Hengeler Mueller advises Morellato Group on the acquisition of German jewellery company CHRIST
Hansi Ziegenhain has specialised in advising listed companies, family businesses and private equity clients on corporate and M&A matters.
His M&A projects in recent years for listed companies include: sale of the Yunex Traffic (Siemens) to Atlantia S.p.A. (2022), the acquisition of NileDutch B.V. by Hapag-Lloyd AG (2021), the acquisition of ISS Inc. by Deutsche Börse AG (2020), the sale of the Flender group by Siemens to Carlyle (2020), the acquisition of Axioma Inc. by Deutsche Börse AG and General Atlantic (2019), the sale of the Graphite Electrode Business of SGL Carbon to Showa Denko, Tokyo (2016), the sale of trans‑o‑flex Group by Österreichische Post AG (2016), the merger of Coca-Cola Enterprises with Coca-Cola Iberian Partners, S.A. and Coca-Cola Erfrischungsgetränke AG (2015), the acquisition of Erdgasversorgungsgesellschaft to Thüringen-Sachsen from E.ON by First State Investments (2014), the disposition of the Audiology Group from Siemens to EQT (2014), the sale of Siemens' 50% stake in Bosch-Siemens Hausgeräte (BSH) to Bosch (2014).
In advising family businesses, Hansi most recently advised the family shareholders of Renolit SE and RKW SE in connection with the demerger of the group amongst their shareholders (2019), the Hymer family in connection with the sale of Erwin Hymer Group to Thor Industries (2018), Stahlgruber Otto Gruber AG in connection with the sale of Stahlgruber GmbH to LKQ (2017), EQT in connection with the acquisition of a 20 % stake in Otto Bock HealthCare GmbH (2017), the Schön family in connection with Carlyle's acquisition of a minority stake in Schön Kliniken Group (2016), Knorr-Bremse AG in connection with the public takeover of Vossloh (2015), on the Knorr-Bremse IPO (2018), as well as the acquisition of R.H. Sheppard Co., Inc. by Knorr-Bremse (2020).
Apart from the advice of strategic corporate and family businesses, Hansi also advises private equity investors. In recent years, he has advised numerous private equity clients in connection with so-called "dual tracks" (parallel Trade Sale and IPO). Private equity transactions in which he has assisted include: the acquisition by EQT of a minority stake in SHL Medical group (2020), the sale of a minority stake in the Wittur Group to PSP Investments (2019), the sale of CBR Group by EQT to Alteri Investors (2018), the sale of SAG Group by EQT to SPIE S.A. (2016), the sale of FTE Automotive Group by Bain Capital to Valeo (2016), the sale of Armacell by Charterhouse to Blackstone (2015), the sale of Douglas by Advent International to CVC Capital Partners (2015), the sale of Flint Group by CVC Capital Partners to Goldman Sachs and Koch Industries (2014), the acquisition of Erdgasversorgungsgesellschaft Thüringen-Sachsen by First State Investments from E.ON (2014), the acquisition of ista Deutschland GmbH from Charterhouse by CVC Capital Partners (2013), the sale of ista group from CVC Capital Partners to CK Infrastructure (CKI) (2017).
Since 2007, Hansi has held a teaching position for "Mergers and Acquisitions" at the Ludwig Maximilian University (LMU) of Munich, and in 2014, he was awarded an honorary professorship by LMU. Hansi is a member of the International Bar Association (Corporate and M&A Law Committee). In addition, he gives lectures on Mergers and Acquisitions and Private Equity in Germany and abroad and also gives guest lectures at the University of Michigan.
Hansi is nominated by "Who's Who Legal" in Germany as the "Most Regarded M&A Lawyer 2019" and worldwide the "M&A Lawyer of the year 2020". WirtschaftsWoche ranks him in the All-Stars-category first in M&A. Since 2013, Chambers has ranked him in the First Tier of leading German lawyers each for Corporate/M&A (High End Capability) and Private Equity.