Düssel­dorf — Luxem­bourg-based steel group Aperam S.A. has acqui­red VDM Metals Group, a produ­cer of specialty steel alloys. The enter­prise value of the target group amounts to around EUR 596 million. The tran­sac­tion is still subject to appr­oval by the rele­vant anti­trust autho­ri­ties. Aperam was advi­sed by the inter­na­tio­nal commer­cial law firm Simmons & Simmons led by Corporate/M&A Part­ner Dr. Chris­tian Bornhorst.

Listed on the Luxem­bourg, Paris, Amster­dam and Brussels stock exch­an­ges, Aperam S.A. is a global produ­cer of corro­sion-resistant and soft magne­tic steel and high-alloy special stain­less steels with custo­mer rela­ti­onships in over 40 count­ries and six produc­tion sites in France, Brazil and Belgium. The three busi­ness areas comprise the segments ‘Stain­less & Elec­tri­cal Steel’, ‘Services & Solu­ti­ons’ and ‘Alloys & Special­ties’. The VDM Metals Group, head­quar­te­red in Werdohl, North Rhine-West­pha­lia, employs around 2,000 people world­wide and gene­ra­tes annual sales of over 1 billion euros. VDM Metals is a global manu­fac­tu­rer of high-perfor­mance nickel alloys, special corro­sion-resistant and soft magne­tic steel, zirco­nium, cobalt, and semi-finis­hed alumi­num and copper. The products of the VDM Metals Group are sold to custo­mers in a wide range of indus­tries. VDM Metals is curr­ently still held by Lind­say Gold­berg, a US private equity investor.

Advi­sor to Aperam S.A.: Simmons & Simmons
The Simmons & Simmons team consis­ted of Dr. Chris­tian Born­horst, photo (lead, M&A Düssel­dorf), Dr. Michael Bormann, Marc Urlichs, Matthias von Holten, Dr. Anja Schlicht­ing, Sören Schei­bel (all M&A, Düssel­dorf), Yannick Stern­otte (M&A, Brussels), Koen Plat­teau, Dr. Robert Hardy, Mathieu Vancail­lie (all Anti­trust, Brussels), Dr. Martin Gramsch (Anti­trust, Düssel­dorf), Alex­an­der Greth, Patrick Komi­niak (both Labor Law, Düssel­dorf), Dr. Stefan Schramm, Leonie Müller (both Finan­cing, Frank­furt), Lenn­art Dahmen (Regu­la­tory, Frank­furt), Dr. Phil­ipp Schrö­ler (Liti­ga­tion, Düssel­dorf), Julian Hier­eth (Real Estate, Munich) and Clau­dia Feller and Janine Manke (both IP, Munich). In addi­tion, Claire le Touzé and Jenni­fer Heng (both employ­ment law, Paris) as well as Louis-Maël Cogis, Cath­rine Fold­berg Møller and Leonor Rijpma (M&A and capi­tal markets law, Luxem­bourg) were involved.

Advi­sor Lind­say Gold­berg: Gleiss Lutz
Dr. Fred Wendt, Dr. Urszula Nartowska (both Lead, Part­ner, Corporate/M&A, Hamburg), Dr. Stefan Linge­mann (Part­ner, Labor Law, Berlin/Hamburg), Dr. Jacob von Andreae (Part­ner, Public Law, Düssel­dorf), Dr. Johann Wagner (Part­ner, Tax Law, Hamburg) Iris Bene­dikt-Bucken­leib (Coun­sel, Anti­trust Law, Munich), Dr. Marc Ruttl­off (Coun­sel, Public Law, Stutt­gart), Chris­tian Zimmer­mann, Mari­anne Milo­va­nov (both Corpo­rate Law/M&A, both Hamburg), Dr. Jonas Rybarz (Corporate/M&A, Berlin), Dr. Jan-Alex­an­der Lange (Finance, Frank­furt), Jose­fine Chakrab­arti (Labor Law), Dr. Daniel Görlich, Dr. Lars Kind­ler (both Public Law, all Berlin), Kath­rin Haag (Anti­trust, Munich), Kevin Grimm­eiß (Public Law, Düssel­dorf), Dr. Matthias Schilde (Intellec­tual Property, Berlin).