White & Case Advises LANXESS on Sale of Currenta Stake to Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets

Global law firm White & Case LLP has advised leading specialty chemicals company LANXESS on the sale of its stake in chemical park operator Currenta to funds managed by Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets (MIRA), one of the world's largest infrastructure investors.

Completion of the transaction is subject to the usual approval conditions.

Prior to the sale, the chemicals and pharmaceuticals enterprise Bayer held 60 percent of Currenta, with LANXESS holding the remaining 40 percent. Together, the two companies sold shares valued at approximately €3.5 billion. The stake in Currenta held by LANXESS has an equity value (after deduction of net debt and pensions) of approximately €780 million before taxes.

LANXESS, as one of Currenta's main customers, will continue to hold its stake for several months and will provide operational support to Currenta during the transition. The transaction is expected to complete by the end of April 2020. LANXESS will receive a profit share until the sale is closed. In addition, the company has agreed with MIRA on service and supply contracts for three sites in Leverkusen, Dormagen and Krefeld-Uerdingen, which will initially run for ten years.

LANXESS generated sales of €7.2 billion in 2018 and currently has around 15,400 employees in 33 countries. The company currently operates 60 production sites worldwide.

The White & Case team which advised on the M&A transaction was led by partner Markus Hauptmann (Frankfurt) and included partners Matthias Kiesewetter (Hamburg), Bodo Bender (Frankfurt), Tilman Kuhn (Düsseldorf), Frank-Karl Heuchemer and Christian Theissen (both Frankfurt), local partners Julia Sitter, Tim Bracksiek and Andreas Lischka (all Frankfurt), and associates Jochen Hoerth (Frankfurt), Moritz Müller-Buttmann (Hamburg) and transaction lawyer Shuhan Zhang (Frankfurt). A White & Case team led by partner Endrik Lettau (Frankfurt) advised on the real estate and environmental aspects of the sale which included properties and infrastructure transferred by Bayer to Currenta for €180 million. The team included counsel Anna Burghardt and Katrin Rübsamen (both Berlin), local partner Rostyslav Telyatnykov (Frankfurt) and associates Behnam Yazdani, Sandra D'Ascenzo, Anne Henzel and Anne-Sophie von Koester (all Frankfurt).

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