Franke Holding, a Swiss-based industrial manufacturer with a global presence, agreed to sell Franke Water Systems, a division of Franke Group, to funds advised by the private equity firm Equistone Partners Europe. Franke Water Systems is a producer and supplier of kitchen and bathroom fittings for residential, (semi-)public and commercial sectors and has production sites and competence centers in Switzerland, the European Union, United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates and China. The transaction is subject to approval by the relevant competition authorities.
The advisors
NKF acted as legal advisor to the Franke Group in this transaction. The NKF team was led by M&A partner Till Spillmann (pictured right) and included senior associates Andrea Giger and Deirdre Ni Annrachain, associate Corinne Russi and junior associate Sven Pinter (all M&A), working with partner Adrian Koller (M&A/Finance), Clara-Ann Gordon (Data Protection), Nicolas Birkhäuser (Anti-trust), Valerie Meyer Bahar (Employment) and senior associate Sven Kälin (Tax).
Bär & Karrer advises funds advised by Equistone on the acquisition of Franke Water Systems. Bär & Karrer acted as Lead Counsel alongside with the local counsels LATHAM & WATKINS LLP (legal in Germany, UK and UAE), WOLF THEISS Rechtsanwälte (legal and tax in Austria), Hannes Snellman Attorneys (legal and tax in Finland), Han Kun Law Offices (legal in China) and WTS Wirtschaftstreuhand Steuerberatungsgesellschaft (partly in collaboration with local partners for Transfer Pricing as well as taxes in Germany, UK, China and UAE).
The team of Bär & Karrer includes Christoph Neeracher (pictured left), Philippe Seiler, Luca Jagmetti, Isabelle Stalder, Adrian Zampieri, Patrick Zumsteg and Dominique Nguyen (all M&A), Susanne Schreiber, Cyrill Diefenbacher, Martin Leu, Michael Rohrer and Anke Stumm (all Tax), Ralph Malacrida, Micha Schilling, Faton Aliu and Tim Salz (all Financing), Markus Wang and Jonas Bornhauser (both IP/IT), Laura Widmer and Laura Rubeli (both Employment), Ruth Bloch-Riemer and David Weimann (both Pensions), Rehana Harasgama (Data Protection) as well as Mani Reinert (Antitrust).
