Baker McKenzie advised CORESTATE Capital Holding S.A. (CORESTATE) on the acquisition of 94.9% of the shares in Hannover Leasing Group. The sellers are essentially the majority shareholders, Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen Girozentrale (Helaba) and Hessisch-Thüringische Sparkassen-Beteiligungsgesellschaft (HTSB).

Completion of the transaction is still subject to the conclusion of owner control procedures by BaFin, which is expected to occur in the first half of 2017. Following the acquisition, the CORESTATE Group's assets under management will total around 16 billion euros. Helaba will remain as a minority shareholder with a 5.1% stake in Hannover Leasing Group.

CORESTATE is a fully integrated real estate investment manager and co-investor seated in Luxembourg that also has offices inter alia in Frankfurt, Zurich, Madrid and Singapore. Since the formation of CORESTATE in 2006 the generated transaction volume amounts to approximately 5.7 billion euros. CORESTATE accompanies its customers along the entire value creation chain of a real estate investment product and covers, in particular, deal sourcing and the development of investment products, structuring and execution of transactions, real estate investment management services and the development and execution of exit strategies. Since October 2016 the group is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange via the Entry Standard.

Hannover Leasing is one of the leading asset managers and providers of asset-based investments in Germany, and offers closed public AIFs (alternative investment funds) as a licensed capital management company. Since it was formed in 1981, the company has succeeded in raising equity capital of around 9.9 billion euros from private and institutional investors for over 200 closed investments.

Baker McKenzie advised CORESTATE several times in real estate financings since Baking & Finance partner Filip Kurkowski joined the firm. This mandate is the first M&A transaction of Baker McKenzie for CORESTATE.

Legal advisors to CORESTATE Capital Holding S.A:
Baker McKenzie

Lead: Dr. Christian Vocke (partner, Corporate / M&A Frankfurt), Filip Kurkowski (partner, Banking & Finance, Frankfurt), Gerald Schumann (partner, Corporate / M&A, Munich)
Team: Corporate / M&A: Dr. Markus Mörtel (associate, Frankfurt), Vanessa Fritzsche (associate, Frankfurt)
Banking & Finance: Kathrin Marchant, Dr. Oliver Socher (both partners, Frankfurt), Silke Fritz (associate, Frankfurt)
Regulatory: Dr. Manuel Lorenz (partner, Frankfurt)
Real Estate: Dr. Florian Thamm (partner, Frankfurt), Dr. Daniel Bork (associate, Düsseldorf)
Employment: Dr. Hagen Köckeritz (partner, Frankfurt)
Litigation: Dr. Marco Jerczynski (counsel, Düsseldorf)