As part of our corporate practice, Christian Wentrup works in corporate law, restructurings and M&A transactions. A particular focus of his work is advising on endowments and foundations, family-owned enterprises and entrepreneurial families to whom he also provides comprehensive advice on succession and estate issues, the winding up of estates, and shareholder disputes.
Advising endowments and foundations, family-owned enterprises and entrepreneurial families routinely means dealing with particularly confidential and sensitive issues where our involvement rarely becomes public. The client mandates for which Christian is responsible in this area involve the reorganisation of family-owned enterprises (including those with a cross-border dimension), fundamental modifications of existing structures, the corporate governance of enterprises, endowments and foundations, board affairs, the creation of joint ventures, splitting of property, structuring of family offices as well as shareholder disputes. He is often involved in the planning and execution of individual or entrepreneurial succession (including the use of private-benefit and charitable foundations, the drawing up of prenuptial agreements and estamentary dispositions in wills and providing legal support to executors). This is supplemented by the ongoing advice he gives to endowments and foundations, enterprises and families regarding, for example, transparency issues and matters concerning their articles of association.
Christian's mandates in M&A transactions include the sale of Bayer's Environmental Science Professional Business to Cinven (2021/2022), the sale of Bayer's prescription dermatology business to LEO (2018/19) and of Bayer's diabetes care business to KKR/Panasonic Healthcare (2015/16), the acquisition of shares in the community of heirs of Horst Walter Sartorius (Sartorius AG) by Armira (2021/2022), the buyback of AST/VDM by ThyssenKrupp (2013/14) and the sale of ThyssenKrupp's stainless steel business to Outokumpu (2012). Furthermore, Christian has advised numerous family-owned enterprises on their domestic and cross-border M&A activities.
