Schoenherr has advised Kansai Paint Co Ltd., from Osaka, on the acquisition of the Helios Coatings Group from Ring International Holding AG ("RIH"), GSO Capital Opportunities Fund II (Luxembourg) S.a r.l., and Templeton Strategic Emerging Markets Fund IV, LDC. The sellers were advised by Brandl & Talos.
The acquisition is structured as a purchase of all the shares of the Helios Group top holding company, Annagab S.A. The transaction documentation was signed on December 6, 2016. The transaction is subject to competition authority approval in Austria and other countries and the satisfaction of customary closing conditions.
Kansai Paint will spend EUR 572 million for the acquisition of Helios Group, subject to price adjustment at the closing date.
Schoenherr acted as lead counsel to Kansai Paint, negotiating the share purchase agreement and providing legal advice throughout 14 jurisdictions.
Based in Austria and Slovenia, the Helios Group is a manufacturer of coatings in South Eastern Europe with companies and production sites in 18 countries worldwide. Kansai Paint is a coatings and chemicals group headquartered in Osaka and listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The group is involved in the manufacture and sale of automobile and industrial paints, among others. According to Schoenherr, "with more than 12,000 employees worldwide, Kansai Paint is one of the world's top ten paint manufacturers with production sites in over 43 countries."
RIH manufactures stationery products and coatings, and is made up of 64 companies, 21 of which are production facilities. Worldwide, RIH employs 3,000 employees on three continents.
The Schoenherr team advising Kansai Paint led by Partner Christian Herbst included transaction teams in Austria, Slovenia, and 12 other CEE jurisdictions. The Austrian team was led by Attorney Maximilian Lang and included Partner Bernd Rajal and Associate Alexander Mazevski. The Slovenian team was led by Partner Marko Prusnik.
The additional Schoenherr CEE teams were led by Belgrade-based Partner Luka Lopicic and Attorney Jovan Barovic, Bratislava-based Patner Stanislav Kovar, Brussels-based Attorney Ana Taleska, Budapest-based Kinga Hetenyi, Bucharest-based Partner Monica Cojocaru, Istanbul-based Attorney Murat Kutlug, Prague-based Partner Vladimir Cizek, Sofia-based Partner Alexandra Doytchinova, Warsaw-based Attorney Grzegorz Barszcz, and Croatia-based Attorney Dina Vlahov Buhin.
In Japan, Oh-Ebashi LPC & Partners in Osaka acted as legal adviser to Kansai Paint, working alongside Schoenherr.
The Brandl & Talos team was led by Partners Thomas Talos and Roman Rericha, who stated that, "as a long-standing advisor to Ring International Holding and having acted as Lead Counsel for almost all of its acquisitions in the course of its company history, we are very pleased that we were able to accompany Ring in this meaningful transaction."
Talos and Rericha were supported by Brandl & Talos lawyers Markus Arzt, Sabine Schmidt, Georg Gutfleisch, Julie Anne Mae Sugay, and Bernhard Sturma.
Image Source: helios-group.eu
