MinterEllisonRuddWatts Advises Highland Europe On Its Investment In Ortain

United Kingdom venture capital firm, Highland Europe has led a funding round raising USD57million for investment in Ortain, a Dunedin-originated, and now global leader in forensic supply chain traceability. Long Ridge Equity Partners, Ortain’s existing investors, also participated in the round.

MinterEllisonRuddWatts acted for Highland Europe with the investment enabling Ortain to strengthen its technology and product offering and expand into new markets and industries.

Using proprietary technology, Ortain creates a unique fingerprint from products worldwide to prove their provenance from meat to honey, milk, and fibres. With this core technology, the company has built the world’s most sophisticated database of product origin fingerprints which easily identify and compare origin across a wide range of commodity goods.

On announcing the completion of the deal, Corporate Partner Mark Forman said: "This is a fantastic result for our client, Highland Europe. It creates a unique opportunity to partner with a business at the forefront of forensic science and technology. The investment supports further growth for a highly successful home-grown venture which is on track to be recognised as a serious global player."

The MinterEllisonRuddWatts core team advising was headed by Mark Forman and included senior associates Jo Carrick-Anderson and James Marrier, and Solicitor Brayden Print. The team was supported by partners Andrew Ryan, Steve Gallaugher, Christopher Young and Nick Frith, senior associates Zoe Barnes, Rob Penney and Joshua Kimpton, senior solicitors Rob McStay and Louise Meng, and solicitor Ben Bowley-Drinnan.

The team advised on all aspects on the deal including initial due diligence, tax advice, negotiation of the investment agreements and documents, through to completion of Highland Europe’s investment.

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