Norton Rose Fulbright has advised Chinese-owned holding company Cai GmbH on the sale of its remaining 12.5 per cent interest in GROHE Group S.a r.l., the world’s leading supplier of sanitary fittings. It was bought by the Japanese Lixil Corporation which had already become the main shareholder of GROHE with an 87.5 per cent majority share last year.

The relevant agreements were signed in Tokyo in December 2014. The transaction was closed on 1 April 2015 in Luxembourg after approval from the cartel authorities. Norton Rose Fulbright has provided Cai GmbH with extensive advice regarding all aspects of the transaction.

The Norton Rose Fulbright Team led by Peter Holst (Of Counsel) consisted of Senior Associate Christoph Breithaupt (both corporate, M&A, both Frankfurt), Alexander Hemmelrath (partner) and Frank Bayer (Of Counsel, both tax, both Munich) as well as their colleagues from the Tokyo office Chris Viner (partner), Katarina Svitekova (senior associate) and Mayuko Sakai (associate, all corporate, M&A) and Sun Hong (partner) and Qing Hua Song (associate, both corporate, M&A) from the Shanghai office.

Cai GmbH is owned by Jianshe Cai and Jilin Cai, founders and members of the board of Joyou AG, parent company of Joyou Group, the biggest Chinese sanitary company. GROHE Group is the controlling majority shareholder of Joyou AG.