Herbert Smith Freehills LLP advises national companies and blue chips, including Deutsche Lufthansa and Rheinmetall, on mid-cap M&A, including joint ventures, divestitures and acquisitions. Sönke Becker leads the team and focuses on cross-border transactions, joint ventures and corporate issues. The departure of Jan Eltzschig (M&A and joint ventures in the insurance sector) to ADVANT Beiten in December 2023 was balanced by the arrival of Gregor Klenk (industry focus on technology and life sciences) from Goodwin in February 2024.

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Key clients

  • Deutsche Lufthansa
  • AGCO
  • Rheinmetall
  • TK Elevator
  • Seeing Machines
  • ALD
  • CAP S.A.
  • GIC
  • AustralianSuper
  • Neometals
  • Pacifico Energy Partners
  • XLinks

Work highlights

  • Advising Lufthansa Group on the sale of its global catering division LSG Group to private equity firm Aurelius Group.
  • Advising AGCO on the acquisition of the software division of BayWa subsidiary FarmFacts.
  • Advising Rheinmetall AG on the execution of the purchase agreement with MaxamCorp. Holding SL to acquire all shares in Expal Systems SA, a global ammunition manufacturer.

Practice head

The lawyer(s) leading their teams.

Sönke Becker

Other key lawyers

Gregor Klenk