Baker McKenzie advised the Crown Property Bureau, the Bangkok-based agency responsible for managing investments of the Kingdom of Thailand, on the sale of a majority shareholding in the Kempinski Hotels Group to a co-investor from the Kingdom of Bahrain. The parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price. The transaction was signed and completed on 15 and 16 February 2017.

Baker McKenzie's international team from Thailand and Germany advised the seller on all material legal aspects of the transaction. The transaction structure provides for a joint venture through which the seller will retain a minority shareholding in the Kempinski Hotels Group.

"The numerous cross-border elements of the transaction were a particular challenge for the negotiations with the buy-side. We were able to accompany our client effectively with an international team", commented Primyadar Duangrat, the lead partner at Baker McKenzie Bangkok.

    We had to consider a significant number of corporate, anti-trust and tax issues in Germany and various other jurisdictions. With our integrated approach at Baker McKenzie, we were well equipped to assist our client throughout the entire process,

commented Dr. Heiko Gotsche, the German lead partner at Baker McKenzie Dusseldorf.

Founded in 1897, Kempinski Hotels Group is Europe's oldest luxury hotel chain. Kempinski's rich heritage of superb hospitality is complemented by the exclusivity of its properties. Kempinski's portfolio comprises 73 five-star hotels in 31 countries in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia, including Hotel Adlon in Berlin, Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten in Munich, Kempinski Grand Hotel in St. Moritz and the Emirates Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi.

Baker McKenzie regularly advises clients on cross-border transactions and reorganizations. Most recently Baker McKenzie advised the owners of Fragrance Resources on the sale of its fragrance business to International Flavors & Fragrances, Inc., Schneider Electric on its acquisition of all assets of ABG Braun AG, CORESTATE on its acquisition of Hannover Leasing, Heraeus Group on the sale of the global high-performance target materials business to the US-based Materion Group, MAGNA International on its acquisition of the BÖCO Group, ZF Friedrichshafen AG on the sale of the Cherry Group, Dassault Systèmes on the acquisition of the CST group, Sulzer on the takeover of the GEKA group of 3i, Allegion on the acquisition of Trelock, RWE and E.ON on the sale of their shares in the Luxembourg energy supplier Enovos, HITACHI Koki on the acquisition of Metabo AG and Barry-Wehmiller group on the acquisition of the operations of Winkler+Dünnebier GmbH.
Baker McKenzie team

Lead

Corporate/ M&A: Primyadar Duangrat (partner, Bangkok), Dr. Heiko Gotsche (partner, Dusseldorf)

Further Team

Corporate/ M&A: Charupat Boon-Long (associate, Bangkok), Kammalard Urapeepatanapong (associate, Bangkok), Dr. Christoph Dachner (associate, Munich), Cosima König (associate, Dusseldorf)

Antitrust: Christian Horstkotte (partner, Dusseldorf), Dr. Johannes Weichbrodt (associate, Dusseldorf), Wassamon Lohachitranond (associate, Bangkok)

Tax: Kitipong Urapeepatanapong (partner, Bangkok), Christoph Becker (partner, Frankfurt), Friederike Göring (associate, Frankfurt), Jana Fischer (associate, Frankfurt)