WFW advises Köberl on new partnership agreement with Gimv24 February 2020

Watson Farley & Williams (“WFW”) has advised the founders of Munich-based Köberl Group (“Köberl”) on their new partnership agreement with European investment management company Gimv (“Gimv”), who acquired a majority stake in Köberl. The transaction is subject to customary conditions, including approval by the competition authorities. Financial details of the transaction have not been disclosed.

Brothers Armin and Karl Köberl retain a substantial minority stake in Köberl and will continue as the group’s managing directors. The new partnership with Gimv enables Köberl to strengthen its digitalisation programme, expand further regionally and broaden the range of services it offers, including customer-specific building management design.

Köberl is one of the leading full-service building technology and facility management services providers in southern Germany. Entities within the group include FINK Gebäudetechnik GmbH & Co. KG, GEMA Gebäudemanagement GmbH & Co. KG and SGM Süddeutsche Gebäudemanagement GmbH.

Gimv is a European investment management company with a focus on private equity and venture capital. Listed on Brussels’ Euronext exchange, it currently has €1.1bn under management spread across 50 portfolio companies.

The multi-disciplinary WFW Germany team advising Köberl was led by Frankfurt Corporate Partner Dr Christoph Naumann, working closely with Hamburg Tax Partner Verena Scheibe on all tax aspects of the transaction. They were supported by Partners Frederik Lorenzen (Banking & Finance, Frankfurt), Dr Christine Bader (Regulatory and Competition, Hamburg) and Dr Nikolaus Krienke (Employment, Hamburg), as well as Frankfurt Corporate Associates Dr Manuel Köchel, Dr Marius Rothermund and Dr Robert Schalber and Transaction Lawyer Janine Henger. Munich Senior Associate Christian Schnurrer and Hamburg Associate Richard Henshaw advised on the drafting of the managing directors’ new employment contracts.

Christoph commented: “We are delighted to have successfully advised Köberl on its new partnership with Gimv. That we were instructed to do so underlines WFW Germany’s reputation for first class transactional advice across multiple service lines”.

Armin and Karl Köberl said: “Christoph is an excellent lawyer who was extremely professional and tactful throughout the transaction, meeting all our requirements comprehensively. We highly recommend WFW, especially Christoph, in every respect”.