Baker & McKenzie advised MAGNA International Inc., the Canadian automotive supply group, on the acquisition of the Böddecker & Co. GmbH & Co. KG (BÖCO), a German automotive supplier of latches, hinges and strikers. The transaction is to be completed in Q3 2016.

After completion of the transaction, the two BÖCO plants in Wuppertal and Tianjin, which employ around 450 people, will be integrated into the business area of Magna Closures, a member of the Magna Group. BÖCO's customers include BMW, Daimler and Audi, and the annual turnover is over 100 million euros.

“In the negotiations, the parties had to reconcile the expectations of a global industrial group with those of a German family seller”, says Florian Kästle, lead partner of Baker & McKenzie. “We are glad that we could assist the Magna inhouse legal team to negotiate contract terms which made both parties feel comfortable.”

The Corporate/M&A team of Baker & McKenzie regularly advises clients on cross-border transactions and reorganizations. Most recently Baker & McKenzie advised ZF Friedrichshafen AG on the sale of the Cherry Group to the subsidiary GENUI, Hillhouse Capital on the acquisition of Gimborn, ALBA Group on the entry of a Chinese investor, Deutsche Beteiligungs AG on the minority interest in the R&M International GmbH and previously in the participation of the Swiss mageba AG, GFKL Lowell Group on the acquisition of Tesch collection, Dassault Systèmes on the acquisition of the CST group, Sulzer on the takeover of the GEKA group of 3i, Allegion on the acquisition of Trelock, RWE and E.ON on the sale of their shares in the Luxembourg energy supplier Enovos, Deutsche Beteiligungs AG on a non-controlling interest in mageba AG, HITACHI Koki on the acquisition of Metabo AG, Barry-Wehmiller group on the acquisition of the operations of Winkler+Dünnebier GmbH, ZF Friedrichshafen AG on the acquisition of the industrial and wind turbine business of Bosch Rexroth AG, Group Le Duff on the acquisition of Kamps and Telefónica/E-Plus on the sale of yourfone to Drillisch.

Legal advisors to MAGNA International Inc.:
Baker & McKenzie

Lead: Corporate / M&A: Dr. Florian Kästle (partner, Frankfurt)
Team: Corporate: Friederike Kiechle LL.M. (associate, Frankfurt)
W&I Insurance: Dr. Peter Wand (partner, Frankfurt)
Commercial: Dr. Johannes Teichmann (partner, Frankfurt), Antonia Rojahn LL.M. (associate, Munich), Ingmar Oltmanns (associate, Frankfurt)
Real Estate: Dr. Florian Thamm (partner, Frankfurt), Dr. Daniel Bork (associate, Frankfurt)
Public Law: Dr. Verena Bärenbrinker LL.M. (associate, Berlin), Dr. Julia Pfeil (associate, Frankfurt)
Finance: Silke Fritz LL.M. (economist)