DLA Piper has advised Salzer Holding GmbH on the retrospective sale of all shares in the publisher Lappan-Verlag GmbH, with effect from 1 January 2015. The buyer is Bonnier Media Deutschland GmbH.

Amalgamation will take place through the Bonnier subsidiary Carlsen Verlag GmbH. Headquartered in Oldenburg, Lappan-Verlag rose to fame with works by the cartoonist Uli Stein. The catalogues of Lappan and Carlsen will be gradually merged, with the Lappan brand continuing to be operated independently from Oldenburg.

The Salzer Group is an Austrian enterprise and is rooted in a company history extending back over 200 years. Today the Salzer Group is involved in various fields of business from paper production to plastics processing and real estate management. Salzer Holding GmbH, which is headquartered in St. Pölten, pools the various divisions and acts as a strategic financial holding company for the Salzer Group.

The DLA Piper team led by partner Dr Martin Schulte and counsel Dr Cornelius Frie (both Corporate, Cologne) comprised counsel Dr Björn Enders (Tax, Frankfurt) as well as senior associate Timo Betjemann (Corporate, Cologne).