August 10, 2021
Willkie represents Searchlight Capital Partners in negotiations to acquire Flowbird, a global market leader in parking management solutions, from Astorg Partners.
On August 10, Willkie client Searchlight Capital Partners announced it entered into exclusive negotiations with Astorg Partners for the acquisition of a majority stake in parking payments provider Flowbird. Completion of the transaction is subject to consultation with Flowbird’s Works Council and satisfactory clearance from relevant competition authorities.
Flowbird is the global market leader in parking management solutions. Headquartered in Paris, Flowbird works with more than 4,500 municipalities in 80+ countries and currently employs 1300 people. Through its terminals, mobile applications and online services, Flowbird serves around 100 million users every year and its software platform assists local authorities with measuring, monitoring and managing the mobility throughout cities.
Flowbird operates through two business divisions: Smart Parking operates across the whole value chain of the on-street parking management -- the company provides turnkey solutions combining connected parking meters and mobile parking payment and guidance apps and their recurring maintenance and upgrade, with a PaaS (Platform as a Service) enabling payment processing, reporting, analytics and back-office management; and Smart Transport provides ticketing solutions (connected ticket and validation terminals) and associated software systems for public transport.
This is the second deal Willkie has advised Searchlight on recently. In July, the firm announced it represented Searchlight on its exit from EOLO, Italy’s leading fixed wireless access broadband provider. Click here to read Willkie’s July 21 announcement.
Searchlight is a leading global private investment firm with over $9 billion in assets under management.
The Willkie deal team is led by partners Gavin Gordon and Andrew Gray and includes partners Cédric Hajage and Ashely Young.
