MUNICH, June 26, 2015 – The international law firm Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP advised ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG on the acquisition of a majority stake in Verivox, Germany’s largest independent consumer portal for energy. With this largest digital acquisition to date, ProSiebenSat.1 is expanding its activities in the fast-growing segment of comparison portals. ProSiebenSat.1 is acquiring 80 percent of the shares in Verivox for a purchase price of up to 170 million euros. On top of this comes a variable purchase price component, the amount of which is subject to the operating profit of Verivox in the year of 2015. This amounts to a maximum of 40 million euros. The former owners under the leadership of Oakley Capital will continue to hold a minority interest in the company.
The acquisition is subject to approval by the German Federal Cartel Office.
A Milbank team headed by Martin Erhardt comprehensively advised ProSiebenSat.1 on corporate and tax law in relation to the transaction.
Advisor to ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG: Milbank, Tweed Hadley & McCloy LLP
Martin Erhardt (lead, Corporate/M&A, Munich), Thomas Kleinheisterkamp (Tax, Munich), Arndt Stengel (Corporate/M&A, Frankfurt), Alexander Rinne (Litigation, Munich), Special Counsel: Matthew Mortimer (Tax, London); Associates: Thomas Tiedemann, Markus Messinger, Leopold J. Riedl (all Corporate/M&A, Frankfurt), Dennis Seifarth, Dominik Waldvogel, Sebastian Reiner, Alexander Bücken (all Corporate/M&A, Munich), Chiara Balbinot (Tax, Munich)
About Milbank
Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP is a leading international law firm founded in 1866 in New York City. Today Milbank has offices in Beijing, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, Munich, New York, São Paulo, Seoul, Singapore, Tokyo and Washington, DC and is present in all major financial and economic centers of the world. Milbank focuses its worldwide legal services in the areas of finance, transactions and litigation.
The first European office was opened in 1979 in London, followed by Frankfurt in 2001 and Munich in 2004. Due to the close cooperation of the German offices with the finance, corporate, cartel and tax lawyers practicing in other Milbank offices, in particular London and New York, Milbank Germany is in a position to provide fully integrated legal advice on the highest level in all these core areas pursuant to German, English and US law.
