Hengeler Mueller advises CITIC Dicastal on the Acquisition of KSM Castings Group

07. July 2011

CITIC Dicastal Wheel Manufacturing Co., Ltd., Qinhuangdao/China has agreed to acquire the KSM Castings Group based in Hildesheim/Germany from funds advised by Cognetas and management. With production facilities across Europe and China, KSM Castings Group is a market and technology leader for automotive light metal castings.

Founded in 1988 and headquartered in Qinhuangdao, Hebei Province, China, CITIC Dicastal is the world’s largest supplier of casting aluminium alloy wheels for the automotive industry. CITIC Group is one of the largest state-owned conglomerates in China.

The transaction remains subject to antitrust approvals in relevant jurisdictions and foreign investment approvals in China and Germany.

Hengeler Mueller advises CITIC Dicastal on the acquisition in an integrated team with Slaughter and May, Beijing (George Goulding).

The Hengeler Mueller team is led by partner Christian Möller and Senior Associate Changfeng Tu (both Corporate/M&A, Düsseldorf) and includes partners Thomas Schmidt-Kötters (Regulatory, Düsseldorf), Alf-Henrik Bischke (Antitrust, Brussels), Christian Hoefs (Labour, Frankfurt), as well as associates Ge Jiang (Düsseldorf), Carsten Lammers (Düsseldorf), Andrea Schlaffge (Düsseldorf), Christian Schröder (Düsseldorf), Sebastian Brack (Berlin), Ulrike Ebert (Düsseldorf), Julia Amling (Düsseldorf), Malte Jaguttis (Düsseldorf), Eckbert Müller (Frankfurt), Helge Rieckhoff (Düsseldorf), David Schneider (Frankfurt) and Sandra Bolz (Frankfurt).