Berlin — The Chinese company Sino Biophar­maceu­ti­cal Limi­ted is buying Softhale NV. Softhale is a priva­tely held Belgian company focu­sed on the deve­lo­p­ment of products for the treat­ment of respi­ra­tory dise­a­ses. Its next-gene­ra­tion Soft Mist Inha­la­tion (“SMI”) device is based on diffe­ren­tia­ted tech­no­logy and enables more effi­ci­ent drug depo­si­tion in the lungs.

The tran­sac­tion volume is USD 110 million and addi­tio­nal payments rela­ted to regu­la­tory and commer­cial milestones.

An inter­na­tio­nal team of Baker McKen­zie lawy­ers provi­ded compre­hen­sive advice to Sino Biophar­maceu­ti­cal Limi­ted on all legal and regu­la­tory aspects of the tran­sac­tion, with the agree­ment gover­ned by German law. The M&A nego­tia­ti­ons were led by Dr. Thors­ten Seidel in Berlin. The due dili­gence on the Belgian company was led by Baker McKen­zie Brussels under the leader­ship of Domi­ni­que Maes.

“With the successful closing of the tran­sac­tion, we were able to support our client in the imple­men­ta­tion of its growth stra­tegy. With this acqui­si­tion, our client gains a stra­te­gic hub in Europe on its way to beco­ming a major deve­lo­per of inno­va­tive respi­ra­tory products for China and the global market,” commen­ted Dr. Thors­ten Seidel, Part­ner Baker McKenzie.

Sino Biophar­maceu­ti­cal, toge­ther with its subsi­dia­ries, is a leading inno­va­tive rese­arch and deve­lo­p­ment (“R&D”) focu­sed phar­maceu­ti­cal conglo­me­rate in China. Sino Biopharmaceutical’s busi­ness compri­ses a fully inte­gra­ted chain of phar­maceu­ti­cal products that includes a number of inno­va­tive R&D plat­forms and pipe­lines, a range of smart manu­fac­tu­ring faci­li­ties, and a strong distri­bu­tion infrastructure.

Softhale is a Belgian phar­maceu­ti­cal company specia­li­zing in the deve­lo­p­ment of SMI (Soft Mist Inha­la­tion) devices (vapor inha­lers) and rela­ted phar­maceu­ti­cal products for the deli­very of drugs to the lungs.

Baker McKenzie’s global Corporate/M&A team advi­ses on more cross-border tran­sac­tions than any other law firm. Most recently, Baker McKen­zie advi­sed Para­gon on the sale of Novu­mIP to Ques­tel Group, TA Asso­cia­tes on the acqui­si­tion of a majo­rity stake in IGEL, Embra­cer on the acqui­si­tion of Easy­brain Limi­ted, SK Tele­com on a joint venture with Deut­sche Tele­kom, Chr. Hansen Holding A/S in its acqui­si­tion of Jenne­wein Biotech­no­lo­gie GmbH, DBAG in an invest­ment in conga­tec Holding AG, SAP in the sale of its SAP Digi­tal Inter­con­nect commu­ni­ca­ti­ons unit to Sinch AB, Air Liquide in the sale of the Schülke Group to Swedish finan­cial inves­tor EQT, METRO AG in the sale of its China busi­ness and the estab­lish­ment of a stra­te­gic part­ner­ship with Wumei, Bayer AG in the sale of its majo­rity stake in chemi­cal park opera­tor Currenta, and Evonik in the sale of its methacry­la­tes group to Advent International.

Legal advi­sor Sino Biophar­maceu­ti­cal Limi­ted: Baker McKenzie
Lead: Corporate/M&A: Dr. Thors­ten Seidel (Part­ner, Berlin)
Other lawy­ers invol­ved: Corporate/M&A: Domi­ni­que Maes (Part­ner, Brussels), Kim Stas (Coun­sel, Brussels), Derek Poon (Part­ner, Hong Kong), Bruno Schroé (Asso­ciate, Brussels), Holger Engel­kamp (Coun­sel, Berlin)
Employ­ment: Dr. Matthias Köhler (Part­ner, Berlin), Tatjana Serbina (Asso­ciate, Berlin)
IP: Dr. Rembert Niebel (Part­ner, Frankfurt)

About Baker McKenzie

Baker McKen­zie advi­ses clients to successfully deal with the chal­lenges of globa­liza­tion. We solve complex legal problems across natio­nal borders and legal fields. Our unique culture — grown over 70 years — enables our 13,000 employees to under­stand local markets while opera­ting inter­na­tio­nally. We use the trus­ting and friendly coope­ra­tion in our inter­na­tio­nal network for the bene­fit of our clients.

In Germany, around 200 lawy­ers with proven profes­sio­nal exper­tise and inter­na­tio­nal expe­ri­ence repre­sent the inte­rests of their clients at the offices in Berlin, Düssel­dorf, Frankfurt/Main and Munich. As one of the leading German law firms, Baker McKen­zie advi­ses natio­nal and inter­na­tio­nal compa­nies and insti­tu­ti­ons in all areas of commer­cial law.