Lewis Silkin advises Sideshow Group on its acquisitions of Catch Digital and Widerfunnel Marketing Inc.
12 October 2021
Lewis Silkin has advised Sideshow Group, the award-winning independent digital agency, on its acquisitions of Catch and Widerfunnel. Together with the acquisition of TRGT in July, Sideshow have announced three acquisitions since Waterland Private Equity made a significant investment in February. These demonstrate that the Sideshow Group is following through on its ambitions to become a global challenger in digital experience and marketing services, and we are delighted to support those ambitions.
Sideshow Group aims to become a global challenger in digital experience and marketing services. In February, Lewis Silkin supported this ambition by assisting Sideshow with the investment by Waterland. This investment was intended to accelerate Sideshow’s growth in delivering meaningful and measurable impact to its clients, and by helping retain and attract the best people in the industry.
The Catch and Widerfunnel acquisitions demonstrate the speed with which Sideshow and Waterland together intend to deliver, having announced three acquisitions in as many months.
Widerfunnel is one of the world’s leading experimentation agencies. Headquartered in Vancouver, but with most of its sales coming from the US, this is an exciting move into the North American market for Sideshow, with an outstanding partner. Catch is a leading digital experience platform specialist, focussing on designing and building digital platforms that provide engaging user experiences. With a highly qualified team of digital specialists, Catch will bring exceptional technical experience and design talent to the Sideshow Group.
Lewis Silkin are delighted to have worked alongside the Sideshow team on five transactions to date. The Lewis Silkin team was led by corporate partner, Jo Evans, with support from tax partner, Matthew Rowbotham, corporate senior associate, Francesca Ainsworth and corporate associate, Joe Lythgoe. The legal due diligence team also included Ashleigh Gribble (corporate), Alex Meloy (commercial), Tom McEvoy (employment) and Aimee Dring (real estate). We were also able to introduce the Sideshow team to Miller Thomson, a Canadian firm, through our membership of the GALA network. Together with Miller Thomson we were able to structure and implement the UK and Canadian aspects of the Widerfunnel deal seamlessly.
Founder and Group CEO of Sideshow, Tony Hill commented: “It was great to work with Jo and the team at Lewis Silkin on these exciting transactions. Each transaction presented some additional considerations to previous deals, so the advice and support we received from Jo, Fran, Matthew, Joe and the wider team at Lewis Silkin was invaluable. We are pleased and fortunate to have them as our trusted advisers.”
Robin Elley, Senior Investment Associate at Waterland Private Equity said: “The team at Lewis Silkin were instrumental in navigating these transactions. We look forward to working with them again.”
Commenting on the deals, Jo Evans said: “It’s a pleasure continuing to act for Sideshow on their latest acquisitions. The Sideshow and Waterland teams have already built a cohesive working relationship and our team takes pride in seeing that success and assisting in the growth of the Sideshow Group.”