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Gleiss Lutz advises H.I.G. Capital on the acquisition of Leuna-Tenside GmbH by its portfolio company Vantage Specialty Chemicals

Vantage Specialty Chemicals, a portfolio company of US private equity investment firm H.I.G. Capital, is taking over German-based Leuna-Tenside GmbH. Gleiss Lutz advised H.I.G. Capital extensively on the transaction. Closing of the deal, which is subject to approval by the authorities, is expected to occur by the end of 2018.

Purchaser Vantage Specialty Chemicals Holdings Inc., headquartered in Chicago/Illinois, is a leading provider of natural based specialty chemicals focused on personal care, food, consumer, and industrial end markets. It is a portfolio company of H.I.G. Capital, a leading global private equity investment firm with approx. USD 30 billion of equity capital under management.

The H.I.G. family of funds includes private equity, growth equity, real estate, debt/credit, lending and biohealth. The firm employs a team of 350 investment professionals and has branch offices in Miami, New York, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Atlanta, London, Hamburg, Luxembourg, Madrid, Milan and Paris as well as Bogotá, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.

Global chemicals company Leuna-Tenside is a market leader in niche, specialty surfactant production. Surfactants are vital ingredients used in the manufacture of a wide range of products for daily use, including consumer goods and personal care products. Leuna-Tenside GmbH was founded in 1995 by way of a management buyout of a business division of the former Leuna Werke and has various large-scale chemical plants on a site of approx. 100,000 m².

The following team of Gleiss Lutz lawyers advised H.I.G. Capital on the transaction: Dr. Jan Balssen (Munich), Dr. Christian Cascante (Frankfurt, both lead, partner, corporate/M&A), Dr. Michael Ilter, Dr. Julia Müller (both M&A/private equity, Frankfurt), Anselm Christiansen (corporate/M&A, Stuttgart), Dr. Stefan Mayer (partner), Dr. Ocka Stumm, Leonhard Kornwachs (all tax, Frankfurt), Dr. Doris-Maria Schuster (partner), Dr. Sebastian Schulte (both employment), Frank Schlobach (partner), Patrick Reuter (both finance, all Frankfurt), Dr. Iris Benedikt-Buckenleib (counsel, competition/antitrust, Munich), Dr. Jacob von Andreae (partner), Aylin Hoffs (both Düsseldorf), Dr. Marc Ruttloff (counsel, Stuttgart), Dr. Lars Kindler, Dr. André Lippert (both Berlin, all public law), Marina Stoklasa (compliance), Dr. Philipp Naab (counsel), Oksana Weber-Kim (both real estate, all Frankfurt), Dr. Matthias Werner (counsel), Dr. Theresa Uhlenhut (both IP, Munich), Anna Karpf, Dr. Britta Kamp (both commercial contracts, Stuttgart).

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