Dirk Kocher

Dirk’s experience includes advising:

Capital Markets

• Corsair Capital on the capital increases of MPC Capital AG including on exemption from the mandatory tender duty
• HBOS Group on a capital increase of MLP AG
• Marley Spoon SE on a business combination agreement for a de-SPAC transaction with 468 SPAC II SE
• Novo Holdings AS on two strategic PIPE investments in listed German Evotec AG by way of a capital increase (private placement)
• Royal Bank of Canada on the at-the-market offering of Jumia Technologies AG
• Siemens AG on the IPO of its healthcare business (Siemens Healthineers)
• Syndicate of Banks on Douglas’ IPO

Public M&A and Taking Private Transactions

• Aareal Bank AG on the investment agreement and take-over offer by Advent International Corporation and Centerbridge Europe (€2 billion)
• Aliaxis S.A. on a mandatory bid for and subsequent squeeze-out of Friatec AG
• Antin Infrastructure Partners on the acquisition of the majority stake in medical-diagnostic provider amedes Holding
• Capvis Equity Partners in the acquisition of the majority stake in listed WMF Württembergische Metallwarenfabrik AG and the subsequent sale to KKR
• Chorus Clean Energy in its squeeze-out by Capital Stage AG
• GHX Europe on the acquisition of Medical Columbus
• H&R on a voluntary public tender offer for all outstanding shares of H&R KGaA
• Kalina International on the delisting, squeeze-out, and subsequent sale of Dr. Scheller Cosmetics
• Kampa AG as the target company of a public takeover offer by Triton
• Nord Pool ASA on the sale of a stake in EEX AG
• Novo Holdings AS on Cinven’s public acquisition offer of Synlab
• PNE on an investor agreement to prepare a takeover bid by Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners and as the target of this offer
• RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG as the target company of a public takeover offer by Fresenius and later as target of another offer by Asklepios
• RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG on its €3.07 billion sale of major assets to Fresenius Helios and on its share buyback program with tender rights admitted to trading on the stock exchange and a volume of nearly €1.7 billion, the deal was named the 2015 European Corporate Deal of the Year by The Lawyer 
• SBW Schweizer Beteiligungswerte AG on a public takeover offer for FHR Finanzhaus
• Starwood on a domination agreement with Design Hotels AG and its subsequent downlisting as well as a later merger squeeze-out
• THF AS on a public tender offer for IFM Immobilien AG
• Triton on:
  • A merger squeeze-out of minority shareholders of RENK AG
  • A block purchase from Volkswagen AG and public takeover offer of RENK AG shares and subsequent merger squeeze-out

Restructurings and Reorganizations

• DEMIRE Deutsche Mittelstand Real Estate on the restructuring and partial redemption of its original €499 million bond
• A bank consortium on restructuring of Vivonio Group
• Leoni AG on its German scheme restructuring (StaRUG) including capital reduction to zero, delisting, and capital increase
• Deutsche Bank AG in the restructuring (including debt-equity swaps) of listed German corporations (Deutsche Steinzeug Cremer & Breuer AG, and Vivanco-Gruppe AG)
• Accentro Real Estate AG on its financial restructuring
• Senior Creditors’ Committee regarding the loan-to-own restructuring of Honsel AG
• Lender SteerCo on its restructuring of Benteler International AG
• Senior Lenders on restructuring of WKW group
• Inapa on corporate re-organization of its German group
• Aliaxis on corporate re-organization of its German group

Activism Defense and Shareholder Disputes

• Aareal Bank AG on defence against a shareholder activist campaign
• PNE AG on stock corporation and capital markets law including special audit and proxy fights after activist engagement
• RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG on defence against shareholder activism in the context of its takeover by Asklepios
• German listed stock corporations in shareholder disputes (e.g., RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG, Klöckner-Werke AG, WCM AG, FAME AG, Friatec AG, Dr. Scheller Cosmetics AG, and New Work SE)
• Various defendants in court appraisal proceedings following taking private measures (e.g. domination agreement and squeeze-out of Friatec AG; delisting and squeeze-out of Dr. Scheller Cosmetics AG, domination agreement with Medion AG, domination agreement with Design Hotels AG)

Select Private M&A Transactions

• H.I.G. Capital on the acquisition of Losberger Group 
• Inapa on the acquisition of Papyrus Germany from Opti-Group
• Mobivia Groupe on the acquisition of German automotive services market leader A.T.U Auto-Teile-Unger    
• Uniper on the divestiture of its stake in giant Russian gas field Yuzhno-Russkoye
• ZF Friedrichshafen on the:  
  • Acquisition of WABCO 
  • Sale of the global Body Control Systems business to Luxshare