WOLF THEISS has advised the sportswear manufacturer PUMA in seven countries on the foundation of a European Company (Societas Europaea/SE) by conversion. WOLF THEISS thus underscore their expertise in international corporate law.

The sport lifestyle company PUMA, which is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, has changed its legal form into a European Company (SE) and trades as PUMA SE since entry of the conversion into the German commercial register on 25 July 2011. After its conversion, PUMA is now organized according to the monistic system which, in contrast to the dualistic system with the separation between management board and supervisory board common in Germany, provides for a single administrative board. At the annual general meeting in April 2011, 99.82 percent of shareholders had approved the decision to convert the AG into an SE.

PUMA currently generates about 90 percent of its sales outside Germany and likewise approximately 90 percent of its 9,700 staff are employed outside of Germany. Converting into an SE will also strengthen the position of employees: In addition to the national works councils in PUMA’s respective subsidiaries, the employees will also be represented in PUMA SE’s administrative board and its SE works council.

The Wolf Theiss team led by partner Clemens Philipp Schindler advised PUMA with regard to the conversion in Austria, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, the Slovak Republic and Slovenia. The partners Harald Stingl and Matthias Unterrieder were also instrumental in this project and coordinated the Wolf Theiss offices in the region. “We are pleased that we could advise PUMA on this prestigious project in seven countries,” says Schindler, a recognised SE specialist who recently advised a family holding organized as an SE on their cross-border transfer of its statutory seat from Germany to Austria based on SE regulations. Schindler also has expertise in cross-border mergers and is currently advising an international bank on a merger from Austria to France. Together with Stingl, Schindler is also the editor of the practitioner’s guide “Cross-Border Mergers in CEE/SEE” published by LexisNexis in which Wolf Theiss lawyers analyzed the topic for a total of 12 countries.

PUMA’s principal advisor to PUMA was the German law firm Pöllath + Partners led by Dr Wolfgang Grobecker and Dr Eva Nase.