DLA Piper has advised German shipping company Bernhard Schulte Group on the structuring of a joint venture with ICBC Leasing, a subsidiary of China's largest bank, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China. The object of the joint venture is the operation of offshore wind farm vessels in the North Sea.

The transaction is subject to merger clearance by the German Federal Cartel Office (Bundeskartellamt). With this transaction, Bernhard Schulte Group will strengthen both its involvement in the field of special wind farm vessels and its cooperation with the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China. The Bernhard Schulte Group has more than 20,000 employees, directly owning ca. 100 vessels and managing more than 600 others.

The DLA Piper Team was led by partner Dr Nils Krause (Corporate, Hamburg), who also heads up the China Desk in Germany. Other members of the team included partners Dr Wolfram Distler (Finance, Frankfurt), Dr Jan Dreyer (Antitrust, Cologne) and Paul Lee (Finance, Hong Kong) as well as transactional lawyer Hui Hao (Corporate, Hamburg), associate Dr Verena Pianka (Antitrust, Cologne) and several other lawyers in Hong Kong. The shipping company has thus renewed its working relationship with DLA Piper's experienced China Team, which has also worked for Bernhard Schulte Group in the past.

The in-house team of Bernhard Schulte was led during the transaction by Dr Max Asschenfeldt.

ICBC Leasing were advised by Clifford Chance.