Mergers and Acquisitions
Gleiss Lutz is one of Germany’s leading M&A advisors – and as one of the largest law firms in the country, we have the resources to handle even the most complex, high-volume M&A deals. Our full service approach ensures that we can bring in renowned experts from all relevant fields to work on any given transaction. Gleiss Lutz’s specialist legal teams draw on comprehensive expertise and experience to offer clients seamless service and tailored solutions. Our regulatory experts take care of all filing requirements that apply – for example, under merger control, investment control, and subsidy law. According to Mergermarket, we have assisted clients with over 800 successful M&A deals over the past 15 years – providing legal, strategic, and tactical advice in cooperation with firms from our international network. Those deals have increasingly included cross-border transactions of ever greater size and complexity.We assist our clients across all phases of a transaction – whether acquisitions, mergers or sales, and including carve-outs, strategic alliances and joint ventures.
"The renowned M&A practice excels both in inbound deals for international strategists and for family-owned businesses and large German corporations."
Worldwide Legal Advisory
Virtually all of the M&A transactions on which Gleiss Lutz acts as an advisor are cross-border in nature. Through our international network of top-class, trusted law firms we can cover all relevant jurisdictions worldwide. We consult with our clients to ensure that we put together the best international team with respect to budget and the legal task at hand.
And as an independent law firm, we are free to choose local advisers based on clients’ specific requirements – ensuring consistently high-quality and transaction appropriate advice and seamless service across borders. Our tried-and-tested global advisory approach can be summed up as: one face to the client, one engagement letter, one bill.
Acquisitions and divestitures
Advising on acquisitions and divestitures, specifically of non-listed target companies, has been a cornerstone of our legal advisory for decades. We support all types of cross-border M&A transactions with all their facets.
Our advice begins with the preliminary strategic considerations and planning, also with a view to the anti-trust aspects, as well as with initial discussions with potential buyers, moves on to the structuring of the purchase or sale including carve-out (as an auction or as an exclusive process with a prospective bidder), preparing the necessary documentation and conducting negotiations, then finishes with the successful closing. Integrated teams made up of M&A and capital markets specialists also provide comprehensive advice on dual-track processes and all the specific issues relating to them.
Public Takeovers
Advising on public takeovers is a major focus of our M&A practice. The firm has proven experts who have been involved in nearly 100 planned or executed public takeovers (both friendly and hostile) over the past 15 years – whether representing the buyer, target company, or financial adviser.
For the buyer our advice begins, in particular, with the preliminary strategic considerations and planning, also with a view to the anti-trust aspects, the development of the appropriate transaction structure, the preparation of the offer documents, negotiations with possible main shareholders of the target company, discussions with the regulatory authorities, and post-closing measures such as a possible squeeze-out, as well as the target company following a successful takeover. For the target company we develop and help implement appropriate defensive strategies in case of a hostile takeover and advise on all contractual, regulatory and tax issues and on all issues relating to corporate and capital markets law.
Joint Ventures
Gleiss Lutz has traditionally been involved in the establishment of domestic and cross-border joint ventures. Our sector specialists’ precise industry knowledge, for example of the automotive industry, of the energy industry, in the fields of healthcare, technology and digital economy, banking and insurance, and of other sectors, is a decisive advantage.
Working with our clients and other advisers, we develop tailored strategies that meet the requirements of our clients not only on the purely legal side, but also in particular with regard to the particular characteristics of the respective industry.
Private Equity Transactions
Gleiss Lutz advises financial investors including family offices on all legal and tax aspects of the complete spectrum of investment or divestment alternatives like leveraged buy-outs, management buy-outs, management buy-ins, and similar types of strategies, as well as public takeovers, take-private transactions, and acquisitions of minority interests.
A special focus of our legal advisory services is on large-cap transactions. We also advise on a variety of complex mid- and small-cap transactions.
Distressed M&A / Restructurings in and outside of crisis situations
Advising on the purchase or sale of companies that are distressed or insolvent is one of our specialties. For this we draw on the expertise and experience of both our M&A and our restructuring and insolvency specialists.
Gleiss Lutz has been one of the most prestigious international addresses for many years and regularly provides advice in this area to companies, shareholders, creditors, insolvency administrators, and investors on major restructuring cases. The spectrum of issues that we cover includes transactions that take place in the context of company and group restructurings, irrespective of whether these are carried out for strategic reasons, for tax-optimisation purposes, or in the wake of a crisis.
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