GERMANY Trends and Developments Contributed by: Carsten Berrar and Peter Klormann, Sullivan & Cromwell LLP
Sullivan & Cromwell LLP Neue Mainzer Straße 52 60311 Frankfurt Germany
Tel: +49 69 4262 5200 Fax: +49 69 4272 5210 Email: berrarc@sullcrom.com Web: www.sullcrom.com
General market trends and observations The M&A market saw a couple of multibillion- euro transactions, such as the (pending) acqui - sition of German chemicals business Covestro by Abu Dhabi National Oil Company for approxi - mately EUR15 billion, which was reported to be the largest German M&A transaction in 2024, and Deutsche Bahn’s sale of its logistic busi - ness Schenker to Denmark’s transport and logistic company DSV for approximately EUR14 billion. Other notable German M&A transac - tions in 2024, with reported total considerations between approximately EUR2 billion and EUR8 billion, include: • Robert Bosch’s acquisition of Johnson Control’s global heating, ventilation and air conditioning solutions business, • the acquisitions of Techem and Aareon by TPG Capital and GIC; and • the merger of Vitesco with Schaeffler. There were fewer transactions with values between EUR1 billion and EUR2 billion in terms of reported consideration than in previous years. Such transactions included Zalando’s (pending) public takeover offer for ABOUT YOU and EQT’s and Kühne Holding’s investment into Flix.
M&A in Germany 2024/2025: an Overview Introduction In 2024, many economies were on the road to recovery. Easing inflationary pressure enabled central banks to loosen monetary policy and lower interest rates, which supported a global increase in mergers and acquisitions. Although there are signs that the German M&A market has picked up as well, Germany has been lagging behind global and European developments. The negative GDP growth, high energy prices and political challenges that led to a breakdown of the German coalition government late in the year continued to present significant hurdles for M&A transactions. According to reports, the number of deals with German participation fell less in 2024 than in previous years, by approximately 10% to 15% compared to 2023. Overall deal volume remained largely stable or even increased slightly, with a handful of very large transactions. This could be seen as the first sign of a cautious recovery. While the ease of financing conditions stimulat - ed sponsor-led buyouts, German M&A activity in the last year focused particularly on strategic transactions, with strong influence from trans - atlantic M&A.
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