IP/IT and privacy aspects.

In the US, UnitySC was advised by Jeff Cottle (partner) and Nicholas Joynson (associate) as well as by Jocelyn Chow (partner) in Hong Kong and Jack Cai (partner) in Shanghaï.