M&A
Clifford Chance is primarily active in the energy and infrastructure, telecommunications and automotive sectors and advises DAX and other major German companies on joint ventures, minority investments, sell-offs and demergers as well as on public takeovers and capital market transactions. Jörg Rhiel (acquisitions, sales, mergers and joint ventures) and Christoph Holstein (cross-border transactions and global restructuring) have been jointly heading the corporate department since November 2022 and are supported by transaction specialist Thomas Krecek (focus on financial services companies), Anselm Raddatz, who focuses on private equity, and public and private M&A expert Markus Stephanblome. The group also promoted three lawyers to the partnership: Dominik Heß, who is experienced in corporate law, and Simon Schmid, who advises on private M&A deals in the automotive and healthcare sectors, made partner in May 2022, while Moritz Petersen, who assists financial investors and companies with transactions, followed in May 2023.
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
- 'The team is incredibly diverse. In addition to excellent legal advice, they have always managed the balancing act between a large corporation and small/medium-sized companies. In addition, there was a very complex transaction structure, which covered a wide variety of legislation, all of which was perfectly managed by partner Simon Schmid and his team.'
- 'In addition to their outstanding professional competence, they have always demonstrated exceptional social intelligence, which has helped us achieve succesful deals.'
- 'Clifford Chance has proven to us many times that the client is at the center of everything they do. It is important for us to have a partner who, in addition to excellent legal expertise, can also offer a broad portfolio of specialists and cross-border locations. Clifford Chance meets these requirements excellently.'
- 'Consistency in quality; Access to many comparable transactions on the market; diversity is taken seriously, positively exemplified and implemented to the benefit of quality/client.'
Key clients
- Airbus
- Ariston Holding N.V
- Atlantia
- BNP Paribas
- Cellnex Telecom, S.A.
- Cinven
- Hilti
- Hitachi Ltd.
- Hochtief / ACS
- Macquarie Asset Management (MAM)
- Oldenburgische Landesbank
- Pfizer Inc.
- RHI Magnesita
- Software AG
- Symrise AG
- Telefonica Tech
- Trinseo
- Volkswagen AG
- Airbus
- ASSA ABLOY
- KNM
- Heraeus
- Hilti
- Green Investment Group
- Neuraxpharm
- Oldenburgische Landesbank
- Redevco
- RHI Magnesita
- Software AG
- Telefónica Tech
- Technip Energies
- Trinseo
- Volkswagen AG
Work highlights
- Advising Cinven on the acquisition of Bayer's Environmental Science division as part of a €2.4 billion carve-out.
- Advising Pfizer Inc. on the proposed demerger of Haleon plc from GSK plc and the placement of Haleon's common shares on the London Stock Exchange and the American Depositary Shares, which represent common shares, on the New York Stock Exchange.
- Advising Atlantia on the acquisition of road transport subsidiary Yunex Traffic from Siemens. The infrastructure holding company controlled by the Benetton family of entrepreneurs is paying €950 million for Yunex, in which other strategists and also financial investors were interested.
Practice head
The lawyer(s) leading their teams.
Christoph Holstein, Jörg Rhiel