The Chinese Zhongding Group has acquired all shares of the automotive supplier WEGU Holding GmbH in Kassel, Germany. The seller was an affiliate of Deutsche Mittelstand Beteiligungen GmbH.
WEGU is a manufacturer of vibration damping and noise reduction solutions and lightweight plastic systems, located in Kassel and Slovakia. WEGUs customer base compromises premium OEM automotive manufacturers and leading Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 suppliers.
The Zhongding Group, a leading automotive Tier-1 supplier continues to strengthen its dynamic growth in Europe, after acquiring the majority stake in KACO Group, Heilbronn/Germany. The WEGU Group will be managed as an independent subsidiary of Zhongding Europe GmbH located in Austria. The parent company is listed as “Anhui Zhongding Sealing Parts Co Ltd” on the stock exchange in Shanghai and Shenzhen and generates a revenue of 1,3 billion USD worldwide.
The completion of the company acquisition contract was already signed in January 2015 and was subject to regulatory approval, which have now been granted.
Zhongding Group was strategically and commercially advised by PERLITZ STRATEGY GROUP under the lead of Matthias Litschke, legally by RITTERSHAUS RECHTSANWÄLTE, under the lead of Dr. Claudia Pleßke, partner at Mannheim office, and in tax matters by FALK & Co under the lead of Dr. Alexander Düll, partner at Heidelberg office. The same transaction team of PERLITZ STRATEGY GROUP, RITTERSHAUS and FALK & Co already advised Zhongding Group in a number of M&A transactions in 2014, such as the majority stake in KACO GmbH & Co. KG from Brazilian Sabó Group.
Advisory Team Zhongding Group:
PERLITZ STRATEGY GROUP – Matthias Litschke, Manager (Lead Commercial) and Andreas Offinger, Partner (both Commercial Due Diligence, Deal Structure, Risk Assessment, Price Negotiation).
RITTERSHAUS RECHTSANWÄLTE – Mannheim office: Dr. Claudia Pleßke, Partner (Lead Legal: Legal Due Diligence, Corporate M&A), Dr. Marc Hauser (Corporate M&A), Anno Haberer (Antitrust Law).
FALK & CO: Dr. Alexander Düll, Partner, auditor and tax advisor (Head of M&A and Transaction Services) and Dr. Stefan Tichy, Partner, auditor and tax advisor (Attorney).
Selling-Side Advisory Team:
Gleiss Lutz: Dr. Patrick Mossler, Partner, Hamburg (Lead), Franziska Freiin von Hutten zum Stolzenberg, Dr. Daniel Heck (both Corporate M&A, Hamburg), Dr. Philip Huperz (Real Estate and Construction Law, Berlin), Dr. Iris Benedikt-Buckenleib (Antitrust Law, München).
PERLITZ STRATEGY GROUP (PSG) is an internationally operating, mid-sized management consultancy based in Mannheim, Germany. PSG specializes in corporate strategy, business development, reorganization/restructuring, sales management and innovation management. Its industry focus are the automotive, mechanical engineering, electrical and chemical industries.
RITTERSHAUS is a law firm with offices in Mannheim, Frankfurt and Munich. Mainly specialized on advising medium-sized and large companies, the emphasis of its services are corporate law with a focus on restructuring, M&A, private equity and venture capital transactions, as well as corporate financing and company and asset succession. Other fields of advisory are banking and capital market law, labor law, intellectual property law, public law and IT law.
FALK & CO has been in existence for over 70 years as an independent audit, accounting and tax advisory firm with more than 300 employees throughout 9 national offices. Focusses of the advisory services of FALK & Co. are M&A transactions as well as restructuring measures after an acquisition.
Contact:
PERLITZ STRATEGY GROUP GmbH & Co KG
Matthias Litschke, phone: +49 (0)621-1504217
Mail: matthias.litschke@perlitz.com