Hengeler Mueller advises GEA Group on the sale of the Heat Exchangers Segment (HX)

16. April 2014

GEA Group, the Düsseldorf based process technology and components group, has entered into a definitive agreement regarding the sale of the Heat Exchangers (HX) Segment to funds advised by Triton. Completion of the transaction is expected for the second half of 2014.

The Heat Exchangers Segment of GEA Group is a leading global supplier of a wide portfolio of heat exchangers with applications in particular in energy, climate and environmental treatment and in the oil and gas industry. The segment reports revenues of more than EUR 1.5 bn and employs more than 7,000 people.

In summer 2013, GEA Group pursued a strategic portfolio review and decided to separate from the segment Heat Exchangers. The existing matrix structure of the group was dissolved in more than 40 countries in order to legally separate the segment. Intergroup relationships had to be dissolved or adapted to the new structure. The separation has been pursued as dual track with an auction on the one hand and a spin-off as an alternative. In order to support the sales process a high-yield bond has been prepared.

Hengeler Mueller advised GEA Group comprehensively on the transaction. The Hengeler Mueller team was led by partners Matthias Hentzen (Corporate/M&A) and Hartwin Bungert (Corporate) (both Düsseldorf) and included partners Ernst-Thomas Kraft (Tax), Dirk Bliesener and Alexander Rang (Finance), Christian Hoefs (HR) (all Frankfurt), Thorsten Mäger (Antitrust), Wolfgang Meyer-Sparenberg (Corporate/M&A) (both Düsseldorf), Jochen Vetter (Corporate, Munich) and Dirk Uwer (Regulatory) as well as counsels Cecilia di Ció and Anna Schwander (Finance) and associates Lucina Berger, Philipp Dornbach, Andreas Hoger, Christian Strothotte, Henrik Humrich, Thomas Nebel, Tobias de Raet, Thomas Meyer, Philip Goj and Robert Stiefelhagen (Corporate/M&A), Gunther Wagner (Tax), Christine Messing and Maximilian Clostermeyer (Finance), Eva Maria Frankenberger and Matthias Rothkopf (IP), Patrick H. Wilkening (IT), Florian von Schreitter, Moritz Rademacher and Deniz Tschammler (Regulatory), Anne Broll, Katharina Gebhardt and Vicki Treibmann (HR).