CMS has advised US-based thermal management technology developer Modine Manufacturing Company on the sale of its Europe-based air-cooled automotive business to Austria’s Schmid Metall GmbH. Taylor Wessing advised the buyer.
Schmid Metall is an affiliate of Rupert Fertinger GmbH, a privately held Austrian producer of components for temperature management in vehicles, and power and media-carrying modules, among others.
According to CMS, the sale of Modine’s Austrian business, which includes its manufacturing facility in Kottingbrunn, will allow the company to further fuel and grow its remaining businesses that provide higher operating margins, lower capital intensity, and greater free cash flow generation. The deal is subject to regulatory approvals and is expected to close in the first half of 2021.
The CMS team consisted of Vienna-based Partners Alexander Rakosi, Johannes Trenkwalder, Dieter Zandler, Andrea Potz, Gabriela Staber, Stefan Paulmayer, and Rainer Wachter, Counsel Hans Lederer, Lead Associate Florian Mayer, Attorney-at-Law Mariella Kapoun, and Associates Christoph Birner, Miriam Baierl, Matthias Emich, and Anna Hiegelsperger, as well as Stuttgart-based Partner Jochen Lamb and Associate Martina Meier-Grom.
Taylor Wessing’s team consisted of Dusseldorf-based Partner Klaus Grossmann and Vienna-based Partners Philip Hoflehner, Andreas Schutz, Martin Eckel, Stefan Turic, and Walter Poschl, Senior Associates Allan Hahn, Andreas Howadt, Matthias Hofer, Philipp Samonigg, and David Konrath, and Associates Constantin Call, Lukas Jamnig, Christopher Bakier, Erik Steiner, Julia Lorincz.
