Baker McKenzie has advised Leica Camera Deutschland GmbH on the acquisition of three Leica Stores in Hamburg, Berlin and Munich, which were previously managed by Meister Camera. 135 years after the founding of the "Meister Drogerie", which later became Meister Camera, and more than 50 years of cooperation with Leica, owner Martin Meister has decided to sell his stores to Leica.
Baker McKenzie acted as legal counsel to Leica on corporate law and real estate aspects of the transaction, including the coordination and negotiation of the acquisition.
"With this acquisition, our client Leica can now continue its longstanding success story together with the existing store teams in Hamburg, Berlin and Munich. Our team was able to contribute to this benefit by seamlessly advising and coordinating the legal and business workstreams throughout the acquisition process," commented Eva Kriechbaumer, co-lead of the transaction.
Leica is a premium manufacturer of cameras and sports optics products, headquartered in Wetzlar, Germany. With this acquisition, Leica is further expanding its distribution network, which now includes eleven Leica Stores in Germany.
Baker McKenzie's Corporate/M&A practice regularly advises on domestic and international transactions. Most recently, Baker McKenzie advised Transcom on its acquisition of timeframe, Sika AG on its acquisition of MBCC Group from Lone Star and sale of MBCC's concrete admixtures business to Cinven, Senwes Ltd on the acquisition of four agricultural machinery dealers in the federal states of former East Germany, AURELIUS on the acquisition of LSG Group from Deutsche Lufthansa AG, Nokian Tyres plc on the sale of its Russian business to Tatneft PJSC, First Solar on the sale of its global O&M business to NovaSource, Fluidra on the acquisition of the Meranus Group and Magna on the acquisition of the Veoneer Active Safety division.
Legal advisor to Leica:
Baker McKenzie
Lead:
Corporate/M&A: Eva Kriechbaumer (senior associate, Munich), Andreas Lohner (partner, Munich)
Team:
Corporate/M&A: Jon Marcus Meese (partner, Munich)
Real Estate: Daniel Bork (partner, Düsseldorf), Moritz Jander (associate, Düsseldorf)
Inhouse Leica Camera AG: Florian Schäfer, Group General Counsel; Emese von Bölcsházy, Senior Legal Counsel & Inhouse Project Lead