In early September 2021, Media and Games Invest SE ("MGI", listed on Nasdaq First Nordic Premier Growth Market and Frankfurt Stock Exchange, stock code: M8G) completed its acquisition of Smaato Group. In the transaction, Llinks Law Offices acted for and advised the Chinese seller Shanghai Qiugu Investment Partnership (Limited Partnership) which is managed by QS Funds.

Smaato, based in San Francisco and Hamburg, operates a leading mobile first digital advertising technology platform. Smaato offers its services to publishers on a software-as-a-service ("SaaS") basis. In 2016, Shanghai Qiugu Investment Partnership (Limited Partnership), a joint investment vehicle managed by QS Funds, acquired Smaato from its founders and early investors. In the past five years, Smaato has grown organically by investing in further building and optimizing its platform. Its teams spread across the US, Germany, Singapore, Indonesia, India and China. Via its platform Smaato reaches over 1.3 billion users worldwide every month. Following the sale, MGI's media segment Verve Group will merge with Smaato. That forms one of the leading omnichannel exchanges worldwide with an increased user base of more than 2 billion and becoming one of the top 10 in-app mobile exchanges with a joint team of over 300 employees and over 25 offices worldwide. QS Funds will stay on the board after the transaction in the form of a strategic partnership with MGI to contribute its expertise and strengths in the Chinese market.

This cross-border transaction has its unique complexity – the seller is a holding vehicle with multiple investors involved and a complex structure; meanwhile, transaction parties and Smaato's operation teams sit in various time zones, China, the US and Europe. Under the pandemic, most of the transaction process went virtually online. Llinks team, across its offices in London and China, with years of experience in dealing with cross-border deals and complex transaction structures, quickly reacted and effectively responded to client's challenges, safeguarded the eventual consummation of the transaction.