Kristina Willmes

Kristina advises both international and domestic clients in a large variety of corporate law aspects, such as corporate governance, compliance and restructuring.

Kristina has special expertise in cross-border M&A transactions, with a focus on private M&A deals. She further has relevant experience in capital markets law, particularly with regard to initial public offerings. Her recent practice also includes legal counselling in highly litigious shareholder disputes.

Work highlights

Transactions of significance where substantial involvement can be disclosed included advising:

• Acerinox, S.A. on the acquisition of special alloys manufacturer VDM Metals Holding GmbH.
• Aperam SA on the acquisition of the stainless-steel recycling company ELG from Franz Haniel & Cie. GmbH.
• Covestro AG on the € 1.6bn acquisition of the Resins & Functional Materials business from Royal DSM.

• Volkswagen AG and Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG in connection with the initial public offering of shares and the sale of a minority stake in Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG. to Porsche Automobil Holding SE.
• Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG on the acquisition of the remaining stake in MHP Management- und IT-Beratung GmbH.
• Cummins Inc. on the acquisition of two plants operating in the exhaust aftertreatment business from Forvia by way of a combined share and asset deal and following a complex carve-out from Forvia Group.
• Avi Alliance GmbH on the sale of Budapest Airport to a consortium consisting of the Hungarian state-owned Corvinus Zrt. and the French co-investor Vinci Airports.
• Silgan Holdings Inc. on the acquisition of leading plastic packaging manufacturer Weener Plastics from 3i Group plc.

Kristina Willmes joined Linklaters in 2019 as associate and was appointed Managing Associate in 2023. In 2021/2022, she worked for Volkswagen AG in Wolfsburg for several months as part of a special mandate.

Kristina Willmes studied law with specialized foreign language training in English and Spanish at the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster and the Universidad Adolfo Ibañez (Chile). She also holds a Master of Laws (LL.M.) from the University of Virginia.