Dr. Barbara Keil

Global law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer (‘Freshfields’) has advised the US technology group 3M on the spin-off of its healthcare division. The business is now listed on the NYSE under the name Solventum. The transaction involved the legal separation and reorganisation of the healthcare business with a turnover of US$8.2bn in over 90 jurisdictions. A large international Freshfields team as well as numerous law firms from our Stronger Together network, helped by the Freshfields Hub and the Freshfields Lab who provided tailored legal tech solutions were at play to achieve this tremendous result on time. The core team included: Partners: Barbara Keil, Elizabeth Oberholzer (both Global Lead, Corporate Law, Munich), Thomas Granetzny (Employment Law), Theresa Ehlen (IP/M&A, both Düsseldorf), Michael Ramb (Regulatory, Berlin), Christian Sistermann (Tax, Munich), Peter Niggemann (Antitrust, Düsseldorf), Gerrit Beckhaus (Real Estate, Hamburg/Berlin), Takeshi Nakao (Tokyo), Dirk-Jan Smit (Amsterdam), Miriam Pérez-Schafer (Madrid), Luigi Verga (Milan), Dr Farid Sigari-Majd (Vienna), Fares Al-Hejljalan (Riyadh), Vincent Macq (Brussels), Stephen Hewes (London; all Corporate Law) Counsels: Christine Laciak (Antitrust/Foreign Investments, Washington), Philipp Lehmann, Stefan Bajohr (Düsseldorf, both IP/M&A), Dr Martin Rehberg (Tax, Munich) Principal Associates: Katharina Reinhardt (Dispute Resolution, Berlin), Elisabeth Wulf (Corporate Law), Nina Gissinger (Real Estate Law, both Hamburg), Julian Siller (Tax, Munich), Sarah Rohmann (Employment Law, Düsseldorf) Associates: Julius Röck, Jan Postweiler, Philipp Schneider, Stefan Aust, Julius Raddatz (all Munich), William Björklund (Berlin; all Corporate Law), Benjamin Blum (Dispute Resolution, Frankfurt), Ilko Trenn (Tax), Julia Kilp (Employment Law, both Munich) Freshfields Lab: Gerrit Beckhaus (Co-Head Lab, Hamburg/Berlin), Lucas Treichl (Co-Head Lab, Vienna/Berlin), Blagoy Penchev (Lead Legal Solutions Engineer, Berlin), Marvin Hartmann (Legal Solutions Engineer, Düsseldorf) Transaction Lawyers/Paralegals: Lisa-Marie Woschniak (Munich), Chelsia Tai (Frankfurt), Vielka Hernandez Ceballos, Maria Konstantinou, Vitalii Ushakov (both Frankfurt), Ekaterina Chepurnaya (Munich)

Apr 8

1 min

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer ('Freshfields') has advised Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. ('Nissan') on today's announced sale of its entire stake in Daimler AG ('Daimler'). The divestment comprises 16,448,378 shares, equivalent to 1.54 percent of Daimler’s issued shares at a price of 69.85 euros per share, totalling gross proceeds of approximately 1.15 billion euros. The shares were placed among institutional investors by way of an accelerated bookbuilding process. Freshfields has been advising on all legal aspects of this transaction and on Nissan’s collaboration with Daimler. The Freshfields team comprises partners Barbara Keil and Nicholas Günther as well as Lucas Schweitzer, Christina Zapf and Timo Piller in Germany and partners Julian Makin and David Ludwick as well as Richard Ho and Katie Bentel in the UK (all corporate). About Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP is a global law firm with a long track record of successfully advising the world's leading national and multinational corporations and financial institutions on ground-breaking and business-critical challenges. Our team of more than 2,800 lawyers and other legal professionals delivers global results from our 28 offices worldwide. Our commitment, local and multinational expertise and business know-how means our clients can rely on us when it matters most.

May 5

1 min

Freshfields is maximising use of its contractual six-month notice period for non-U.S. partners who opt to leave the firm, in a shift away from its usual practice of allowing partners to leave after three months. Although the firm’s partnership contract allows it to require departing partners to observe a full six-month notice period, normal practice was to accept half that, according to two sources with knowledge of the firm. The firm has recently decided to use the full extent of its contractual power with certain senior partners as it faces a growing number of top level exits across Europe, the people said. One of the people said that it is the first time the full six months has been implemented. Lengthy notice periods are generally associated with U.K. and European headquartered law firms and can serve several purposes, including disincentivising departures and minimising their impact. Most of the time, partners are put on garden leave, which requires them to see out their notice away from work. Some firms have justified longer notice periods as a means to offset the sometimes destabilising effects of exits by smoothing succession planning and enabling the orderly transfer of mandates. Long notice periods can disrupt the departing partner’s client relationships, reducing the likelihood of the firm losing clients and market share. Last month, Law.com revealed that A&O Shearman was also implementing lengthier and less defined notice periods, with the potential to insist on a nine-month period, against a backdrop of a planned 10% reduction of its equity partner ranks among many other partner departures, which by January had closed in on 200. Freshfields too has faced departures, with several, many long-time, partners leaving for rivals. Among them is a four-partner Germany team that last month left for Latham & Watkins, led by the firm's former Continental European head Markus Paul, and his fellow private equity partner Carsten Haak, as well as Munich-based corporate partners Wessel Heukamp and Verena Nosch. Others have included Brussels antitrust partner Rafique Bachour, who before his exit to Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom was one of the firm’s global managing partners, and senior corporate partner in Spain Armando Albarran, who left last month to launch Gibson Dunn & Crutcher’s Madrid office. Meanwhile, Cyril Valentin, the firm’s former Paris tax head, and veteran corporate partner Hervé Pisani, both left last month for White & Case. Over a similar period the firm hired Kirkland & Ellis partner Florian Sippel to its Munich office. In the U.S., where Freshfields is focusing much of its hiring attention, it has hired Nema Milaninia, a regulatory and investigations partner from King & Spalding, and Manish Kumar, a veteran of the Department of Justice. However, this month, the firm saw its head of the U.S. energy and infrastructure group and co-head of the firm’s Latin America practice, Melissa Raciti-Knapp, join Vinson & Elkins in New York. The notice period development adds to the perception of a growing divergence between Freshfield’s U.S. practice, into which it has invested a great deal, and its historical European hubs. In the U.S., employers are generally prohibited from using long notice periods, with most U.S. law firms utilizing 30 day periods or less. Freshfields declined to comment.

Feb 23

2 min

Global law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer (‘Freshfields’) has advised US conglomerate Emerson on the acquisition of Flexim Flexible Industriemeßtechnik GmbH (‘Flexim’). The transaction is expected to close by the end of Emerson’s fiscal 2023, subject to customary closing conditions. Afterwards, Flexim’s Berlin headquarter is planned to become Emerson’s Ultrasonic Flow Measurement Center of Excellence. Flexim is the world's only supplier of clamp-on ultrasonic systems for non-intrusive flow measurement of liquids and gases with SIL certification. Flexim's clamp-on ultrasonic systems measure virtually anything that flows, liquids as well as gases. The sensors are simply clamped onto the outside of the pipe with no interruption of service or risk of leakage. The transaction will expand Emerson’s automation portfolio and measurement capabilities, complementing its existing flow measurement positions in Coriolis, differential pressure, magmeter and vortex flow measurement. Underpinned by favorable end market growth and technology leadership, the global ultrasonic clamp-on flowmeter market is expected to grow in the high single digits annually longer-term. Emerson reported revenue of $19.63 billion for the fiscal year ended 2022. The Freshfields team was led by Partner Barbara Keil (Corporate/M&A, München) and Counsel Marcus Wolter (Corporate/M&A, Milan). The team further comprised: Corporate/M&A: Associate Jan Postweiler (Munich), Partner Farid Sigari-Majd (Vienna), Guillemette Burgala (Paris), Dirk-Jan Smit (Amsterdam), Counsel Olaf Ehlers, Associates Athanasios Tasopoulos, Jules Troubat (all New York), Martin Zankl, Patrick Wageneder, Carolina Gerstacker (all Vienna), Anqi Yu (Beijing), Fabienne Tichelman, Hannah Erdman (both Amsterdam), Stephanie Austera (London), Legal Consultants Zhe Wang, Vivian Wang (both Beijing), Senior Transaction Lawyer Franz Dahl (Hamburg) and Transaction Lawyer Stéphanie Adriaens (Berlin) IP: Partner Nina Bayerl and Associate Diana Baum (both Munich) Employment Law: Partner Thomas Granetzky (Düsseldorf), Karin Buzanich-Sommeregger (Vienna), David Mendel (London), Sarah Ghulambussain (Silicon Valley), Principal Associates Benedikt Sprinzl (Vienna), Sarah Rohmann (Düsseldorf), Associates Vera Münsch (Munich), Fan Li (Beijing), Veere Everard, Babette Koning (both Amsterdam), Gino Murugesan (London), Kristen Stidham (Silicon Valley) Regulatory: Partner Juliane Hilf (Düsseldorf), Counsel Sascha Arnold (Hamburg), Associate Felicitas Weber (Berlin) Finance: Counsel Nina Heym, Associate Benedikt Schwarz (both Frankfurt) Tax: Counsel Martin Rehberg, Associate Julian Siller (both Munich) Real Estate: Partner Gerrit Beckhaus (Hamburg), Pervez Akhtar (Dubai), Counsel Jeremiah Nelson (Silicon Valley), Associates Florian Nicolas Schröder (Hamburg), Michael Holzmannhofer (Vienna), Johan Nijmeijer (Amsterdam), Legal Consultant Tariq Saeed (Dubai) Commercial: Partner Lutz Riede, Associate Iris Amschl (both Vienna)

Aug 24

2 min

Global law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer (‘Freshfields’) is advising plastics manufacturer Borealis on a binding offer from AGROFERT. The fertiliser producer intends to acquire Borealis' nitrogen business, which includes plant nutrients, melamine and technical nitrogen products and is valued at €810 million under the terms of the offer. Borealis will initiate the mandatory information and consultation procedures with employee representatives imminently. The transaction is also subject to certain closing conditions and regulatory approvals, with Closing is expected for the second half of 2022. Borealis is one of the world's leading providers of advanced and circular polyolefin solutions and a European market leader in base chemicals, fertilisers and the mechanical recycling of plastics. AGROFERT is one of the leading European manufacturers of plant nutrients with production facilities in Germany, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Freshfields is advising Borealis' group legal department, led by (interim) General Counsel Sandra Müller. The team comprises Partners: Farid Sigari-Majd (Vienna), Barbara Keil (Munich, both lead, both Corporate), Karin Buzanich-Sommeregger (Vienna), Gwen Senlanne (Paris, both Employment), Thomas Wessely (Antitrust, Brussels), Stephan Denk (Public Law) and Katharina Kubik (Tax, both Vienna) Counsel: Gernot Fritz (TMT, Vienna), Sascha Arnold (Hamburg), Tanguy Bardet (Paris, both Public Law) Principal Associates: Daniel Lungenschmid, Noel Zamani (both Corporate), Leonhard Prasser (Employment), Kathrin Wildmoser-Zeller (Public Law), Anna Binder-Gutwinski, (Tax, all Vienna), Jan Jeram (Antitrust, Brussels) Associates: Maria Tumpel (Vienna), Thomas Hornberger, Jan Postweiler (both Munich, all Corporate), Estella Dannhausen (TMT), Luca Mischensky (Public Law), Can-Michael Nural (Real Estate, all Vienna)

Jun 3

1 min