Dr. Achim Herfs

Kirkland & Ellis advised ADTRAN (Nasdaq: ADTN) on its cross border business combination with ADVA (FSE: ADV) to create a leading global, scaled provider of end-to-end fiber networking solutions for communications service provider, enterprise and government customers. The merger combines ADTRAN’s global leadership in fiber access, fiber extension and subscriber connectivity solutions with ADVA’s global leadership in metro wavelength division multiplexing, data center interconnect, business ethernet and network synchronization solutions. The combined company will be named ADTRAN Holdings, Inc. and will be dual-listed on the NASDAQ and Frankfurt Stock Exchange. The transaction is expected to be completed during the second or third quarter of 2022, subject to required regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions. The matter involved a cross-border Kirkland team with the U.S. team led by corporate partners Carlo Zenkner and Sarkis Jebejian and associates Alexandra Gallogly and Jermaine Cherry, capital markets partner Tim Cruickshank and associate Jennifer Karinen, tax partners Dean Shulman and Sherry Xie and associate Ashley Flor, executive compensation partner Rohit Nafday, antitrust and competition partner Andrea Murino and associate Samantha Morelli, and international trade partners Ivan Schlager and Nathan Mitchell. The Germany/U.K. team was led by corporate partners Achim Herfs and Ben Leyendecker and associates Johannes Rowold and Marlene Ruf, capital markets partner Anna Schwander and associate Siegfried Buettner, tax partner Daniel Hiemer, and antitrust and competition partners Paula Riedel and Mark Gardner.

Aug 30

1 min

Kirkland & Ellis has advised the lenders under LEONI AG’s EUR 750 million RCF facility on the groundbreaking restructuring of the German automotive supplier. The LEONI restructuring is by far the largest process under the Act on the Stabilization- and Restructuring Framework for Companies (StaRUG) since its inception in January 2021 and a milestone in the German restructuring landscape. LEONI is a global provider of products, solutions and services for energy and data management in the automotive sector and other industries. The value chain encompasses wires, optical fibers, standardized cables, special cables and assembled systems as well as intelligent products and smart services. The Kirkland team was led by restructuring partners Marlene Ruf and Leo Plank and included transactional partner Achim Herfs, debt finance partners Wolfgang Nardi and Alexander Längsfeld, tax partners Michael Ehret and Daniel Hiemer, as well as restructuring associates Ann-Kathrin Ziegler, Johannes Lappe, Paul Päfgen and Nino Goglidze, transactional associate Siegfried Büttner, debt finance associate Fabrice Hipp and tax associate David Linnemann.

Jul 21

1 min

Kirkland & Ellis advised Yucaipa Acquisition Corporation (NYSE: YAC), a publicly-traded special purpose acquisition company led by Chairman and President Ron Burkle and CFO and COO Ira Tochner, on its business combination with SIGNA Sports United, a leading global sports e-commerce and tech platform. The combination also includes the acquisition of the WiggleCRC Group, the second-largest online bike retailer globally, currently owned by Bridgepoint. The combination has an implied enterprise value of approximately $3.2 billion and encompasses a fully committed upsized PIPE of approximately $300 million. The combined entity will become the world's largest pure-play sports e-commerce and technology platform company. Upon completion of the transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions, the combined company will trade on the NYSE under the SIGNA Sports United name. The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2021. Read the transaction press release The Kirkland team was led by corporate partners David Feirstein and Marshall Shaffer and associate Jennifer Gasser and capital markets partner Christian Nagler. The team also included corporate partner Achim Herfs and associates Sebastian Haefele, Giorgia Nagalli and Lena Yoon and capital market partner Aslam Rawoof and associates Pratik Das and Enid Qin.

Jun 11

1 min

Kirkland & Ellis is advising EP Global Commerce on a multibillion euro voluntary public takeover offer to the shareholders of METRO AG for the acquisition of all non-par value ordinary and preference shares. METRO Group is a German global diversified retail and wholesale cash and carry group based in Düsseldorf. EP Global Commerce (EPGC) is an acquisition vehicle controlled by Daniel Křetínský, who owns 53%, and is acting in concert with Patrik Tkáč, who owns 47%. The company was founded in April 2016 and is based in Prague. At present, EPGC indirectly holds 29.99% of the ordinary shares and voting rights of METRO AG. The Kirkland team was led by transactional partners Achim Herfs and Ben Leyendecker and associate Christoph Jerger in Munich and debt finance partners Neel Sachdev and Daniel Borg and associate Stefan Arnold-Soulby in London.

Sep 14

1 min

Kirkland & Ellis is advising cable network operator Tele Columbus on a public takeover offer from Kublai GmbH, a bidding company of Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners. Kublai intends to acquire Tele Columbus for €3.25 per share. The acceptance period of the offer is to be six weeks. The takeover offer is expected to close in the second quarter of 2021, subject to regulatory approvals. The key offer conditions are a minimum acceptance threshold of 50 percent, waivers by bond and loan creditors of termination rights due to change of control in sufficient numbers, and regulatory approvals. At an Extraordinary General Meeting on 20 January 2021, a capital increase through a Rights Offering in the amount of €475 million and an authorized capital are to be resolved. Anchor shareholder United Internet AG has announced to contribute a minority interest of 29.90 percent to the Bidder if takeover offer is successful. The takeover offer followed a multi-step bidding process initiated by Tele Columbus. Kirkland advises Tele Columbus with a team consisting of Achim Herfs (Transactional, Lead), Wolfgang Nardi (Finance), Anna Schwander, Tim Volkheimer (both Capital Markets), and associates Vanessa Schmieding, Angelina Seelbach (both Transactional), Tamara Zehentbauer (Capital Markets) and Fabrice Hipp (Finance).

Dec 21

1 min