Norton Rose Fulbright advises Avoka on A$339m acquisition by Temenos

Global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright has advised Australian-founded Avoka, a leader in digital customer acquisition and on boarding, on its acquisition by Swiss Exchange listed banking software company Temenos AG.

The A$339m (US$245m) acquisition will see the Avoka platform, Avoka Transact, integrated with Temenos’ Digital Front Office product, and will provide Avoka with the resources and scope to further develop on the world stage.

Avoka currently service over 85 customers through a cloud-based SaaS model, and its award-winning technology is used in all banking sectors, including retail, corporate and wealth.  Avoka is an industry leader in providing enterprise solutions in the financial services, banking and government sectors.  Founded in Australia in 2002, they are recognised as leading innovators in the industry.

Avoka Transact is a digital platform used by financial institutions to create the quickest and easiest account opening and on board customer experience

Temenos AG is a global leader in enterprise solutions software for financial services and banking institutions with a market capitalisation of over $8bn.  Over 3000 firms globally rely on Temenos to support over 500 million banking customers.

The Norton Rose Fulbright team led by Ben Smits advised Avoka and its shareholders on all legal aspects of the transaction and pre-transaction structuring.

Completion of the deal is subject to regulatory approvals and is expected to complete on or before Q1 2019.

Norton Rose Fulbright corporate partner Ben Smits commented:

"We are proud to have supported Avoka on its legal affairs for many years and have looked on in admiration as they have built this amazing business.  This transaction embraced several very interesting concepts, and the manner in which the many Avoka institutional and executive stakeholders coordinated and executed such an excellent competitive process is testimony to their strengths.”

Norton Rose Fulbright Global Head of Technology and Innovation, Nick Abrahams commented:

“Avoka is another great example of an Australian tech company becoming a leader on the world stage. We are pleased to have provided legal support to Avoka over many years, initially from our Sydney office and then from six of our offices globally as Avoka expanded its international footprint.”

The team was led by corporate partner Ben Smits and was supported by partners Lior Nuchi and Shaun Clyne, senior associate Johann Spies and associate Shanil Lal.