Baker & McKenzie advised Swiss Sulzer AG on the sale of its Metco division to OC Oerlikon. Sulzer Metco is a leading surface solutions provider with a global presence. With about 2400 employees, Sulzer Metco generated sales of approximately CHF 700 million in 2012. The transaction is subject to clearance of the necessary authorities and pursuant to merger control regulations. The parties expect the transaction to close in the third quarter of 2014.

The transaction was run as an auction sale. An international team of Baker & McKenzie, led by  Frankfurt-based partners Dr Florian Kästle and Dr Nikolaus Reinhuber, advised Sulzer AG on all legal aspects of the transaction. The transaction value amounts to CHF 1 billion, and Sulzer AG expects an inflow of funds of approximately CHF 850 million after tax.

"Advising and supporting Sulzer AG on this large global transaction was very exciting and matched our repertoire perfectly. What made this transaction a success was, yet again, our global presence and the excellent cooperation among our colleagues in the respective countries and, in particular, in Zurich," comments Dr Florian Kästle, partner of Baker and McKenzie's Corporate/M&A practice group.
 
The Baker & McKenzie Corporate/M&A teams regularly advise corporate clients in transactions and reorganizations. Recently Baker & McKenzie advised HOCHTIEF on the sale of its business unit Service Solutions to SPIE group, Sika AG on the acquisition of AkzoNobel’s construction adhesives business unit, MAHLE on the takeover of Behr, TVH on the acquisition of mateco and Karl-Schlecht-Stiftungen on the sale of Putzmeister.

Legal advisors Sulzer:

Baker & McKenzie
Lead: Dr Florian Kästle, Dr Nikolaus Reinhuber (both Partners, Corporate/M&A, Frankfurt)

Further attorneys involved:
Corporate/M&A Dr Christoph Wolf, Christian Atzler, Andrea Ziegler, Mark Devlin (Partners, all Frankfurt), Tilman Wink (Senior Counsel), Anja Safari Chabestari, Matthias Schudlo, Veronika Novikov, Lipei Shi, Christina Brunner (Associates, all Frankfurt), Dr Dorothée Prosteder (Associate, Munich), Janina Glaser, Lena von Richthofen (Associates, both Dusseldorf), Martin Frey (Partner), Petra Hanselmann, Lukas Scherer, Manuel Meyer (Associate, all Zurich)
Tax: Tino Duttiné (Partner, Frankfurt)
Antitrust: Christian Horstkotte (Partner), Dr Anika Yomere (Associate, both Dusseldorf)
Real Estate: Dr Florian Thamm (Partner), Dr Tobias Gräbener (Associate, both Dusseldorf), Carmen Hohlbein (Associate, Munich)
Commercial: Dr Johannes Teichmann (Associate, Munich)
Employment: Dr Hagen Köckeritz (Associate), Lara Link (PSL, both Frankfurt)
Public Law: Dr Julia Pfeil (Associate)
IT: Dr Holger Lutz (Partner), Dr Michaela Weigl (Associate, both Frankfurt)
Further offices involved: Australia, Brazil, China, France, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Canada, Russia, USA

Sulzer Inhouse: 
Dr. Carsten Oermann, Group General Counsel & Company Secretary; Juerg Suter, Corporate Counsel