On 11 July 2008, the French bank group Crédit Mutuel acquired the total retail banking business of Citigroup in Germany. The purchase price amounts to EUR 4.9 billion. The consummation of the transaction is subject to the approval of the relevant cartel authorities.
Crédit Mutuel has already established itself in Belgium, Luxembourg and Switzerland. With its takeover of Citibank Deutschland and an associated network of altogether 340 branches and 3.3 million customers in Germany along with a market share of roughly seven per cent in the German consumer credit business, Crédit Mutuel will have an important position in Europe.
Gleiss Lutz worked alongside Bredin Prat, Credit Mutuel's usual M&A counsel. The following Gleiss Lutz team acted for Crédit Mutuel:
Core team:
Prof. Dr. Gerhard Wegen (partner, Stuttgart), Dr. Detlef Bauer (partner, Frankfurt), Dr. Andreas Wölfle (partner, Stuttgart, all lead), Martin Lembke (Stuttgart), Dr. Patrick Binzel (Berlin), Dr. Dominik Kallweit, Susanne Romberg (both Stuttgart)
Corporate/M&A/Commercial:
Dr. Thorsten Gayk, Dr. Michael Burian, Dr. Claudia Krapfl (all Stuttgart), Sebastian Knappe, Dr. Juliane Pätzold (both Berlin)
IP/IT:
Dr. Stefan Weidert (partner), Dr. Alexander Molle, Dr. Roland Witzel, Dr. Julia Schulz (all Berlin)
Tax law:
Dr. Achim Dannecker (partner, Stuttgart), Dr. Stefan Mayer (Frankfurt), Dr. Alexander Werder, Dr. Jörg Weltin, Natalie Schweda (all Stuttgart)
Pensions/CTA:
Dr. Stefan Lingemann (partner), Dr. Charlotte Beck, Dr. Meike Gotham (all Berlin)
Labour law:
Dr. Katrin Haußmann (partner, Stuttgart)
Banking and fiscal law:
Dr. Helge Kortz (partner), Dr. Burkhard Jäkel (partner), Dr. Kai Birke, Teresa Baldwin, Dr. Michael Klose, Signe Schwarze (all Frankfurt)
Banking supervisory law: Dr. Olaf Otting (partner), Vanessa Bayliss (both Frankfurt)
Antitrust law:
Dr. Martin Raible, Dr. Ole Andresen, Gregor Wecker (all Stuttgart)
Insurance law:
Dr. Hansjörg Scheel (partner, Stuttgart)
Data protection law:
Dr. Christian Hamann (Berlin)
Real property law:
Dr. Yvonne Kerth (Stuttgart)
Litigation:
Dr. Ingrid Naumann (Berlin)
The Bredin Prat team was led by Benjamin Kanovitch (partner) and Kate Romain (counsel, both Corporate). Also acting were: Florence Haas, Noémie Tuil (both Corporate), Yves Rutschmann (partner), Julien Gayral (both Tax, all Paris), Marc Pittie (partner) and Karin-Amélie Jouvensal (both Antitrust, Brussels).
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