Global law firm Clifford Chance has advised a consortium of DWS and MEAG (MUNICH ERGO AssetManagement GmbH) on the acquisition of Weltec Holding GmbH. Headquartered in Vechta, Lower Saxony, the company is a leading producer of biogas and biomethane in Germany. Financial Details of the transaction remain confidential.
DWS – on behalf of its third Pan European Infrastructure (PEIF III) fund – and MEAG jointly acquired 100 percent of the shares in Weltec. Weltec owns and operates five biomethane and four biogas plants across Germany and plans to significantly increase biomethane production volumes under the new management of the two asset managers. Investments include converting the biogas plants to produce biomethane, switching the plants’ feedstock mix to sustainable, waste-based sources and installing on-site CO2 liquefaction technology to further reduce Weltec’s carbon footprint.
Biomethane is playing an increasingly important role in the decarbonisation of the transport sector. In addition, the transformation of the energy industry towards more renewable energies ensures strong demand for biomethane in the long term.
The Clifford Chance team comprised of lead partner Anselm Raddatz, counsel Tobias Kamerling, senior associate Friedrich von Bülow and associates Lennart Göbel and Robert Clev (all Corporate/M&A, Düsseldorf and Frankfurt) and also included partner Mathias Elspaß, of counsel Björn Heinlein, counsel Zaid Mansour, associates Louisa Busch, Duy Tuong Huynh, Brigitta Olk and Maik Simon (all Corporate/Energy, Düsseldorf), legal project manager Esther Giesbrecht and senior legal project manager Pascal Weber (both Düsseldorf).
Advice on finance matters was provided by partner Julia House (London) and partner Florian Mahler (Düsseldorf) supported by senior associates Louise Baxter and Isabel van Bremen and associates Arpan Bhatt, Daniil Alexandrenko and Johannes Melcher (all Global Financial Markets, London, Düsseldorf and Frankfurt). The further Clifford Chance team comprised partner Dimitri Slobodenjuk, counsel Caroline Scholke and associate Marion Meier (all Antitrust, Düsseldorf), partner Sebastian Ritz, senior associate Stella Petzoldt and associate Thilo Brune (all Employment, Düsseldorf), counsel Amrei Fuder (Real Estate, Frankfurt) as well as counsel Claus-Peter Knöller (Tax, Frankfurt).
