Clifford Chance advised Cinven’s Fifth Fund, managed by European private equity investor Cinven, London, on the purchase of CeramTec, Plochingen (Germany). The purchase price amounts to EUR 1.49 billion. The transaction is subject to approval by the relevant regulatory authorities.
CeramTec, a subsidiary of US-based Rockwood Holdings, is one of the leading manufacturers of high performance ceramics used for example in the medical, automotive, industrial, and electronics sectors. In 2012, the company employed approximately 3,000 staff at 18 facilities and generated a global turnover of around EUR 425 million.
Cinven is a European buyout firm with offices in Guernsey, London, Paris, Frankfurt am Main, Milan, Luxembourg and Hong Kong. Cinven’s investments focus on the Business Services, Consumer, Financial Services, Healthcare, Industrials and TMT sectors.
The debt financing was provided by way of a US financing structure, consisting of a Senior Secured Facility and a Senior Unsecured Notes tranche (together with a Bridge Facility). This is a new, but increasingly popular ,financing structure for European LBOs.
The Clifford Chance team was led by partner Christopher Kellett together with counsel Joachim Hasselbach (co-ordination), senior associates Dr. Robert John, Dr. Hendrik Röhricht and associate Laurent Müller (all Private Equity, Frankfurt) as well as a due diligence team of lawyers drawn from Clifford Chance’s offices iin Germany, China, Brazil, the Czech Republic, Japan, Italy, South Korea, Poland and Spain.
The US financing team comprised partner Jason Young and associate John Ford (both Banking & Finance, New York), partner Roderick McGillivray (Finance, London), and partner Michael Dakin and senior associate Claudia Kim (both Capital Markets, London). The deal team also included Cinven relationship partner Jonny Myers, as well as Brendan Moylan (both Corporate, London), partner George Kleinfeld and associate Jacqueline Landells (both Regulatory, Washington) and partner Greg Olsen and associate Petra Carey (both Antitrust, London).
