A Gleiss Lutz team has advised Nihon Spindle, the Japanese manufacturer of industrial machinery, on its acquisition of the German machine tool manufacturer Leifeld Metal Spinning. The transaction was completed on 29 May 2020. The parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price.
In 2018, a takeover bid by the Chinese Yantai Taihai group failed when Germany’s Federal Government announced that it would be prohibiting the transaction owing to security concerns.
Nihon Spindle is a 100% subsidiary of Sumitomo Heavy Industries. Sumitomo Heavy Industries is a listed Japanese company headquartered in Tokyo with holdings in 170 companies world-wide. The group, employing approximately 22,500 staff around the globe, operates in the business sectors machine parts, precision machinery, construction machinery, industrial machinery, ships and environmental systems.
Headquartered at Ahlen, Leifeld Metal Spinning develops, produces and distributes machine tools for chipless metal forming. The company is one of the leading providers for the technologies spinning, flow-forming, shear-forming, necking-in, and profiling. Over 200 employees work at its locations in Germany, the U.S., China and Russia. Leifeld’s customers include companies in the automotive, aerospace, energy and industrial application sectors.
The following Gleiss Lutz team of Dr. Michael Burian (partner, Frankfurt, lead) and Dr. Anselm Christiansen (Stuttgart) advised Nihon Spindle on the transaction: Dr. Yixiao Li (Stuttgart), Dr. Torsten Spiegel (Berlin), Friedrich Baumgärtel (Düsseldorf), Jannik Hermes (Frankfurt, all M&A), Dr. Jacob von Andreae (partner), Aylin Hoffs (both Düsseldorf), Dr. Christiane Freytag (counsel, Stuttgart, all public law), Dr. Alexander Fritzsche (partner, Frankfurt, competition/antitrust), Dr. Stefan Lingemann (partner), Josefine Chakrabarti, Dr. Larissa Schobert (all Berlin, all employment), Dr. Alexander Molle (partner), Jan Hinrichs (both Berlin, both IP/IT), Dr. Jan-Alexander Lange (Frankfurt, Finance), Dr. Philipp Naab (counsel), Oksana Weber-Kim (both Frankfurt, both real estate), Dr. Johann Wagner (partner), Dr. Dominik Monz and Dr. Philip Niemann (all Hamburg, all tax).
Gleiss Lutz has a leading Japan practice which frequently advises Japanese companies on M&A deals. This year, the law firm has already provided advice to Mitsubishi Chemical on the acquisition of Gelest, Nisshinbo Holdings on the acquisition of RBI and LEAS, development service providers based in Germany, and Sumitomo Heavy Industries Process Equipment, a Sumitomo Heavy Industries subsidiary, on a joint venture with STC-Engineering.
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