Aebi Schmidt merges with Shyft: the advisors
Bär & Karrer advised Swiss vehicle manufacturer Aebi Schmidt on its merger with the U.S. specialty vehicle manufacturer The Shyft Group, advised by Lenz & Staehelin. Niederer Kraft Frey advised UBS Switzerland as underwriter and mandated lead arranger and Zürcher Kantonalbank as lead arranger on the financing provided to the Aebi Schmidt Group in the context of the merger.
The operation will be executed as an all-stock merger, allowing Shyft’s shareholders to swap their Shyft shares for new shares in Aebi Schmidt. Consequently, at closing, Shyft shareholders will own 48% and Aebi Schmidt shareholders will own 52% of the combined company. Shyft’s stock currently trades on the Nasdaq, where the combined company will continue to trade.
The transaction is subject to approval by authorities and the shareholders of Aebi Schmidt and Shyft and is expected to close by mid-2025
The teams
Bär & Karrer acted as legal advisor to Aebi Schmidt. Urs Kägi (pictured left) and Rolf Watter (pictured right) led the team. It also included associates Linus Zweifel and Shu Zhang, partner Vera Naegeli and associate Marie-Cristine Kaptan (all corporate/M&A and capital markets), partner Mani Reinert, and associate Tim Meyer (both antitrust).
Lenz & Staehelin advised Shyft Group on this transaction. The L&S Team was led by Matthias Wolf (pictured). Further, it included partner Patrick Schärli, associates Nicolas Lehmann and Kaan Saritas (all corporate/M&A and capital markets), counsels Lukas Aebi and Franziska Stadtherr (tax), partner Matthias Oertle and associate Remo Schmidlin (employment, executive compensation), partner Marcel Tranchet (finance), partner Peter Ling, associates Jil Eichenberger and Noemi Rizza (IP/IT) and partner Astrid Waser (antitrust).
The NKF team was led by partner Philip Spoerlé (pictured right), working with associate Selim Lötscher and junior associate Norina Frey (all transactions) as well as partner Markus Kronauer (tax). NKF was supported on U.S. matters by a team of Latham & Watknis LLP led by Jesse K. Sheff (New York).
