Watson Farley & Williams (“WFW”) advised Frankfurt investment company VR Equitypartner GmbH (“VR Equitypartner”) on its acquisition of a stake in Bookwire Gesellschaft zum Vertrieb digitaler Medien mbH (“Bookwire”), a leading provider of software solutions and digital services for the publishing industry. Bookwire’s founders, Jens Klingelhöfer and John Ruhrmann, retain a majority stake in the company.
VR Equitypartner is a subsidiary of Germany’s DZ Bank and a leading provider of private equity finances in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. VR Equitypartner supports medium-sized family businesses on strategic solutions for complex financing issues; its portfolio currently comprises around 100 investments valued at €500m.
Bookwire is a service provider for publisher distribution of eBooks and digital content and has become one of the leading international businesses in digital publishing technology. Founded in Frankfurt ten years ago, Bookwire currently employs more than 50 people in Germany, Spain, Great Britain, Brazil and Mexico, and has continuously achieved double-digit sales growth in recent years.
The cross-border WFW team advising VR Equitypartner was led by Frankfurt Corporate Partner Dr Christoph Naumann, working closely with Hamburg Partners Verena Scheibe (Tax), Dr Ahmad Khonsari (Corporate), Dr Andreas Wiegreffe (Employment) and Of Counsel Torge Rademacher (IP/IT). They were supported by Senior Associates Dr Jan Henrik Pesek and Nora Fleischhauer and Associates Dr Marius Rothermund, Muteber Yalcin, Janine Henger and Verena Weider. In Madrid, Corporate Partner Gonzalo Aranzabal and Tax Partner Luis Soto and Associates Julio Bermúdez and Martín Santos Villegas advised on the Spanish law aspects of the transaction.
