Berlin — In selling its 49% stake in Like­Meat to The Live­kindly Company, Inc. (“LIVEKINDLY Coll­ec­tive”), SMP advi­sed the foun­der and former CEO of Like­Meat, Timo Recker, as well as Recker Holding GmbH. As a result of the tran­sac­tion, LIVEKINDLY Coll­ec­tive became the sole share­hol­der of Like­Meat, having alre­ady acqui­red the remai­ning 51% stake in the renow­ned food company from heristo AG earlier this year. Further details of the tran­sac­tion were not disclosed.

SMP also assis­ted Timo Recker in his invest­ment in the inter­na­tio­nally active plant-based food company as part of the $200 million “Foun­ders’ Funding Round.” As a member of the “Foun­ders’ Board” of LIVEKINDLY Coll­ec­tive, he actively supports the global food company with his exten­sive indus­try expertise.

Timo Recker will now apply his exten­sive indus­try expe­ri­ence to the Asian market. As co-foun­der and CEO of Next Gen Foods, he plans to deve­lop high-quality plant-based foods that address the hete­ro­gen­eity of the Asian food market. The company is curr­ently prepa­ring a Series A finan­cing round for 2021.

“The sale of Like­Meat was one of the largest exit tran­sac­tions in the “plant-based-food” segment in recent years and thus forward-looking for an entire indus­try” says SMP part­ner Martin Scha­per. “We are plea­sed to have mana­ged this complex cross-border tran­sac­tion and are watching the plant-based food market with great inte­rest” he added.

Like­Meat
Like­Meat GmbH was foun­ded in 2013 by Timo Recker and is still conside­red a pioneer in the produc­tion of plant-based foods. Like­Meat has its admi­nis­tra­tive head­quar­ters in Düssel­dorf and two produc­tion faci­li­ties in Oss, the Nether­lands. As of March 2020, Like­Meat is part of The Live­kindly Company, Inc. and is headed by the mana­ging direc­tor Tal Nadari. The company employs 120 people and sells its products mainly in food retail. Today, Like­Meat products are available in Germany, the United King­dom, Scan­di­na­via and the Netherlands.

The Live­kindly Company, Inc.
The Live­kindly Company, Inc. (“LIVEKINDLY Coll­ec­tive”) combi­nes estab­lished brands and startup brands, inclu­ding The Fry’s Family Food Co, Oumph! and Like­Meat GmbH. It also includes LIVEKINDLY Media, the leading publisher of plant-based topics. LIVEKINDLY Collective’s mission is to trans­form the global food system and is curr­ently the only company in the plant-based food space to map the entire value chain. LIVEKINDLY Coll­ec­tive has built stra­te­gic part­ner­ships with seed growers, produ­cers and distri­bu­tors and inves­ted in infra­struc­ture to trans­form tradi­tio­nal meat production.

About SMP
SMP is a specia­list tax and commer­cial law firm opera­ting in the core areas of corpo­rate, funds, liti­ga­tion, tax and tran­sac­tions. SMP attor­neys and tax advi­sors repre­sent a wide variety of clients. These include emer­ging tech­no­logy compa­nies and family-run medium-sized enter­pri­ses as well as corpo­ra­ti­ons and private equity/venture capi­tal funds. Since its foun­da­tion in 2017, SMP has become one of the leading addres­ses for venture capi­tal, private equity and fund struc­tu­ring in Germany. The firm and its part­ners have been reco­gni­zed natio­nally and inter­na­tio­nally by JUVE, Best Lawy­ers, Legal 500, Focus, and Cham­bers and Part­ners. Today, SMP employs over 50 expe­ri­en­ced lawy­ers and tax advi­sors in three offices in Berlin, Hamburg and Colo­gne. www.smp.law

Advi­sors Timo Recker / Recker Holding GmbH: SMP
Dr. Martin Scha­per, Photo (Lead/Corporate), Partner
Dr. Malte Berg­mann (Taxes), Partner
Dr. Martyna Sabat (Corpo­rate), Associate
Dr. Ansgar Frank (Corpo­rate), Asso­cia­ted Partner
Dr. Sebas­tian Schödel (Corpo­rate Liti­ga­tion), Asso­cia­ted Partner
Pia Meven (Corpo­rate), Associate
During his time at SMP, Dr. Peter Möll­mann was also instru­men­tal in advi­sing on the sale of LikeMeat.

Advi­sors Timo Recker / Recker Holding GmbH: Dr. Koops & Partner
Dr. Chris­tian Ruhe, Chris­toph Gerhards

Advi­sors Timo Recker / Recker Holding GmbH: KNPZ Rechts­an­wälte
Dr. Kai-Uwe Plath, Matthias Struck

Advi­sors Timo Recker / Recker Holding GmbH: Buhler Duggal & Henry (New York)
Dr. Raoul Duggal, Carl T. Berry

Advi­sors Timo Recker / Recker Holding GmbH: Luther (Singa­pore)
Birgitta von Dresky, Nina Rompis