Churchill Capital Corp II, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) entered into a merger agreement with Skillsoft Luxembourg Holding S.A., in a transaction valued at $1.3 billion. Following the successful acquisition of Skillsoft, Churchill will acquire Global Knowledge Training LLC, a portfolio company of Rhône Group, for $233 million, bringing the total transaction value of the deals to $1.5 billion.
S&C’s cross-border, multi-disciplinary team advised Global Knowledge in its merger agreement with Churchill. Churchill has agreed to acquire Global Knowledge from investment funds affiliated with Rhône Capital. These investment funds also have the right to invest $50 million in additional Class A common stock.
Global Knowledge is a worldwide leader in IT and business skills training to students based in more than 100 countries. Churchill is sponsored by entities controlled by Michael Klein, managing partner at M. Klein & Company. Skillsoft is a global leader in digital learning and talent management solutions, and has trained more than 36 million users. The combined company's client base will include more than 70 percent of Fortune 1000 companies and more than 45 million users across content platforms.
The S&C team representing Global Knowledge included
Richard Pollack and
Luke Carsley advising on corporate and M&A matters;
Jim Bromley and
Neal McKnight advising on financing and restructuring matters;
Juan Rodriguez,
Joseph Matelis, and
Eric Queen advising on antitrust matters;
Eric Wang and
Michael Orchowski advising on tax matters; Rebecca Coccaro advising on executive compensation and benefit matters; and
Mehdi Ansari advising on intellectual property matters.