Global law firm Clifford Chance has advised funds advised by Permira Beteiligungsberatung GmbH on the signing of an agreement to acquire a majority stake in Westbridge Advisory, a leading European energy and sustainability advisory firm for institutional real estate clients, from investor GENUI and the founders.
Headquartered in Frankfurt, Westbridge advises more than 600 institutional real estate clients in procuring energy and reducing their carbon footprint to reach their long-term sustainability goals. The company has international offices in London, Warsaw and Zurich. Westbridge is currently owned by its founders and GENUI. The founders will significantly reinvest alongside the Permira Funds, while GENUI will fully exit the business. Closing of the transaction is subject to regulatory clearances and is expected by the end of Q1 2025.
The international Clifford Chance team was led by partners Jörg Rhiel (Frankfurt) and Spencer Baylin (London) (both Corporate/Private Equity), and further comprised senior associates Elisabeth Kreitmair, Friedrich von Bülow (both Frankfurt), Victoria Ho (London) and associate Fabienne Held (Frankfurt) (all Corporate/Private Equity), partner Holger Lutz, senior associate Tobias Born and associate Benjamin Wollweber (all TechDigital, Frankfurt), partner Christopher Fischer and associate Julia Kolb (both Employment, Frankfurt), partner Fabian Böhm, associates Lancelot Arenberg and Sabrina Fornataro (all Real Estate, Frankfurt), partner Mathias Elspaß and associates Duy Tuong Huynh, Maik Simon and Pauline Leven (all Corporate/Energy, Düsseldorf), counsel Gerson Raiser and senior associate Arthur Leonhardt (both Litigation, Frankfurt), partner Dimitri Slobodenjuk, counsel Carolin Scholke and associate Edmund Melzer (all Antitrust, Düsseldorf), partner Simon Reitz (Global Financial Markets, Frankfurt), senior associate Nicolas Hohn-Hein (IP, Düsseldorf), partner Dominik Engl and counsel Claus-Peter Knöller (both Tax, Frankfurt).
