What Types of Transactions Are Occurring in Germany?
Adi Seffer, a leading transactional manager, speaks about the transactions he has seen occur recently in Germany and how expects this field to progress in the next year.
What types of transactions are typically processed by PrimePartners?
We have successfully assisted in more than 90 buyouts and various other capital market and restructuring transactions in different industries, including automotive, pharma and new technologies, and in many cases, also in their respective financings. Thereby we have advised mid-scale corporate clients, as well as financial investors in strategic deals and financing transactions with a value between EUR 40 and 350 Mil. Usually, we develop the legal acquisition structure, perform the legal and compliance due diligence tasks with our own partners and in specific sectors, or foreign jurisdictions with our selected outsourcing partners. Further, we prepare the transaction and financing documents and act as a responsible negotiator on behalf of our clients until signing and closing, or if necessary also with post-closing matters. Preparing and coordinating acquisition financing measures in-line with the corporate transaction timeline is often challenging but highly demanded service of PrimePartners. In restructuring transactions, we structure an individualised asset-based financing scheme.
We also notice increasing activity from China and overall Asia looking for investment opportunities in Europe and specifically in Germany whereas other markets, i.e. investors from western countries, mainly the US, stay at premier importance.
In recent years, the transfer of the guarantee risk to M&A guarantee insurers has become a further stream of the complete transactions activities. For this, we have structured and often used the “Seller initiated buy-side M&A-policy” that leaves only a small portion of the risk to the seller. This policy has become a favourable solution to selling finance investors or in succession structures of family owners.
How do you expect this area of law to progress in the next 12 months?
We expect a constant positive development in our M&A and financing activities in the market within the next 12-18 months. Gracefully, the extension of a Brexit Scenario has reduced market risks significantly and reassures market participants of the intention of both sides to reduce the economic consequences of any possible Brexit scenario to a minimum. The European Central Bank continues to stimulate the capital markets and provides significant Euro liquidity.
The trend for M&A and private equity activities remains strong, and German SMEs maintain the acquisition target of foreign investors, although some larger targets came into the focus of investors.
We also notice increasing activity from China and overall Asia looking for investment opportunities in Europe and specifically in Germany whereas other markets, i.e. investors from western countries, mainly the US, stay at premier importance.
Adi Seffer
Rechtsanwalt
PrimePartners Wirtschaftskanzlei
Bleichstrasse 52, 60313 Frankfurt am Main
Deutschland / Germany
T.: +49 69 87 00 208 0; M.: +49 1755735230
Email: a.seffer@primepartners.de
Adi Seffer, as Senior Partner of PrimePartners, is ranked nationally and internationally; he was selected as one of the Best Lawyers in Germany by Handelsblatt for his IT expertise (Juve), Outsourcing (Euromoney) and in the fold of Corporate/Mid-Cap Markets (Chambers Europe) as “the leading transaction manager” (Best of the Best – Europe).
PrimePartners is a spin-off and continuation of Mr Seffer‘s legal practice, which has more than 25 years of experience in the field of transaction consulting both on the national and international level. Together with his partners, Mr Seffer advises domestic and foreign clients during the complete investment cycle, helping them to create an added-value to their current and future financial investments or strategic acquisitions in Germany.
