Steinfurt/ Munich — Jones Day is advising Georgia-Pacific LLC (“GP”) in connection with the sale of its European nonwovens business to a subsidiary of P.H. Glatfelter Company (“Glatfelter”) for US$185 million. The transaction includes GP’s nonwovens production in Steinfurt, North Rhine-Westphalia, and sales offices in France and Italy. The transaction involves the sale of shares in certain GP subsidiaries to a subsidiary of Glatfelter and is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2018, subject to regulatory approval.
Headquartered in Atlanta and employing approximately 35,000 people worldwide, GP is one of the leading manufacturers of nonwoven fabrics for the production of napkins, baby wipes, toiletries, cosmetics, and cleaning and wet wipes. The company employs around 220 people in Steinfurt. Glatfelter was founded in Pennsylvania in 1864 and employs approximately 4,200 people at 13 manufacturing locations in North America, Europe and Asia. The company produces specialty papers and fiber materials.
Advisor Georgia-Pacific LLC: Jones Day
The team was led in Europe by Maximilian Krause and Stefan Schneider (both M&A — Munich) and in the US by Troy Lewis and Bobby Cardone (both M&A — Dallas).
The Jones Day team included: Markus Ledwina and Moritz Richter (both M&A — Munich), Markus Hamann (Public Law and Regulation — Frankfurt), Dr. Christian Fulda (Intellectual Property — Munich), Dr. Markus Kappenhagen (Labor Law — Düsseldorf), Christian Trenkel (Real Estate — Munich), Dr. Klaus Herkenroth and Oliver Staatz (both Tax — Frankfurt), Michael Walraven (M&A — Dallas), Jean-Gabriel Griboul and Alexandre Wibaux (both Private Equity — Paris), Fabrizio Faina, Andrea Cesana, Marianna Consiglio and Patrizia Pedretti (all M&A — Milan), Tom Briggs and Rob Latta (both Intellectual Property — San Diego), Jean-Michel Bobillo (Employment — Paris), Andrew Eisenberg (Tax — Washington), Kelly Rubin (Tax — Dallas).
Advisors to P.H. Glatfelter Company: Shearman & Sterling LLP
Clare O’Brien, Daniel Litowitz (both Partners, M&A — New York), Andreas Piepers (M&A — New York), Sven Oppermann, Philipp Jaspers (both M&A — Frankfurt), Ethan Harris, Ryan Au (both Tax — Washington, DC), Anders Kraft, Astrid Mayer (both Tax — Frankfurt), Jordan Altman and Benjamin Petersen (both Intellectual Property — New York).
Stockum & Partner: Dr. Rainer Thum, Benedikt Graefenstein (both Labor Law — Frankfurt).
This mandate again underscores Jones Day’s strength in cross-border transactions. In the last three months alone, the Jones Day team has attracted attention with three other significant deals: advising PAG Asia Capital as co-investor of KSS on the US$ 1.6 billion acquisition of Takata, Procter & Gamble on the € 3.4 billion acquisition of Merck’s global consumer health division, or Plastic Omnium on the majority acquisition of HBPO Group (enterprise value: € 350 million).
About Jones Day
Jones Day is one of the world’s best and most diversified commercial law firms and has been recognized for years as the most client-focused firm. Jones Day advises and represents more than half of the DAX 30 companies and has been the number one firm by number of M&A deals completed worldwide without interruption since 2000 (Thomson and Bloomberg). The firm employs more than 2,500 lawyers in 43 business and financial centers worldwide — including about 600 in Europe and 200 in Asia. In Germany, the firm is represented by more than 100 professionals in Düsseldorf, Frankfurt and Munich.