International law firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP is advising Charterhouse Capital Partners on its acquisition of Germany-based Armacell Group from Investcorp in a secondary buyout worth around €500 million. The transaction is subject to clearance by the relevant competition authorities and expected to close in the summer of 2013.
Charterhouse Capital Partners leads and invests in large European buyouts and has funds in excess of €8 billion under management. The Armacell Group, based in Münster, Germany, is a manufacturer of engineered foams and the world leader in the market for flexible technical insulation materials. The group of companies operates 19 factories in 13 countries.
The acquisition of the Armacell Group by Charterhouse constitutes one of the largest private equity transactions in Germany so far this year. An interesting aspect setting the transaction apart is the fact that the client chose US financing based on the favorable financing conditions currently available in the US. In this context, it was crucial that Weil, as a globally active law firm, was able to advise the client also on US financing.
The multi-jurisdictional Weil transaction team is headed by German partners Gerhard Schmidt and Christian Tappeiner with the assistance of Munich Corporate partners Thomas Schmid and Barbara Jagersberger, Frankfurt Antitrust/Competition partner Stephan Grauke and associates Kamyar Abrar, Philipp Schlawien, Annabell Grupp, Konstantin Hoppe, Hermann-Matthias Broecker, and Mareike Pfeiffer. German Tax partner Juergen Boerst and associate Sven Ceranowski are advising on tax structuring and management participation issues. Dallas Banking & Finance partner Angela Fontana, with associates Kimberly Perdue and Chad Nichols, is advising on the US financing side. She is being supported by German associates Wolfgang Suess and Lennart Dahmen on German financing aspects and London partners Stephen Lucas and James Hogben, with associates Chris Barron, Tom Richards, and Kirsteen Nicol, on UK financing issues.
