Allen & Overy LLP advises Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco), the largest oil and energy group worldwide, on the establishment of a joint venture in the synthetic rubber segment. Saudi Aramco will hold a 50% stake in the joint venture company with specialty chemicals company Lanxess contributing its business divisions Tire & Speciality Rubbers and High Performance Elastomers.

These divisions comprise 3,700 employees at 20 production facilities and four research centres in Europe, Asia and the Americas. The joint venture will be globally active in the development, production and sale of synthetic rubber.  Synthetic rubber is in particular used in the tire and automotive industry. The transaction is subject to clearance by the competent cartel authorities and is expected to close in the first half of 2016.

The Allen & Overy team was led by partner Dr. Michael J. Ulmer and comprised partners Dr. Matthias Horn (both corporate/M&A, Frankfurt), Dr. Gottfried Breuninger (tax, Munich), Andrew Schoorlemmer (corporate/M&A, Dubai), Dr. Johannes Bruski (corporate/M&A, Riyadh), counsels Dr. Rüdiger Klüber (corporate/M&A, Hamburg) and Dr. Dirk Schade (tax, Munich), senior associate Dr. Marco Niehaus (corporate/M&A, Frankfurt) and an international team of associates.