Eversheds Munich office has advised US based listed company Horizon Global Corporation on the acquisition of Westfalia-Automotive (Germany) and Terwa. The US automotive supplier acquires one of the worldwide leading manufacturers of towing products.
The sellers are DPE Deutsche Private Equity and other co-investors. As part of the transaction, DPE Deutsche Private Equity will become a shareholder of Horizon Global.
Horizon Global is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of branded towing and trailering equipment and develops, manufactures and sells a variety of high quality and custom trailer and transport devices and other related products and accessories. The global company’s products are sold through the aftermarket, retail and original equipment channels. Horizon has 20 office locations in 10 countries and is headquartered in Troy, Michigan. At close, Horizon Global will become c.716.5 million euro global designer, manufacturer and distributor of a wide variety of high quality, custom-engineered towing, trailering, cargo management and other related accessory products.
Westfalia-Automotive is based in Rheda-Wiedenbrück and has a presence at several international locations. It develops and manufactures tow bars, electrical kits and carrier systems for cars and light trucks. As the inventor of the ball-headed trailer coupling with worldwide patents, the company today designs, develops and produces more than 1,700 different types of trailer hitches for virtually all vehicle makes and produces. In the last fiscal year, the international company generated a total turnover of around 220 million euros. It counts all major automotive brands among its customers, with subsidiaries in France and Sweden and sales offices in Great Britain, Denmark, Italy, Poland and Russia.
The sale is still subject to approval by the relevant merger control authorities.
Eversheds regularly advises renowned international companies from the automotive and automotive supply industry in all areas of business law. Amongst others, Eversheds accompanied the US company DuPont in worldwide sales of its automotive paint division to the financial investor Carlyle, and recently the US-listed manufacturer of motion and control technologies Parker Hannifin in their acquisition of Jäger Automobil-Technik with locations in Germany and Poland.
Sven Schweneke, Munich-based corporate and M&A partner led the acquisition team with partners: Robin Johnson (corporate and M&A, London), in Munich Dr. Christian Mense, Sebastian Buchholz, Martin Sanftleben, Moritz Genzel, Kinga Leyrer (all corporate/M&A), Dr. Manuel Melzer and Dr. Stefan Diemer (both tax), Dr. Michael Schneider (patent law), Martin Bechtold (competition) and Dr. Thomas Barth and Dr. Laura Bürgel (both labour law). Associates in Munich on the team included Nils Müller, Steffen Morawietz (both Commercial) and Katja Weiß (competition law).
Sven Schweneke, Munich Partner, said:
“It has been an extremely enjoyable task to complete this deal together with the entire Horizon Global team. Our teams have been working alongside each other on this important M&A project very closely, and we are very much looking forward to possible future projects together”.
