Milbank advised AUTO1 Group SE, Europe's leading digital automotive platform, on Germany’s first successful IPO in 2021. In the course of the IPO, shares of AUTO1 were placed at €38 per share. Gross proceeds to the company and selling pre-IPO shareholders are estimated at €1.8 billion. The placement price indicates a market capitalization at the start of trading of €7.9 billion (after the issuance of further new shares to certain holders of a convertible loan). This is the biggest initial public offering in Germany since June 2019 and one of the biggest German offerings of the past two decades. Stock exchange trading on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange will commence on February 4.
AUTO1 Group is a multi-brand technology company that develops solutions for online car buying and selling. Under local European consumer brands such as wirkaufendeinauto.de, AUTO1 Group offers consumers a fast and easy way to sell their cars. Under its merchant brand AUTO1, it operates Europe’s largest wholesale platform for car trading professionals. With its retail brand Autohero, AUTO1 Group is using its technology, scale and operational excellence to develop a superior consumer experience for buying used cars online. AUTO1 Group achieved revenues of approximately €3.5 billion in 2019.
Milbank advised AUTO1 on all corporate, tax and financing matters relating to the IPO, as well as certain capital market law aspects. Milbank regularly provides legal advice to AUTO1 and has also advised on the €255 million convertible loan financing round for Autohero’s expansion in 2020 and its conversion into a European Stock Corporation (SE) in 2018.
The Milbank team was led by Norbert Rieger, Christoph Rothenfusser and Sebastian Heim (all Corporate/M&A) and included the partner Matthias Schell (Tax) as well as the associates Sebastian Reiner Pechtl, Fritz Schuchmann, Maximilian Pechtl (all Corporate/M&A), Moritz Philipp (Tax, all Munich) and Thomas Möller (Finance, Frankfurt).
