Linklaters advises investors on the acquisition of Aareal Bank AG
A multi-national Linklaters team has advised the financial investors Advent International Corporation (“Advent”), Centerbridge Partners, L.P. (“Centerbridge”), CPP Investment Board Europe S.à r.l (“CPPIB”), a wholly owned subsidiary of Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (“CPP Investments”), and Goldman Sachs on their successful voluntary public takeover offer to acquire approximately 90 percent of the share capital and the voting rights of Aareal Bank AG.
The takeover offer had been accepted by the shareholders of Aareal Bank in May 2022 and triggered complex regulatory procedures before BaFin and ECB as well as in Singapore which had to be cleared within 12 months. After the ECB approved the majority acquisition on May 22, 2023, the bidder, Atlantic BidCo, announced that all offer conditions have been fulfilled and the settlement of the takeover offer will take place by 7 June 2023. Shareholders that accepted the offer will receive the consideration of EUR 33.00 per tendered Aareal Bank share.
Linklaters, which had been instructed after a successful pitch in 2021, in particular advised on the regulatory procedures in Germany and Singapore, the corporate structuring of the joint holding company in Luxembourg as well as on capital market related issues. The cross-border and cross-practice team was led by partner Dr Andreas Dehio and Managing Associate Dr Julian Emmerich (both Financial Regulation, Frankfurt).
The wider Linklaters team included Dr Frederik Winter (Partner, Financial Regulation, Frankfurt), Peiying Chua Heike (Partner, Financial Regulation, Singapore), Evan Lam (Partner, Financial Regulation and Structured Finance & Derivatives, Singapore), Rémy Bonneau (Partner, Corporate/M&A, Luxembourg), Doug Shaw (Partner, Capital Markets, London), Catherine Kremer (Senior Managing Associate, Corporate/M&A, Luxembourg), Anil Shergill (Managing Associate, Financial Regulation, Singapore), Maike John (Managing Associate, Financial Regulation, Frankfurt), Naomi Noll, Maria Risse (all Associate, Financial Regulation, Frankfurt), Amélie d'Aspremont (Associate, Corporate/M&A, Luxembourg), Troy Pickard-Taylor (Associate, Capital Markets, London).
