Freshfields advises DSV on its acquisition of Schenker

Global law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer (‘Freshfields’), together with Moalem Weitemeyer, has advised DSV A/S (‘DSV’) on its €14.3bn acquisition of Schenker AG (‘Schenker’) from Deutsche Bahn. The transaction is still subject to various approvals.

DSV, founded in 1976, is a global transportation and logistic company based in Hedehusene, Denmark. Schenker, based in Essen founded in 1872 by Gottfried Schenker, is the logistics division of Deutsche Bahn and one of the world’s leading logistics service providers. Together, DSV and Schenker have around 147.000 employees in more than 90 countries and generate pro-forma sales of around €39.3bn.

Freshfields and Moalem Weitemeyer also advised DSV in 2023 on a $10bn US-Dollar exclusive logistics joint venture to support the development of the ambitious projects taking shape in NEOM, in north-western Saudi Arabia. See further details here.

The Freshfields team regarding Schenker was led by Partner Heiner Braun (Frankfurt) as well as by Principals Associates Friedrich von der Heydt-von Kalckreuth (Hamburg) and Viviane Cismak (Frankfurt, all Corporate). The team also included:

• Partners: Patrick Cichy (Corporate, Hamburg), Mario Hüther (Finance, Frankfurt), Uta Itzen (Competition Law, Düsseldorf), Frank Schaer (Employment Law, Frankfurt), Norbert Schneider (Tax, Düsseldorf), Andreas von Bonin (State-Aid Law, Brussels)
• Counsel: Uwe Salaschek (Foreign Investment, Berlin)
• Special Counsel: Anouschka Zagorski (Finance, Vienna)
• Principal Associates: Marius Li-Yang Stein (Corporate, Frankfurt), Fabian Zöpfchen (Labour Law, Frankfurt), Simon Fitzpatrick (Finance, Vienna), Florian Reiter-Werzin (Vienna), Enrica Schaefer (both Competition Law, Brussels), Julian Reinecke (Real Estate, Düsseldorf), Thomas Richter, Dr. Markus Stoffels (both Tax, Düsseldorf)
• Associates: Niklas Andree, Marleen Franka Böhm (both Competition Law, Düsseldorf), Alexander Bräuer (Finance), Tainá Moreira de Araújo (both Frankfurt), Max Lennart Dürkop, Bruno Gebhardi (all Corporate, both Hamburg), Valentin Lang (Employment Law, Frankfurt), Asta von Kienitz (Intellectual Property, Hamburg)
• Senior Transaction Lawyers: Panagiotis Rentzeperis, Elsy Stephanie Sedano Rojas, Pieter Daniel van der Ploeg, (all Frankfurt) and Adriana De Andrade (Düsseldorf)
• Transaction Lawyer: Simon Blaschka (Frankfurt)

The team was supported by its offices in Amsterdam, Beijing, Berlin, Brussels, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hanoi, Hong Kong, London, Madrid, Milan, Munich, New York, Paris, Riyadh, Rome, Shanghai, Silicon Valley, Tokyo, Vienna and Washington. Freshfields worked on this transaction together with Copenhagen-based law firm Moalem Weitemeyer and other members of its worldwide StrongerTogether network.