Ashurst advised Dr Hubert Ampferl (Dr. Beck & Partner) as insolvency administrator of the German Schlemmer group entities on the sale of the business operations of Schlemmer in Europe and Africa to the stock listed French automotive supplier Delfingen Industry SA. The Schlemmer Group is an international manufacturer of complex plastic parts in extrusion and injection moulding for the automotive industry.
The business operations acquired by the Delfingen Group comprise a turnover of EUR 100 million, 1,000 employees and 6 companies / plants in Germany, Romania, Russia, Spain, Italy, Morocco and Tunisia.
Despite the Corona crisis and the generally unstable times in the automotive sector, the parties have succeeded in transferring a major part of the business operations in Europe and Africa and in securing a large part of the jobs in Hassfurt and Aschheim. The structure of the transaction was extremely complex, consisting of several asset and share deals and various labour law measures.
Already a few weeks ago, Ashurst advised Dr Hubert Ampferl successfully on the sale of the Asian business operations (including a 50% share in a joint venture with the NBHX Group) to the joint venture partner Fengmai-Ningbo Huaxiang Group.
The Ashurst team was led by partner Alexander Ballmann and senior associate Anna Geissler (both Restructuring / Distressed M&A). They were assisted by counsel Dr Dorothea Tachezy (Restructuring / Distressed M&A), counsel Dr Karsten Raupach (Restructuring / Financing), counsel Dr Maria Held (Competition), associate Felicia Illbruck (Restructuring / Distressed M&A, all Munich) and counsel Dr Fabian Klein (IP/IT, Frankfurt). In addition, the offices in Paris (Africa Desk) with partner Yann Alix and associate Claudia Cicone (both Projects), Madrid with partner Jose Christian Bertram, associate Juan Aznar (both Finance) and junior associate Beatriz Aizpún (Corporate), Milan with partner Paolo Manganelli (Restructuring) and senior associate Andrea Di Rosa (Private Equity) and London (Russia Desk with senior counsel Sergei Ostrovsky) as well as the offices of Schoenherr in Rumania were involved.
