Baker McKenzie advised the Heraeus Group on the sale of the global high-performance target materials business to the US-based Materion Group. The business segment sold entails the so-called sputtering targets, i.e. materials for the production of the thinnest precious metal coatings for the glass, photovoltaic and semiconductor industries. The business activities sold are located at the Heraeus headquarters in Hanau as well as in Taiwan, USA, China and Japan. The transaction is subject to regulatory approval and customary closing conditions.
Particular legal challenges of the transaction concerned the carve-out of the business from the Heraeus Group as well as the relocation from Hanau to a new location following the acquisition.
We were able to provide Heraeus with crucial support during the transaction with the spatial and professional breadth of our network and thus helped our client to a successful conclusion of the transaction,
commented Dr. Florian Kästle of Baker McKenzie, lead partner in the transaction.
Heraeus, a technology group headquartered in Hanau, Germany, was founded in 1851 and is now active worldwide. Products are used in the areas of steel, electronics, chemicals and telecommunications. In the 2015, Heraeus generated sales of EUR 1.9 billion excluding precious metals and a total turnover of EUR 12.9 billion. With approximately 12,500 employees worldwide in more than 100 locations in 38 countries, Heraeus has a leading position in its global sales markets.
Materion is a global supplier of highly developed materials, founded in 1931 and headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio. Today, Materion has more than 2,800 employees in 11 countries. Materion is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: MTRN) and has annual sales of approximately USD 1.1 billion.
The Corporate/M&A team of Baker & McKenzie regularly advises clients on cross-border transactions and reorganizations. Most recently Baker & McKenzie advised:
MAGNA International on its acquisition of the BÖCO Group
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.
Legal team advising Heraeus Group:
Lead
Corporate/M&A: Dr. Florian Kästle (partner, Frankfurt)
Team
Corporate/M&A: Andrea Ziegler (partner, Frankfurt), Friederike Kiechle (associate, Frankfurt),
IT: Dr. Matthias Scholz (partner, Frankfurt), Björn Helwig (counsel, Frankfurt),
Employment: Dr. Burkard Göpfert (partner, Munich), Dr. Sina Pfister (associate, Munich)
Tax: Jochen Meyer-Burow (partner, Frankfurt)
Public Law: Dr. Stephan Götze (counsel, Berlin)
Antitrust: Christian Horstkotte (partner, Düsseldorf)
and many other lawyers of Baker & McKenzie based in Hong Kong, New York, Singapore, Taipei and Tokyo
Inhouse Heraeus-Gruppe: Helge Heindl (Head of M&A Legal), Maria Busch (Legal Counsel)
