Global law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer (‘Freshfields’) has advised Hamburg-based Eppendorf SE (‘Eppendorf’) on the sale of its micro manipulation product portfolio to Calibre Scientific, a US based global life science company headquartered in Los Angeles, California, owning a portfolio of life science and diagnostic companies. The micro manipulation portfolio consists of the design, production, distribution and service of instruments and consumables for cell microinjection, electroporation, and gel separation and is used by scientists worldwide for their scientific research and work on experimental questions in the life science field. The transaction was signed and closed simultaneously. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Eppendorf is a leading life science company that develops and sells instruments, consumables and services for liquid, sample and cell handling in laboratories worldwide. Divided into the business units Liquid Handling, Consumables, Separation & Instrumentation and Bioprocess, the product portfolio includes, for example, pipettes, pipette tips, centrifuges, mixers and ultra-low temperature equipment. In addition, Eppendorf offers a wide range of high-quality consumables. The transaction is part of Eppendorf’s efforts to focus on its core businesses and meet the increased demand for its products.
Freshfields is advising Eppendorf on the corporate and tax structuring of the transaction and negotiation of the asset purchase agreement as well as on the negotiation of a contract manufacturing and transition agreement.
The Freshfields team was led by partner Christoph H. Seibt, together with principal associates Jil Rollmann and Johannes W. Schiele (all Global Transactions, Hamburg) and included partner Philipp Dohnke, principal associate Marius Scherb and associate Maximilian Zellerhoff (all Intellectual Property, Hamburg), Vasco Ollero (Global Transactions, Hamburg), partner Alexander Schwahn and principal associate Tobias Franz (both Tax, Hamburg), partner Christoph Werkmeister (Data Protection, Düsseldorf), partner Boris Dzida and associate Hubertus Reinbach (both People & Reward, Hamburg), counsel Sascha Arnold (Regulatory, Hamburg) and principal associate Sebastian Pritzkow (Competition, Duesseldorf).
Eppendorf was advised in-house by head of corporate and commercial law Matthias Abendroth and corporate legal counsel Julien Schlagowski.
Teams led by Freshfields partner Seibt have been advising Eppendorf on M&A transactions and corporate and financing law issues for more than a decade, most recently, for example, on the acquisition of the centrifuge business of Koki Holdings (Japan; 2020), on various venture capital investments or on the conversion to the legal form of an SE (2021).
