Munich, 20 June 2013. Linklaters has advised the GoodMills Group GmbH on the acquisition of additional shares in VK Mühlen AG. The aim of the transaction was the consolidation of GoodMills in the European market. Co-parties were BayWa AG, the Swedish company Lantmännen ek för and the Olbrich family, already a substantial shareholder in VK Mühlen AG; a German company with a long tradition. With this transaction, GoodMills has increased its shareholding in VK Mühlen from 54.4% to more than 91%. The shareholding of Gothaer Versicherungsbank VVaG in VK Mühlen remains unchanged.

GoodMills, owned by Leipnik-Lundenburger Invest Beteiligungs AG (LLI), is the holding in which the group’s grain milling activities are concentrated. Through its ownership of GoodMills, LLI has held shares in VK Mühlen for more than ten years. The Vienna-based GoodMills, a wholly-owned subsidiary of LLI, operates 29 milling locations in seven countries – primarily in central and eastern Europe – and processes more than three million tons of grain annually, making it the largest grain milling group in Europe. With its approx. 680 employees and ten locations, the Hamburg-based VK Mühlen AG is Germany’s largest grain processing company.

Linklaters team was led by Dr Rainer Traugott (Corporate, Munich). Other team members included Dr Timo Engelhardt (Corporate, Munich), Andreas Schaflitzl (Tax, Munich), Sebastian Goslar (Corporate, Dusseldorf), Thomas Broichhausen (Corporate, Munich) and Stephanie Bruhn (Tax, Munich).

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