Watson Farley & Williams (“WFW”) has advised Finatem, a leading independent private equity firm focussing on investing in German “Mittelstand” companies, on its acquisition of Gothaer Fahrzeugtechnik GmbH (“GFT”), a manufacturer of highly specialised products for the crane and construction industry. The parties have agreed not to disclose further details of the transaction.
Operating out of sites in Gotha and Eisenach in the central German state of Thuringia, GFT offers its customers a diverse range of metalworking services from prefabrication to colouring and installation. In 2017, GFT generated sales of circa €50m.
The WFW Germany team advising Finatem was led by Frankfurt Corporate Partner Dr Christoph Naumann, working closely with fellow Frankfurt Partner Frederik Lorenzen (Banking & Finance) and Hamburg Partners Andreas Wiegreffe(Employment), Gerrit Bartsch (Tax), Dr Christine Bader (Public Law) and Eckrolf Berg (Real Estate). They were supported by Frankfurt Senior Associates Sebastian Ens (Corporate) and Dr Tom Hartung (Banking & Finance), and Hamburg Senior Associates Torge Rademacher (IT/IP) and Jörg Walzer (Tax), and Associates Dr Eva-Maria Christiansen (Public Law), Nora Fleischhauer (Employment) and Dr Nicolaj Faigle (Tax).
