Baker McKenzie advises Datwyler on the acquisition of CTsystems

Baker McKenzie Switzerland has advised publicly listed Datwyler, a specialist for system-critical elastomer components, on its acquisition of Swiss startup company CTsystems. With this acquisition, Datwyler is able to strengthen its position for the future technology of electroactive polymers by obtaining several patents of CTsystems.

Electroactive polymers in a unique stacked design enable completely new applications in the car of the future and in the markets of the general industry business unit of Datwyler. This polymers convert electrical energy into sensitive and versatile mechanical motion through elastic deformation. With the patented solution, it is possible for the first time to produce stack actuators on an industrial scale.

With more than 20 operating companies, sales in over 100 countries and close to 7,000 employees, Datwyler, headquartered in Switzerland, generates annual sales of more than CHF 1 billion. The company has been listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange since 1986. From the other side, Zurich-based CTsystems is a highly specialized engineering company that has significantly advanced the dielectric elastomer technology to market-ready products.

Baker McKenzie has advised Datwyler on all the legal aspects of the transaction. The Zurich team was led by Alexander Fischer (partner, m&a, pictured left) and Matthias Trautmann (counsel, m&a, pictured right) and consisted of Benedikt Rutscheidt (associate, m&a), Andrea Puricelli (trainee lawyer), Sandra Marmy (associate, IP), Susanne Liebel-Kotz (senior associate, tax), Cathrin Marxer (associate, m&a), Julia Schieber (partner, IP), Tiziana Hongler (associate, IP) and Boris Wenger (partner, antitrust and competition).