Gleiss Lutz has advised ZF Friedrichshafen AG on the sale of its Rubber & Plastics business unit to Zhuzhou Times New Material Technology Co., Ltd. (TMT), which is listed on the Shanghai stock exchange. The Rubber & Plastics business unit will be carved out and transferred to a new company. The transaction is one of the largest Chinese direct investments in Germany so far.
The takeover is expected to be completed in the first half of 2014, and is still subject to regulatory approvals, including in China and Europe.
The Rubber & Plastics business unit is part of ZF’s Chassis Technology division. With approx. 3,300 employees at nine sites across Europe, North and South America, Asia and Australia, it is set to generate sales of about 700 million euros in 2013. TMT will retain all existing production sites. The investor also agreed to guarantee long-term job security to the employees.
With extensive experience dealing with Chinese matters, Gleiss Lutz acted as lead counsel, coordinating the other international law firms involved. In 2012, for example, the firm advised Kion on the investment by Chinese conglomerate Shandong Heavy Industry, the largest direct investment by a Chinese company in Germany to date.
ZF was advised by a Gleiss Lutz team led by Dr. Ralf Morshäuser (partner, Munich), Dr. Michael Arnold (partner, Stuttgart, both corporate/M&A) and Dr. Steffen Krieger (partner, Düsseldorf, employment), which included Dr. Tobias Falkner (Munich), Richard L. Notz (Stuttgart, both corporate/M&A), Dr. Matthias Werner (counsel), Dr. Björn Kalbfus (both IP/IT, Munich), Dr. Matthias Karl (partner), Dr. Philipp Pichler (both competition/antitrust, Stuttgart), Dr. Elena Wilke, Matthias Deyhle (both employment, Düsseldorf), Dr. Charlotte Beck (counsel, pensions, Berlin), Dr. Tim Weber (partner), Dr. Linda Schlegel (both real estate, Frankfurt) and Dr. Andreas Neun (partner, Berlin) and Dr. Burghard Hildebrandt (partner, Düsseldorf, both public law).
ZF Friedrichshafen’s in-house counsel team comprised the following lawyers: Dr. Jan Eckert (Head of Legal), Wolfgang Reiser (Dielingen, Germany), Dr. Martin Grabolle, Dr. Volker Nenstiel and Michael Tremer (Friedrichshafen, Germany), Mauricio Camargo (Sorocaba, Brazil) and Tom Schank (Northville, USA).
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