Hengeler Mueller advises EQT on sale of Springer Science+Business Media
19. June 2013
EQT Partners, a leading private equity group has sold the scientific publisher Springer Science+Business Media to BC Partners, a private equity firm operating worldwide. The possibility of an IPO was examined parallel to the sale, so that the transaction was conducted in a dual track process.
Springer Science+Business Media is a leading global scientific, technical and medical publisher, providing quality content via innovative information products and services.
Springer Science+Business Media published around 2,200 English-language journals and more than 8,000 new book titles in 2012. Moreover, Springer publishes the largest eBook Collection in the publishing fields science, technology and medicine and the largest portfolio of open access journals worldwide. The turnover of Springer Science+Business Media in 2012 was EUR 976.3 m. Springer has more than 7,000 employees worldwide.
Hengeler Mueller advised EQT Partners in two teams both relative to the sale and to the proposed IPO. Legal advice on the sale was provided by partners Hans-Jörg Ziegenhain and Alexander Nolte (both lead, M&A, Munich), Matthias Scheifele (Tax), Daniel Weiss (Finance) and Christian Hoefs (Labour) (all Frankfurt), Maximilian Schiessl (Corporate, Düsseldorf), Albrecht Conrad (TMT, Berlin), counsel Attila Oldag as well as senior associates Thomas B Paul (Düsseldorf), Fabian Seip (Berlin) and associates Robert Kilian, Matthias Berberich, Anna Schulz (all Berlin), Benedikt Migdal, (Düsseldorf), Thomas Krawitz (Munich), Sonnhild Draack, Peter Wehner, Eckbert Müller and Lisa Friedsam (all Frankfurt).
Relative to the IPO, the Hengeler Mueller team included partners Reinhold Ernst, Maximilian Schiessl and Dirk Busch (all Capital Market / Corporate, Düsseldorf), Christian Hoefs (Labour), Stefanie Beinert (Tax, both Frankfurt), counsels Mathias Link and Cecilia Di Ció (both Frankfurt) as well as senior associates Andreas Stoll (Frankfurt), Thomas B. Paul, Carsten Wettich (both Düsseldorf) and associates Irene Kämper, Christian Strothotte, Julia Schamarek (all Düsseldorf), Martin T. Mohr, Peter Wehner und Steffen C. Hörner (all Frankfurt).
