Oppenhoff & Partner advises KMW on takeover of EDAG's civil protection branch

Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) has taken over the production branch for armoured civil vehicles from the German automotive development specialist EDAG and will thereby decisively strengthen its position on the market for protected vehicles. Both companies have decided upon a mutual agreement, subject to the accordance of the cartel authorities.

As the worldwide largest independent development partner the EDAG Group develops concepts ready for serial production and solutions for sustainable mobility in the future. The development of complete modules, vehicles, derivatives and production facilities are part of the business activities, as is the model and prototype production as well as small-scale production. In 2011 EDAG group had a turnover of ca. 720 million Euros and employed more than 5 500 people worldwide.

The EDAG protection branch, with sites in Ingolstadt and Puebla, Mexiko, develops and integrates ballistic protection systems for civil vehicles of worldwide leading vehicle manufacturers. EDAG is considered to be leading in this civil sector.

An Oppenhoff & Partner team led by partner Michael Abels and Alf Baars (Corporate M&A) advised KMW on this transaction. The team also included Isabel Hexel (Employment), Dr. Marc Hilber, Dr. Johannes Rabus (Commercial), Dr. Nina Kuntschik (Tax), Dr. Maxim Kleine, Dr. Daniel Dohrn (Antitrust), Dr. Jürgen Hartung (IT) und Stephan Müller (Environmental law).

Corporate lawyer Alf Baars benefited from his special expertise and experience with transactions in Latin- and South America, in cooperation with Mexican law firm Chacón y Rodriguéz.
Michael Abels: "Once again we have proved that our firm efficiently and successfully advises on transactions all over the world."

Oppenhoff & Partner advises KMW and the Wegmann Group continously and comprehensively, inter alia on the takeover of a 49% share of Siemens AG in Krauss-Maffei Wegmann GmbH & Co. KG by Wegmann Group.

In the fields of M&A the firm most recently advised inter alia on following transactions:

• Canaccord Financial Inc. on £253m takeover of Collins Stewart Hawkpoint plc.
• Sunstar on the acquisition of Interbros
• akf bank on the acquisition of CIT Industriebank
• IPS on the acquisition of the majority holding in the largest Italian press distributor Messaggerie Internazionali S.p.A.
• RTL on the acquistion of netzathleten.net

Oppenhoff & Partner stands for over 100 years of legal counselling on a top level.
The independent firm advises national and international companies and entrepreneurs on matters of commercial and tax law.