Corporate Transactions Capabilities – Germany

Tiefenbacher is ALFA International’s member firm in Germany and is one of the major independent mid-sized law firms in Germany with more than 55 attorneys and 4 tax advisors, supported by staff of 95 employees, and provides for a broad range of comprehensive commercial legal services to both domestic and international clients. The services include all areas of corporate and commercial law, mergers and acquisitions, IT/IP, data protection/privacy and antitrust law, banking and finance law, tax law, national employment and labor law as well as all areas of real estate law, among others. Partners regularly serve as administrators in insolvency proceedings and advisers on restructuring projects. The firm’s international capacity has grown with the continued expansion of its international clientele over the past 15 years, especially but not exclusively in assisting international clientele to start up doing business in Germany or elsewhere in Europe.

Types of corporate transactions in which our firm has particular expertise

Our firm is focussed on providing fast and practice-oriented legal advice with the required attention to detail at the same time. We always want to understand the client’s business and have therefore a high level of understanding for the client’s interests.

We advise both medium-sized and large companies on the acquisition of subsidiaries and the expansion of their portfolio as well as the divestiture of business units or restructuring. We support our clients in all transactional phases, not only in structuring or conducting due diligence reviews, contract negotiation, and financing, but also in obtaining governmental clearances or approvals in all sectors, handling of redundancies or advising on the fulfillment of post-closing obligations, such as the arrangement of securities with a special focus on minimizing risks of personal liability of the board members and managing directors concerned. We are also capable of handling any related tax issues.

The size of our firm’s corporate transactions team

Our corporate transaction practice comprises seven partners, each with a different practical emphasis, twelve associates each with a profound general civil and commercial law knowledge as well as different practical areas, such as employment, data-protection, IP/IT, anti-trust, or banking and finance law. Furthermore, our corporate transactions team includes two tax advisors with a special focus on international taxation. Our corporate team is supported by other attorneys specialized in other fields of business law as the need arises.

Examples of transactions our firm has undertaken

  • Advised the largest German organic food wholesaler by the sale of an enterprise specialized in the import of processed organic food from outside Europe to a multinational food company focused on organic, headquartered in France with a transaction volume of 21 million EUR
  • Advised a French agri-food group regarding the acquisition of two German entities in the malting sector, including legal due diligence and SPA as well as post-closing integration, deal volume 120 million EUR
  • Acted as advisor for an Australian ASX listed company for the takeover of a German venture-capital financed start-up in the healthcare sector with a subsidiary in Spain; joint efforts with Spanish ALFA International firm to reorganize the corporate structure of the group; transaction volume of up to 18 million EUR
  • Acted as advisor for a US-based company for the acquisition of real estate for the establishment of a production facility in Germany, transaction volume of almost 30 million EUR
  • Acted as local counsel for an US-based private investment fund for the acquisition of the European branch of a Nasdaq listed software distributor, also for the review of the security documents issued after closing for the leveraged buy-out with a transaction volume of 30 million USD
  • Advised a US-based client for the acquisition of an aircraft and assistance with the deregistration with the EASA
  • Acted as local counsel for a Nasdaq listed UK-based pharmaceutical company by the acquisition of a US-based pharmaceutical company with a transaction volume of 60 million USD in particular with assistance of including the German subsidiaries under the cross-stream loan guarantees issued for the financing of the transaction
  • Advised one of the largest manufacturer-independent leasing companies in Germany on the contractual structuring of the financing of the acquisition of a railroad by a Swiss company with a transaction volume of 80 million EUR
  • Advised a multi-national market leading renewable energy company and negotiated agreements in connection with the release of collateral to three German limited liability companies in the renewable energy sector to secure a EUR 60 million loan to date as part of a pan-European transaction.
  • Acted as counsel to a Nasdaq listed UK-based pharmaceutical company in relation to the corporate restructuring of the German entities
  • Acted as local legal and tax counsel for the establishment of a German subsidiary of a US-based restaurant chain which operates restaurants on US air bases in Germany, of a US-based company covering infrastructure projects for off-shore wind parks and a large US-based company building innovative printing presses; continued legal and tax counsel for all of the aforementioned
  • Acted as local counsel to a US-based software company enabling sports teams to elevate their performance with video and analytics with the corporate restructuring of the German subsidiary
  • Acted as local counsel to a US-based software company providing streaming software with the corporate restructuring of the German subsidiary
  • Acted as legal and tax counsel to a company in the Hospitality business with the corporate restructuring and refinancing of one of Germany´s biggest hotel complexes; transaction volume 45 million EUR
  • Acted as Liquidator for the liquidation of an unprofitable German subsidiary of a Swiss SWX-listed company in the nutrition industry
  • Advised a Finnish equipment supplier for cable network operators by acquisition of a German provider for passenger information systems