Holger Hofmeister

Dr. Hofmeister has been repeatedly recognized by Handelsblatt/Best Lawyers in Germany for his work in M&A and Private Equity Law. He also is listed as a recommended lawyer in JUVE.

Dr. Hofmeister’s representative matters include advising, among others: 

• Adevinta ASA in its US$9.2 billion acquisition of eBay Classifieds Group from eBay Inc.
• Airbnb, Inc. in its acquisition of Germany-based fewoVista S.L. & Co. KG and Vacaleo GmbH
• Apax Partners in connection with:
  • its proposed US$8.5 billion bid for ISS/AS, a facilities management provider, from Goldman Sachs Capital Partners and EQT Partners AB
  • the US$420 million sale of Versatel AG, a provider of telecommunications and information technology services, to Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., a private equity firm
• Black Diamond Capital Management, L.L.C., along with InvestIndustrial, in their US$425 million acquisition of the phenolic specialty resin, hexamine and European forest products resins businesses of Hexion Inc.
• Braskem S.A. in its US$323 million acquisition of the polypropylene business from The Dow Chemical Company
• the shareholders of Canyon Bicycles, Roman Arnold and TSG Consumer Partners in the sale of a majority stake in Canyon Bicycles to Groupe Bruxelles Lambert
• Coty Inc. in its strategic partnership with KKR & Co. Inc., including the carveout sale of 60% of its professional beauty and retail hair businesses to KKR with an enterprise value of US$4.3 billion
• Credit Suisse Energy Infrastructure Partners in its acquisition of a minority stake in the €2 billion Arkona offshore wind farm
• Daimler AG in connection with various matters, including:
  • the carve-outs of the cars/vans and trucks/buses businesses from Daimler AG to Mercedes-Benz AG and Daimler Truck AG, respectively
  • the carve-out and disposals of Daimler dealerships throughout Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg
  • projects relating to the cooperation with Renault-Nissan-Alliance
  • various real estate disposals
  • the sale of its subsidiary Russ & Janot GmbH to Lei Shing Hong Limited
  • the sale of its subsidiary Taunus-Auto-Verkaufs GmbH to KBM Motorfahrzeuge GmbH & Co. KG
  • the divestiture of its worldwide Chrysler distribution business
• Dürr AG, a major German mechanical and plant engineering firm, in connection with:
  • several M&A transactions, including the acquisition of MEGTEC/Universal, iTAC Software AG and Hekuma GmbH
  • the formation of the joint venture ADAMOS (ADAptive Manufacturing Open Solutions) with Software AG, DMG Mori, Zeiss and ASM PT
• funds advised by Energy Infrastructure Partners AG in a €530 million investment for a 49% stake in BayWa r.e. renewable energy GmbH
• Fresenius SE & Co. KGaA, a health care company in Germany, in the sale of Fresenius Biotech GmbH to the Fuhrer family, owners of Neopharm Ltd., a pharmaceutical company
• Gulf Energy Development Group in its:
  • acquisition of a 24.99% indirect equity stake in Outer Dowsing Offshore Wind Project, an early-stage development of a 1,500 MW offshore wind farm located off the Lincolnshire coast in eastern England that is expected to commence commercial operation in late 2029
  • acquisition of a 50% stake in offshore wind farm Borkum Riffgrund 2 from Global Infrastructure Partners and its joint venture with Ørsted
  • the subsequent disposal of 50.01% of its stake in the €3 billion wind farm, representing a 25% interest in the project, to a joint venture of Singapore-based Keppel Infrastructure Trust and Keppel Corporation Limited, and the related joint venture agreement between Gulf and Keppel
• Hamburg Commercial Bank (f/k/a HSH Nordbank) in connection with its privatization and related matters, including the sale of a loan portfolio
• Hermann Rosen, founder of ROSEN Group, a global leader in inspection and integrity management services for energy transmission pipelines, in the carve-out of the company’s New Ventures division, the sale of ROSEN Group to Partners Group AG and a significant reinvestment by Mr. Rosen in the new ownership structure
• Hidrovias do Brasil S.A. in its acquisition of the South American shipping business of Imperial Logistics Limited
• Hillenbrand, Inc., a holding company for a funeral products manufacturer and an industrial equipment supplier, in its:
  • US$730 million acquisition of the Food and Performance Materials business of Schenck Process
  • definitive agreement to acquire Abel GmbH & Co. KG, a manufacturer of inter alia diaphragm pumps and certain of its affiliates from Roper Technologies, Inc., a diversified technology company, for €95 million in cash
  • US$530 million acquisition of Coperion GmbH, a manufacturer of industrial machinery and plants, from Deutsche Beteiligungs AG, a private equity firm
• IAC/InterActive Corp in its acquisition of a majority shareholding in MyHammer Holding AG from Holtzbrinck Digital GmbH and the subsequent voluntary takeover
• KAP-Beteiligungs-Aktiengesellschaft in its public takeover by a subsidiary of The Carlyle Group and in connection with several M&A transactions
• Koenigsegg Group in the proposed acquisition of Saab, the Swedish auto manufacturer, from General Motors
• Konecranes Plc in its US$1.5 billion acquisition of Terex Corporation’s material handling and port solutions business segment
• LANXESS AG, a global specialty chemicals company, in its US$2.5 billion all-cash acquisition of Chemtura Corporation
• the shareholders of marbis GmbH (doing business as Nitrado) in the sale and rollover of all shares to funds managed by FLEX Capital Management GmbH
• Mercedes-Benz in its investment in European battery cell manufacturer Automotive Cells Company alongside founding joint venture partners Stellantis and TotalEnergies, with an objective to reach capacity of at least 120 GW hours in Europe by 2030 for an investment volume of more than €7 billion
• Merck KGaA, a biotechnology and pharmaceutical company, a distributor of laboratory products, and a manufacturer of specialty chemicals, food additives and cosmetics, in connection with:
  • its €13.8 billion all-cash acquisition of Sigma-Aldrich Corporation and in the divestiture of certain business of Merck/Sigma-Aldrich to obtain antitrust clearance for such acquisition
  • the US$6.7 billion sale of its worldwide generic drugs business to Mylan Laboratories, Inc. Prior to sale, the business underwent a significant reorganization with a number of related carve-out transactions to separate the generics business from the remaining Merck group
• Odewald & Compagnie, a private equity firm, in its acquisition of Oberberg Kliniken, an operator of mental health clinics
• Quadriga Capital in connection with various M&A transactions, including the sale (together with Barclays Private Equity) of Jack Wolfskin GmbH, a manufacturer and retailer of sportswear and apparel, to The Blackstone Group, L.P.
• The SCP Group in its acquisition of Real GmbH from METRO AG
• Silver Lake in its strategic partnership and investment in German publicly listed company Software AG via the purchase of €344 million aggregate principal amount of subordinated unsecured convertible notes. This is the first PIPE by any U.S. technology investment firm in a German public company
• Süd-Chemie AG in the formation of a US$300 million joint venture with Ashland Inc. to merge their foundry chemicals businesses under the name of ASK Chemicals GmbH
• Telegraaf Media Groep N.V. in the sale of its interest in SBS Broadcasting and its option to purchase a minority stake in ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG
• TPV Technology Limited in the proposed acquisition of a 70% interest in a joint venture, which will own and control the entire television business of Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. in Europe and certain South American countries
• Unilever PLC in the sale of its Russia business to Arnest Group
• Vue Entertainment Ltd. in its acquisition of CinemaxX AG from Dr. Herbert Kloiber, Dr. Kloiber Vermögensverwaltungsgesellschaft mbH & Co. Beteiligungs KG and other shareholders
• WABCO Holdings Inc. in its US$7 billion acquisition by ZF Friedrichshafen AG