Baker McKenzie advised MDAX-listed Evonik Industries AG on this year's Annual General Meeting. The Annual General Meeting took place on 31 May in the new statutory format as a virtual Annual General Meeting at the administrative headquarters of Evonik Industries AG in Essen. The legislator had created the legal basis for this in July 2022, thus permanently establishing the virtual Annual General Meeting as a format. The enabling of virtual shareholder meetings, which was first made possible in COVID times, was further developed after positive experiences, and anchored as an alternative in the law.
The agenda included the election of all supervisory board members as well as the authorization to hold virtual general meetings over the next five years as provided for in the law. All the resolutions proposed by the administration were adopted with a large majority.
In particular, the resolutions of the Annual General Meeting created the conditions for the Executive Board to be able to determine that the Annual General Meeting will be held virtually in future and that members of the Supervisory Board will also be able to participate in the Annual General Meeting by way of video and audio transmission under certain conditions.
"We were able to accompany Evonik in the introduction of the virtual general meeting and thus contribute to the introduction of a modern and sustainable format," commented Dr Katharina Stüber, partner at Baker McKenzie.
This was the 10th public AGM for Evonik Industries, all which Dr Katharina Stüber has assisted with.
Evonik is a global leader in specialty chemicals. The group is active in over 100 countries and in 2022 generated sales of €18.5 billion and earnings (adjusted EBITDA) of €2.49 billion with around 34,000 employees. Evonik goes far beyond chemistry to create innovative, value-creating, and sustainable solutions for its customers.
Baker McKenzie's Corporate/M&A team also regularly advises on critical AGMs and structural measures as well as national and international transactions. Most recently, Baker McKenzie advised, among others. Pfeiffer Vacuum Technology AG on its domination and profit and loss transfer agreement (BGAV) with Pangea GmbH, Sika on the sale of the MBCC Group business to Cinven, AURELIUS on its acquisition of LSG Group from Deutsche Lufthansa AG, Nokian Tyres plc on the sale of its Russian operations to Tatneft, 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, Knorr-Bremse AG on the sale of its stake in Haldex AB to SAF-Holland SE, Siemens on the sale of its Commercial Vehicles business to Meritor and Sika AG on the acquisition of the MBCC Group.
Legal Advisor to Evonik Industries AG:
Baker McKenzie
Lead:
Corporate/M&A: Katharina Stüber, (partner, Frankfurt)
Team:
Corporate/M&A: Christian Vocke (partner, Frankfurt), Frederik Erdmann (associates, Frankfurt)
Inhouse at Evonik Industries AG: Dr. Dirk Büscher (lead), Oliver Schmitt