L&L Partners Advised PA Media Group Plc In Connection With Its Acquisition Of Alamy Limited, UK Together With Its Subsidiaries In India, US And Australia

Alamy is the world's most diverse stock photo library with close to 200 million creative and editorial stock photos, vectors, 360-degree images and videos from individual photographers, picture agencies and archives. PA Media Group has a diverse portfolio of specialist media companies spanning news and information, data, technology, marketing and communications. The flagship brand, PA Media, is the national news agency for the UK and Ireland.

Our role

The team assisted PA Media, working closely with Taylor Wessing LLP (the global counsel for PA Media) on all legal aspects of the transaction including from a corporate, regulatory and tax perspective including providing inputs on structuring of the India leg of the transaction in compliance with Indian foreign exchange and income tax laws. The team was also involved in conducting an extensive due diligence over the Indian target entity as well as on review and finalization of the transaction documents from an Indian law perspective. The team also assisted the client in closing related deliverables and worked on strict deadlines in order to complete the acquisition by the target date (to achieve simultaneous closing of the transaction across UK, USA, Australia and India).

Description and Significance of the deal

The acquisition sees the PA Media Group enter the stock imagery market for the first time. It also supports the long-term strategy of PA Media Group to diversify its business and consolidate its position as the UK’s leading provider of cross-platform news, sport and entertainment data, content and services. Alamy will complement PA Media Group’s editorial picture syndication business, PA Images, whose archive charts more than 100 years of British history, along with royal, entertainment, sport and news photography.

The Team

The transaction team consisted of Partner Damini Bhalla who was assisted by Akshay Jain (Managing Associate), Kanchan Modak and Udyan Arya Shrivastava (Associates). 

Lokesh Shah (Partner) and Saksham Singhal (Senior Associate) advised from a direct tax perspective.

Vivek Agarwal (Managing Associate) and Kundan Rathore (Paralegal) assisted on the company law and secretarial diligence.