Berlin and Frankfurt - Global law firm K&L Gates LLP recently counseled leading European rail logistics client VTG Aktiengesellschaft on the formation of a joint venture with international logistics organization Kühne + Nagel that will see the companies combine their rail logistics activities under the pan-European VTG Rail Logistics GmbH, effective January 1, 2014.

VTG Aktiengesellschaft will hold a majority stake in the joint venture which, pending the approval of antitrust authorities, will create an expanded rail logistics company with locations throughout Europe. The merger is expected to increase business volume with the new company planning to employ 270 individuals in 12 countries from North Europe to the Bosporus and from West Europe to Russia.

The cross-border transaction included lawyers from several K&L Gates offices. The transaction was led by Berlin corporate partners Dr. Thomas Lappe and Dr. Thomas Derlin, while corporate associates Andreas Menge and Daniel Mösinger advised on the corporate structuring, partner Manfred Hack and associate Dr. Teimuraz Kuprashvili counseled on employment law issues, and partner Dr. Tobias Bosch and associate Dr. Torsten Kraul (all Berlin) advised on intellectual property law matters. Frankfurt partner Rainer Schmitt counseled on tax law.

Additional K&L Gates lawyers included partner Wladek Rzycki and associates Krzystof Gasior, Patrycja Zawirska, and Jan Kacmarcyk from the Warsaw office and Moscow partner Georgy Borisov and associate Sergei Korovkin. Lawyers from the firm’s Berlin office also coordinated the work of local counsel in nine other countries.

VTG Aktiengesellschaft General Counsel Stefan Lohmeyer was responsible for the transaction on the part of VTG.