NKF advises Ambienta on the sale of SF-Filter to Equistone

Niederer Kraft Frey has advised Ambienta, one of Europe’s largest asset managers entirely focused on environmental sustainability, on the sale of its portfolio company SF-Filter, Europe’s renowed supplier of mobile and industrial filters, to funds advised by Equistone Partners Europe. The parties have agreed to observe confidentiality regarding the financial details of the transaction. From the other side, Bär & Karrer has advised funds advised by Equistone on the acquisition.

Ambienta has acquired a majority stake in SF-Filter in January 2016 trasnforming the company from an owner-operated into a management-run enterprise with an experienced management team and a modern cross-national matrix organisation. Today SF-Filter, headquartered in Bachenbülach (Switzerland), operates sales and logistics centres in Germany, Austria, France and Poland, plus a number of export markets. 

The NKF team was led by corporate/m&a partners Philip Spoerlé (pictured right) and Andrea Giger (pictured left), working with senior associate Katalin Siklosi as well as partners Catherine Grun (employment) and Adrian Koller (finance), senior associate Livia Keller (employment), associates Benedikt Hadorn and Binderiya Gan-Ayush (both corporate/m&a) as well as junior associates Carlotta Ulmer and Alexander Zuger (both corporate/m&a).

Bär & Karrer has acted as lead counsel alongside with the local counsels LATHAM &WATKINS (legal in Germany and France), E+H Rechtsanwälte (legal in Austria), Schindler Attorneys (legal in Austria), Wardyński & Partners (legal and tax in Poland), Flick Gocke Schaumburg (tax in Germany) as well as Aigner Buzanich (tax in Austria).

The Bär & Karrer team was led by Christoph Neeracher (partner, pictured right) and Philippe Seiler (partner, pictured left) and included Luca Jagmetti, Carlo Hunter, Luca Tarzia, Djawad Kleist and Marcel Lüscher (all m&a), Susanne Schreiber, Cyrill Diefenbacher, Martin Leu and Anke Stumm (all tax), Ralph Malacrida and Micha Schilling (both financing), Laura Widmer and Manuel Schmid (both employment), Ruth Bloch-Riemer and Marco Weiss (both pensions), Rehana Harasgama (data protection), Jonas Bornhauser (IP/IT) as well as Kilian Müller (real estate).