Baker McKenzie advised private equity group AURELIUS on the acquisition of the LSG Group from Deutsche Lufthansa AG. The LSG Group is a leading global integrated airline caterer and onboard retail provider with USD 2bn in revenue. In recent years, the LSG Group also developed an expansive presence across the growing food commerce industry.
The acquisition was signed in April 2023 and backed by AURELIUS European Opportunities IV Fund and AURELIUS Equity Opportunities SE & Co. KGaA.
The transaction is expected to close in Q3 2023, subject to approval by the relevant competition and regulatory authorities.
"It was a pleasure to support AURELIUS again in such an exciting and complex global landmark transaction. An essential factor we were able to contribute to the success of the deal was certainly our full service approach and extensive global network, which we were able to utilize on all relevant legal aspects and jurisdictions on the deal as a one-stop shop. Special thanks to all my colleagues in more than 30 Baker McKenzie offices who were involved and helped bringing this transaction over the finish line in the last couple of months." commented Dr. Jakub Lorys, corporate partner in the Munich office leading the global team of Baker McKenzie lawyers working on the transaction.
The acquisition of the LSG Group is the latest in a series of transactions in which Baker McKenzie has supported the AURELIUS Group. Baker McKenzie recently advised the AURELIUS Group on the acquisition of AGFA Offset Solutions from Agfa-Gaevert NV, on the acquisition of Footasylum from JD Sports Fashion Plc and on the acquisition of Minova Group in a global carve-out transaction from Orica Limited.
AURELIUS is a pan-European alternative investment group with offices in London, Luxembourg, Munich, Amsterdam, Stockholm, Madrid, Milan and Duesseldorf. Key investment platforms are the AURELIUS European Opportunities IV Fund and the listed AURELIUS Equity Opportunities SE & Co. KGaA, which acquire group spin-offs and companies with development potential in the midmarket sector. The core element of the investment strategy is the growth of the portfolio companies with a team of nearly 100 in-house operational taskforce experts.
Today, the LSG Group is located in 49 countries. Together with its partners, the company serves its global clients around 275 million classic airline catering meals per year. The LSG Group is headquartered in Neu-Isenburg, near Frankfurt, Germany. The carve-out transaction includes all classic catering, onboard retail and food commerce activities, and the LSG Group’s brands with all 131 LSG Sky Chefs Customer Service Centers in the Americas, Emerging Markets and Asia-Pacific regions. Additionally, the acquisition includes the onboard retail expert Retail inMotion, based in Europe, and SCIS Air Security Services in the US. The LSG Group employs around 19,000 staff worldwide and has 36 joint ventures across the globe.
The LSG Group generates revenues of approx. USD 2bn with margins recovering from the challenging environment, experienced particularly by the aviation industry during the COVID pandemic. Throughout the last years, the LSG Group has demonstrated strong performance by adapting swiftly and putting the needs of their customers first.
Baker McKenzie's Corporate/M&A team regularly advise on domestic and international transactions. Most recently, Baker McKenzie advised, among others, Nokian Tyres plc on the sale of its Russian operations to Tatneft PJSC, First Solar on sale of its international O&M business to NovaSource, Sika on divestment of business of MBCC Group to INEOS, Fluidra on its acquisition of Meranus Group, Magna on the acquisition of Veoneer's Active Safety Business, MicroVision on the acquisition (asset deal) of the business of Hamburg based Ibeo Automotive Systems, Trane Technologies on the acquisition of AL-KO Air Technology, Pacoma on the sale to L&P, Deutsche Beteiligungs AG (DBAG) on its investment in vhf Group,VINCI Energies S.A. on the acquisition of parts of Kontron AG, AURELIUS on the acquisition of AGFA Offset Solutions and of Footasylum from JD Sports and FUNKE Digital on the acquisition of Baseplus DIGITAL MEDIA GmbH.
Legal advisor to AURELIUS:
Baker McKenzie
Lead:
Corporate/M&A: Jakub Lorys (partner, Munich)
Team:
Corporate/M&A: Tino Marz (counsel, Munich), Richard Stefanink (senior associate, Duesseldorf), Anna Giulia Klaas (associate, Munich), Eva Kriechbaumer (associate, Munich), Sadik Capa (associate, Frankfurt)
Tax: Thomas Gierath (partner, Munich), Viktoria Ritter (associate, Munich)
Finance: Matthias Töke (counsel, Frankfurt), Kieran Verdano (associate, Frankfurt), Esther Kapern (associate, Frankfurt), Tim Hosgör (associate, Frankfurt)
Commercial: Joachim Fröhlich (counsel, Munich), Hannah Mack (associate, Munich)
Employment/Pension: Christian Reichel (partner, Frankfurt), Christian Koops (partner, Munich), Felix Diehl (senior associate, Frankfurt), Thomas Seidensticker (senior associate, Munich), Sebastian Pfrang (associate, Frankfurt), Johannes Seeberg-Elverfeldt (associate, Munich), Miriam Siemen (associate, Munich)
IP/IT: Patrick Wilkening (partner, Duesseldorf), Nadine Neumeier (counsel, Frankfurt), Anna-Lena Busser (associate, Frankfurt), Anela Kapetanidis (associate, Frankfurt)
Real Estate: Till Pflug (associate, Frankfurt)
Regulatory: Andreas Schulz (counsel, Berlin)
USA: Dieter Schmitz (partner, Chicago), Elizabeth Ebersole (partner, Chicago), Jennifer Trock (partner, Washington), Christopher Guldberg (partner, Chicago), Taryn Brown (senior associate, Washington), Alexander Matthews (senior associate, Washington), Joseph Charron (senior associate, Chicago), Patricia Mathy (senior associate, Chicago), Goli Rahimi (senior associate, Chicago), Eunkyung Shin (senior associate, Chicago), Genevieve Razick (senior associate, Washington), Sarah Swain (associate, San Francisco), Josephine Bae (associate, Chicago), Nina Nolan (associate, Chicago), Victoria Fanous (associate, New York), Divine Collins (associate, Chicago), Taylor Parker (associate, Chicago), Kate Raynor (associate, Chicago), Caroline Howard (associate, Washington)
plus numerous further attorneys in more than 30 offices of Baker McKenzie around the world such as in Argentina, Brasilia, Canada, Chile, Hong Kong, Italy, Luxembourg, Mexico, People's Republic of China, South Africa, Sweden, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom and Venezuela.