Frei­burg — The Bros. Knauf KG, based in Ipho­fen, took over all shares in the Neurup­pin-based family company Opitz Holz­bau GmbH & Co KG at the turn of the year. The globally active manu­fac­tu­rer of buil­ding mate­ri­als and cons­truc­tion systems is thus streng­thening its commit­ment to the future market of light­weight cons­truc­tion. Opitz Holz­bau specia­li­zes in the produc­tion and marke­ting of prefa­bri­ca­ted light­weight cons­truc­tion elements, in this case mainly wooden panel buil­ding elements. With the sale, the family busi­ness sett­les the company succes­sion. Knauf will conti­nue to operate Opitz as an inde­pen­dent company at the exis­ting site.

The family-run tradi­tio­nal company Opitz is one of the leading suppli­ers of carpen­try and prefa­bri­ca­ted cons­truc­tion compa­nies in the field of join­ery, nail plate trus­ses and wooden panel buil­ding elements in Germany. In the modern future factory of Opitz Holz­bau in Neurup­pin (Bran­den­burg), the company manu­fac­tures, among other things, wall, roof and ceiling elements for buil­dings in low-energy and passive cons­truc­tion. Opitz Holz­bau will be contin­ued by Knauf as an inde­pen­dent company. In addi­tion to the clas­sic busi­ness, the sale of wooden panel buil­ding elements, Knauf is plan­ning to manu­fac­ture light­weight steel buil­ding elements for faca­des, walls and ceilings in Neuruppin.

The Knauf Group is one of the leading inter­na­tio­nal manu­fac­tu­r­ers of buil­ding mate­ri­als and buil­ding systems. Knauf is repre­sen­ted by produc­tion faci­li­ties and sales orga­niza­ti­ons in more than 86 count­ries at over 220 loca­ti­ons world­wide. Knauf plants produce modern drywall systems, plas­ters and access­ories, ther­mal insu­la­tion compo­site systems, paints, flowing screeds and floo­ring systems, machi­nes and tools for the appli­ca­tion of these products as well as insu­la­tion mate­ri­als. In fiscal 2016, the Knauf Group gene­ra­ted annual sales of 6.5 billion euros with around 27,400 employees worldwide.

In the context of the tran­sac­tion, Knauf was advi­sed by a corpo­rate and M&A team of the commer­cial law firm Fried­rich Graf von West­pha­len & Part­ner in Frei­burg and Frank­furt under the lead of FGvW part­ner Dr. Barbara Mayer (photo) provi­ded compre­hen­sive advice in all legal areas: from legal due dili­gence to contract nego­tia­ti­ons and labor law issues to the closing. FGvW has acted for Knauf for many years; in parti­cu­lar, FGvW part­ner Gerhard Manz has advi­sed on nume­rous tran­sac­tions for the company in recent years. Opitz Holz­bau was advi­sed on the tran­sac­tion by lawy­ers from Warth & Klein Grant Thorn­ton in Düsseldorf.

Advi­sor Knauf Group: Fried­rich Graf von West­pha­len & Partner
Dr. Barbara Mayer, Part­ner (Lead Part­ner, Corpo­rate, M&A), Freiburg
Gerhard Manz, Part­ner (Corpo­rate, M&A), Freiburg
Julia Rein­hardt, Asso­ciate (Corpo­rate)
Frie­de­rike Schäff­ler, Part­ner (Real Estate, State Aid Law)
Dr. Sabine Schrö­ter, Part­ner (Labor Law), Frankfurt
Susanne Lüdde­cke, Local Part­ner (Labor Law), Frank­furt­A­bout Fried­rich Graf von

About West­pha­len & Partner
Fried­rich Graf von West­pha­len & Part­ner is one of the leading inde­pen­dent German commer­cial law firms. The firm’s appro­xi­m­ately 85 lawy­ers, 31 of whom are part­ners, advise compa­nies world­wide from offices in Colo­gne, Frei­burg, Frank­furt am Main, Alicante and Brussels, as well as from coope­ra­tion offices in Shang­hai, São Paulo and Istan­bul. In total, the firm has around 200 employees. For more infor­ma­tion, visit www.fgvw.de.