Clifford Chance advised Max Bahr/Praktiker on a cooperative purchasing arrangement with HELLWEG. The companies intend to work closely with each other on procurement matters and to operate a joint purchasing company, DIYCO Einkaufsgesellschaft mbH, in which each of them will have a 50% holding. They intend to create synergies by combining their purchasing power and exploiting logistical benefits. The pricing structures and other conditions to be agreed with suppliers under the framework agreements will apply to all of the companies' sales divisions in Germany and in the case of HELLWEG, Austria. The companies have a joint turnover of around EUR 3.5 billion in Germany alone.

Praktiker AG's supervisory board has already approved the cooperation with HELLWEG which is still subject to clearance from the German Federal Cartel Office. The partnership between the companies is due to start on 1 March 2013. HELLWEG's partnership with toom Baumarkt GmbH in the DIY Union will end on 31 January 2013.

The Praktiker Group is currently developing the Max Bahr brand as its main sales division for the German market. The conversion of existing Praktiker stores will bring the number of Max Bahr stores up to almost 200 by the end of this year. The owner-operated HELLWEG Group has around 150 HELLWEG Die Profi- Baumärkte and BayWa Bau & Garten stores across Germany and Austria.

The Clifford Chance team was led by partner Dr. Christof-Ulrich Goldschmidt and included senior associate Dr. Lars Laeger and associate Afroditi Tsobanelis (all Corporate, Frankfurt), as well as partner Dr. Joachim Schütze (Düsseldorf), counsel Albrecht von Graevenitz (Frankfurt) and Miriam Winter (Düsseldorf) – all Antitrust.

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