Baker McKenzie has advised Georg Fischer AG (GF) on the acquisition of the VAG Group, a renowned global manufacturer and supplier of valves for water supply, from the investment company Aurelius.
Baker McKenzie advised GF on all legal aspects of the transaction. The value of the transaction is expected to be in the range of CHF 200 million. Closing is expected by the end of the year and is subject to customary closing conditions.
"Our global Corporate/M&A team is excited to have comprehensively supported GF in this important transaction, which will bring them closer to realizing their vision of becoming the global leader in Flow Solutions for buildings, industry and infrastructure," commented Jakub Lorys, Corporate/M&A Partner in Munich, lead partner on the transaction.
Georg Fischer AG is an industrial company founded in Schaffhausen (Switzerland) in 1802 and still based there today. It operates 184 companies in 46 countries, including 74 production companies. The company is actively reshaping itself to become the global leader in Flow Solutions. It delivers essential products and solutions for the safe transport of liquids and gases. It employs around 19,000 people and generated sales of CHF 4,776 million in 2024.
Founded in 1872 and headquartered in Mannheim (Germany), the VAG Group has built a strong reputation as a global full-service provider of high-quality water utility valves for potable water, wastewater infrastructure, dam/hydro, industrial and power end markets. The company specializes in products such as gate valves, butterfly valves and check valves, which are used in critical infrastructure including water pipelines, transmission lines, dams, and power plants, as well as in specific industries such as desalination. VAG employs approximately 1,000 people and operates production plants and sales offices across Europe, the Americas, India, the Middle East, South-East Asia, Africa and China. It generates annual sales of around EUR 200 million (approx. CHF 190 million).
Baker McKenzie's German Corporate/M&A practice regularly advises on domestic and international transactions. Most recently, Baker McKenzie advised AURELIUS on the acquisition of Teijin Automotive Technologies, Centric Software on the acquisition of Contentserv Group, Fagron Group on the acquisition of Euro OTC & Audor Pharma GmbH, Berlin Packaging, a portfolio company of Oak Hill Capital Partners und Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, on the acquisition of RIXIUS AG, Instalco on the investment in FABRI AG, AURELIUS on the acquisition of the Savoury Division from What's Cooking, UBE Corporation on its acquisition of the Urethane Systems business from LANXESS, Grundfos on the acquisition of Culligan's C&I business, Flipp Operations on joining forces
with MEDIA Central to create the world's leading provider of drive-to-store marketing, and Uniwater, a portfolio company of Nalka, on the acquisition of four pipes.
Legal advisor to Georg Fischer AG:
Baker McKenzie
Lead: Corporate/M&A: Dr. Jakub Lorys (Partner, Munich)
Team:
- Corporate/M&A: Dr. Tino Marz (Partner, Munich), Dr. Katja Heuterkes (Counsel, Munich), Anna Giulia Klaas (Associate, Munich), Dr. Jens Klapdor (Associate, Munich), Tobias Beck (Associate, Munich), Jan Neumann (Associate, Munich)
- Tax: Christoph Becker (Partner, Frankfurt), Christian Sauer (Senior Associate, Frankfurt)
- Financing: Matthias Töke (Partner, Frankfurt), Saskia Ilzhöfer (Associate, Frankfurt)
- Real Estate & Environmental: Dr. Niklas Wielandt (Partner, Frankfurt)
- Employment & Benefits: Dr. Matthias Köhler (Partner, Berlin), Dr. Felix Diehl (Partner, Frankfurt), Victoria Christians (Associate, Berlin)
- IP: Patrick Wilkening (Partner, Dusseldorf), Anela Winzig (Associate, Frankfurt)
- IT: Florian Tannen (Partner, Munich), Daniel Wulle (Senior Associate, Munich), Clarissa Rach (Associate, Munich)
- Commercial: Katharina Spenner (Partner, Munich), Dr. Peter Stankewitsch (Counsel, Frankfurt), Joachim Fröhlich (Counsel, Munich)
- Regulatory: Dr. Andreas Schulz (Counsel, Berlin)
- Compliance: Dr. Anika Schürmann (Partner, Dusseldorf), Pia König (Associate, Dusseldorf), Dr. Lukas Greiner (Associate, Dusseldorf)
- Merger Control & FDI: Jan Kresken (Partner, Dusseldorf), Dr. Florian Kotman (Senior Associate, Dusseldorf)
- Brazil*: Lara Schwartzmann (Partner, Sao Paulo), Alexandre Jabra (Senior Associate, Sao Paulo), Caroline Strehler (Associate, Sao Paulo), Vinicius Amigo (Associate, Sao Paulo), Laura Mamimoto (Associate, Sao Paulo)
- China: Jacky Zhu (Counsel, Beijing), Elva Yao (Associate, Shanghai), Michael Wang (Associate, Shanghai), Hunt Wu (Associate, Shanghai)
- Czech Republic: Tomas Skoumal (Partner, Prague), Tereza Stefunkova (Senior Associate, Prague), Vlastimil Kreysa (Senior Associate, Prague), Marek Disman (Senior Associate, Prague), Dusan Hlavaty (Senior Associate, Prague), Michal Malkovsky (Associate, Prague), Stepan Hron (Associate, Prague)
- South Africa: Ashlin Perumall (Partner, Johannesburg), Annie Nair (Senior Associate, Johannesburg), Kylie Slambert (Associate, Johannesburg), Sihle Sibanyoni (Associate, Johannesburg), Gabriel Rybko (Associate, Johannesburg), Kamogelo Mashigo (Associate, Johannesburg), Jordan Moonsamy (Associate, Johannesburg)
- Switzerland: Dr. Matthias Courvoisier (Partner, Zurich), Boris Wenger (Partner, Zurich), Samantha Salsench (Associate, Zurich)
- UK: Sven Bates (Counsel, London), Emily Thomson (Associate, London)
- US: Jieun Tak (Partner, New York), Colleen Baime (Partner, Chicago), Vivian Tse (Associate, Palo Alto), Matt Bratovich (Associate, New York), Aubrey Kelley (Associate, New York), Yanshu Zhang (Associate, New York)