Acquisition of ZKW by LG: Gleiss Lutz advises on another billion-euro deal in the automotive sector

Gleiss Lutz represented the shareholder of the Austrian automotive supplier ZKW in the sale of the group to South Korean LG Corporation and its subsidiary LG Electronics. The purchase price is 1.1 billion euros. For LG, this marks the largest takeover in the history of the company. The transaction is subject to clearance by the respective cartel authorities.

ZKW, headquartered in Wieselburg, Austria, is one of the leading automotive lighting and headlight systems provider and one of the most important suppliers for premium car manufacturers like Audi, BMW, Porsche and Daimler. The company has more than 9,000 employees worldwide at sites in Austria, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, China, India, Mexico and the U.S. In 2017 ZKW increased its consolidated group sales to over 1.2 billion euros, i.e. an increase of nearly 30 per cent as compared to the previous year.

The LG Corporation is a South Korean conglomerate operating in the electronics, chemicals, services and telecommunications sector. In Germany, particularly the subsidiary LG Electronics is well-known: it is a leading global provider in the areas of consumer electronics, mobile communications and home appliances. With 125 offices throughout the world and 77,000 employees, LG generated group sales of 47.9 billion US dollars in the 2016 financial year.

Led by Dr. Jochen Tyrolt and Dr. Christian Cascante (both Stuttgart, partners, corporate/M&A), the Gleiss Lutz team included the following lawyers: Johannes Schrägle (counsel), Dr. Maike Sauter, Dr. Markus Martin, Dr. Jan Stenger, Sava Kasaliyski (all Stuttgart), Dr. Michael Ilter (Frankfurt), Dr. Stephan Dangelmayer, Dr. Olaf Hohlefelder (both Munich, all corporate/M&A), Dr. Christian Arnold (partner, Stuttgart), Dr. Thomas Winzer (partner), Dr. Tobias Abend (Frankfurt, all employment), Dr. Achim Dannecker (partner), Dr. Michael Rudolf, Dr. Hanna Datzer, Dr. Konrad Grünwald (all tax, Stuttgart), Dr. Moritz Holm-Hadulla (partner), Dr. Dominik Braun, Andreas Schüssel, Vanessa Gehle (all competition/antitrust, Stuttgart), Dr. Herwig Lux (counsel), Christopher Noll (both Stuttgart, both IP/IT), Dr. Helge Kortz (partner, Frankfurt, banking and finance), Dr. Andrea Leufgen (partner), Dr. Florian Wagner (both Frankfurt, dispute resolution) and Dr. Christiane Freytag (counsel, public law, Stuttgart).

Advising companies in the automotive and automotive supplier industry on all areas of business law is a core competence of Gleiss Lutz. Last year Gleiss Lutz advised Bosch and Mahle on the sale of their joint venture BMTS (Bosch Mahle Turbo Systems) to FountainVest. Gleiss Lutz also advised on, among others, the multi-billion merger of ZF Friedrichshafen and TRW as well as the billion-euros acquisition of GETRAG by Magna.