Mandate

Gleiss Lutz advises Valora on takeover of BackWerk

Gleiss Lutz has advised Swiss based Valora Holding AG on the acquisition of the German food service company BackWerk. The transaction has a value of approx. EUR 190 million and is subject to approval by the German antitrust authorities. Closing is expected to take place in the fourth quarter of 2017.  

As listed company, Valora operates throughout Europe and has a network of around 2,500 convenience and food service retail outlets across Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Luxembourg and France. Positioned at locations with a high level of consumer frequency, these outlets service around one million customers per day. The acquisition of BackWerk’s over 340 franchise outlets will make Valora one of Germany’s leading vertically integrated food service providers. Valora has external sales of more than 2.5 billion Swiss francs and a workforce of over 4,000 employees.  

BackWerk, inventor of the self-service bakery, is the largest baked goods producer in Germany. The company, which today has more than 220 franchisees and over 340 outlets, has been the leading franchise system in the industry ever since its inception in 2001. More than 3,000 people work for the BackWerk franchisees, approximately 100 of them in the BackWerk group’s headquarters in Essen. With external sales in excess of EUR 200 million, BackWerk has succeeded in increasing the number of outlets by around 25% over the last five years.  

As lead counsel, Gleiss Lutz advised Valora comprehensively on the transaction and was responsible for coordinating the involvement of further law firms in the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Austria and the Netherlands. Gleiss Lutz already assisted Valora back in 2012 when it acquired the Ditsch/Brezelkönig group.

The Gleiss Lutz team advising on the acquisition of BackWerk comprised the following lawyers: Dr. Patrick Kaffiné (lead, partner, corporate/M&A), Dr. Stefan Mayer (partner, tax, both Frankfurt), Dr. Jörn Wöbke (partner, corporate/M&A, Hamburg), Dr. Eike Bicker (partner, corporate/M&A), Dr. Wolfgang Bosch (partner, competition/antitrust), Dr. Tim Weber (partner, real estate), Dr. Thomas Winzer (partner, employment and labour law, all Frankfurt), Dr. Jacob von Andreae (Partner, public law, Düsseldorf), Dr. Rüdiger Schmidt-Bendun, Jan Philipp Mohr, Vanessa Carduck, Julian Klose (all corporate/M&A, all Frankfurt), Dr. Philipp Naab (counsel), Dr. Marcus Reischl, Svenja Bender, Oksana Weber-Kim (all real estate, all Frankfurt), Dr. Jonas Rybarz, Konrad Discher (both real estate, both Berlin), Thorsten Glombik, Christian Heinrichs (both tax), Dr. Tobias Abend (employment and labour law), Dr. Alexander Fritzsche, Sergej Bräuer (both competition/antitrust, all Frankfurt), Kevin Grimmeiß (public law, Düsseldorf), Dr. Matthias Werner (counsel, intellectual property, Munich), Dr. Benjamin Herz, Dr. Dr. Tajan Tober (both finance/capital markets, both Frankfurt) and Dr. Simon Wagner (dispute resolution, Stuttgart).

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