DLA Piper today announced that it acted as the Hong Kong legal advisers to Schramm Holding AG (HKSE: 00955) (“Schramm”) on its €142 million (HK$ 1.566 billion) public takeover by AkzoNobel, the largest global paints and coatings company in the world. Partner JC Lee and Esther Leung led the deal. Other core members in the team included Phil Lam, Yeti Ho, Richard Lee and Jada Soyun Lee, all from DLA Piper’s Hong Kong office.
DLA Piper successfully navigated numerous challenges associated with this landmark deal. They had to take both German and Hong Kong laws into account, including, among others, the differences between the Hong Kong public takeover rules and German corporate law requirements.
In addition, the transaction involved ancillary special deals between AkzoNobel and the Schramm’s majority shareholder, SSCP Co., Ltd. (“SSCP”), and continuing connected transactions between Schramm and SSCP . The level of sophistication and organisation required in coordinating among various teams of legal counsels and financial advisors in various jurisdictions including Germany, Korea and Hong Kong complicated the transaction.
JC Lee, partner at DLA Piper, said: “This takeover is a complex transaction which is well suited to the broad range of expertise at DLA Piper. We are proud to have represented Schramm in this landmark transaction. The firm’s global platform and capital markets experience in Asia and around the world have added critical value for Schramm successfully closing this complex cross-border transaction.”
Lance Miller, Asia Regional Managing Partner at DLA Piper, commented, “This transaction showcases our ability to advise on high value, complex cross-border, multi-disciplinary transactions conducted in a competitive environment. The deal’s complexity was heightened by recent market volatility. It demonstrates we have the global resources and seamless international teams to advise our clients in the conduct of groundbreaking transactions around the world.”
Schramm commenced its listing on the main board of the HKSE on 29 December 2009 and successfully raised HK$185 million through its IPO at that time. DLA Piper was involved in the listing and advised Guotai Junan Capital Limited as the sponsor and Samsung Securities (Asia) Limited as the sole global co-ordinator, bookrunner and lead manager. Schramm is a German subsidiary of Korean listed company SSCP Co., Ltd. The listing was the first ever at that time by a German joint stock company (Aktiengesellschaft) on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (“HKSE”) and the first listing of a European company on the main board of the HKSE.
Schramm is a global manufacturer and supplier of technical and custom-tailored paint coatings solutions serving customers in various industries including the automotive and mobile phone industries.
