Leading global law firm Herbert Smith Freehills has advised Japan's IDEC on the US$252 million acquisition of French industrial group APEM from Intermediate Capital Group Luxembourg.

Osaka-based IDEC is a major player in the industrial automation market with leadership positions in Japan and globally for many of its products.

APEM is a French company specialised in human machine interfaces with strong positions in Europe and the USA, serving many different industries such as defence, agriculture and material handling, and brings complementary sales, business models and markets to IDEC.

The team was co-led by corporate partners Frédéric Bouvet in Paris and Graeme Preston in Tokyo, assisted by of counsel Magali Fernandes and associates Camille Lartigue and Céline Le Bot in Paris and associate Emma Stones in Tokyo.

The Paris team also included partner Florence Chérel, of counsel Jean-Marc Peyron and associate Naïma Ladaoui on the real estate aspects, while partner Eric Fiszelson and associate Fabien Communier advised on the finance aspects; partner Alexandra Neri and associates Jean-Baptiste Thomas-Sertillanges and Samira Anfi advised on the IP aspects; and partner Sophie Brézin and associate Elisabeth Debrégeas advised on labour law aspects.

Notes for editors

IDEC Corporation was founded in 1945 and is listed with the Tokyo Stock Exchange with the headquarters located in Osaka Japan. IDEC designs, manufactures and markets control automation products throughout the world. The products that it develops for safety, higher productivity and environmental improvements include switches, relays, PLCs, operator interfaces, explosion-proof products, LED lighting and barcode readers.

Most of its products are for industrial applications but some products find applications in commercial and residential sectors. IDEC also provides customized control solutions, including robot system integration where absolute safety is required in places with people and robots working as a team.  In recent years, IDEC's core technologies have created new business lines in renewal energy and agriculture. For more information, please visit IDEC's website.