Watson Farley & Williams (“WFW”) has advised HQ Equita on the sale of Granite Holding GmbH (“SCHOCK”), the leading global producer of high-quality quartz composite kitchen sinks, to IK Investment Partners (“IK”), via its IK VIIII Fund. The final closing of the transaction remains subject to approval by the German cartel authorities.

SCHOCK is the inventor of quartz composite kitchen sinks and has been the technological and quality leader in this field for over 30 years. More than 50% of all quartz composite kitchen sinks manufactured worldwide are based on SCHOCK’s original production methods. The company is active in over 70 countries.

HQ Equita, a holding company of HQ Capital GmbH, acquired SCHOCK in December 2010. WFW advised them on this transaction also. Over the past five years, HQ Equity has developed SCHOCK by extending its market position, founding a subsidiary in the US, introducing new materials into its production processes and diversifying into the bathroom sink market. All this enabled SCHOCK to more than double its sales and earnings from 2010 to date.

The WFW team was led by Munich Corporate Partner Dr Simon Preisenberger and Hamburg Partner Verena Scheibe, who advised on the tax aspects of the transaction. They were supported by Partners Anne Kleffmann (employment), Dr Stefan Kilgus (banking & finance), Senior Associate Jörg Walzer (tax) and Associates Dr Joachim Heinemann and Cordula Schröter (both corporate), Julia Gallinger (tax) and Dr Fabian Reissinger (employment). New York Partner Daniel Pilarski assisted on the US tax aspects of the transaction.