Dr. Stefan Koch

Partner, Frankfurt

Biography

Stefan Koch is named as Leading Individual Lawyer for Private Equity in Germany’s most recent JUVE rankings and named as one of Germany’s best lawyers for Private Equity in the Best Lawyers/Handelsblatt 2021.

Overview

Stefan Koch is a partner in our Global Mergers & Acquisitions practice and heads our German Private Equity group. He has more than 20 years' relevant experience as M&A lawyer both in the US and in Germany and frequently works for a variety of top tier PE sponsor clients. Stefan is ranked as a leading lawyer in his field by top legal directories.

Stefan supports a wide variety of clients with legal and strategic advice on significant transactions, including M&A, LBOs and MBOs, public takeovers, carve-outs and joint-ventures. Many of Stefan's transactions involved complex deals in regulated sectors or companies with disruptive business models. International in outlook and approach, Stefan regularly leads teams across multiple jurisdictions.

Stefan is dual-qualified and permitted to practice in both Germany and New York, USA.

Bars and Courts
Rechtsanwalt
New York
Education
Second State Exam
Hanseatic Higher Regional Court of Hamburg
Dr jur
University of Hamburg
LLM
New York University School of Law
First State Exam
University of Hamburg
Languages
German
English

Experience

Battery Ventures
Advised the international private equity investor Battery Ventures (Battery) on the acquisition of steute Technologies GmbH & Co. KG (steute), a developer and manufacturer of switches, sensors and other products for medical and industrial applications.

Merck KGaA
Advised Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany (MKDG), a leading science and technology company, on the agreement to acquire life science company Mirus Bio for US$600 million.

ACP Allianz Capital Partners (ACP) and others
Advised an international syndicate consisting of ACP, Borealis Infrastructure Management Inc., Infinity Investments SA and MEAG on its 2015 acquisition of Autobahn Tank & Rast GmbH, the German autobahn services company.

Allen & Company
Advised Allen & Company LLC, as financial advisor to Axel Springer SE, on KKR's €6.8 billion takeover offer.

Ardian (formerly Axa Private Equity)*
Advised Ardian on the 2021 acquisition of YT Industries, the 2021 disposal of Schwind eye-tech-solutions GmbH, the 2019 acquisition of German Saal Digital, the 2016 acquisition of German Schwind eye-tech solutions GmbH as well as the previous acquisition of the railway sleepers business of Pfleiderer AG through a carve-out; the acquisition of CABB, a specialty chemicals company through a carve-out from Clariant; the disposal of Alukon, a manufacture of roller shutters; and the disposal of Gealan, a manufacturer of PVC window profiles.

Battery Ventures 
Advised Battery Ventures-backed Proemion Holding GmbH, a global provider of advanced data and analytics technology for mobile industrial equipment, on the acquisition of TrendMiner NV, an industrial analytics company of Software AG.

Battery Ventures
Advised Battery Ventures on its 2021 sale of Forterro for EUR 1 billion, its 2021 acquisition of ifp, its 2021 acquisition of Bernd Kraft (now: AnalytiChem), its 2020 voluntary public takeover offer for EASY SOFTWARE AG, its 2020 acquisition of winworker (now Craftview), its 2019 acquisition of abas Software AG through its portfolio company Forterro, the 2017 disposition of Worldhotels AG and its 2015 sale of German Trust International Group to NASDAQ-listed Sabre Corporation.

Cobepa 
Advised Cobepa on its 2021 EUR 1.5 billion disposal of Hillebrand AG to Deutsche Post.

DBAG 
Advised Deutsche Beteiligungs AG on the acquisition of a majority stake in Multimon AG, a leading provider of fire protection systems.

Duke Street
Advised Duke Street on its 2022 disposal of Medi-Globe (as well as the earlier 2016 acquisition), its 2021 acquisition of Compo, and its 2018 acquisition of A-Rosa river cruises.

IK Investment Partners
Advised IK Investment Partners on its 2019/20 acquisition of MDT technologies GmbH and its 2016 acquisition of ZytoService Deutschland GmbH.

Merck
Advising Merck on the acquisition of the American life science company Mirus Bio for approximately EUR 550 million.

Merck KGaA*
Advised Merck KGaA on the 2022 acquisition of Lonza's "MAST business" through a carve-out, the 2015 agreement by its Life Science business, Merck Millipore, to acquire the worldwide rights to an innovative protein detection technology from Singulex, the 2015 disposition of its drug discovery and developments solutions business to Eurofins SA, as well as previously on the US$7.2 billion acquisition of Millipore Corporation and the €4.9 billion disposal of its worldwide generics business to Mylan Inc. through a global carve-out.

Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners (MSIP)
Advised MSIP on its 2022 sale of VTG AG to a consortium of Global Infrastructure Partners and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) in a deal valued at EUR 7 billion, the largest German PE transaction in 2022 so far.

Nordic Capital
Advised Nordic Capital on its 2022 acquisition of ProGlove, its 2021 acquisition of BauFi 24 and the formation of the new Bilthouse group, its 2021 disposal of Veonet, its 2021 acquisition of Bearing Point RegTech (now: Regnology) through a carve-out from BearingPoint, its 2018 acquisition of Prospitalia, its 2018 acquisition of Ober Scharrer, its 2017 acquisition of Alloheim, its 2015 acquisition of Sunrise Medical and its 2014 acquisition of GHD GesundHeits GmbH Deutschland.

Triton
Advised Triton on its 2021 sale of Meine Radiologie Holding.

*Includes matters worked on prior to joining White & Case

Awards and Recognition

Best Lawyer Germany in Mergers and Acquisitions Law, Private Equity Law, Handelsblatt 2014-2022

Leading Individual, 2024/2025 (Private Equity)
(Private Equity & Venture Capital)

Highly regarded, IFLR 1000 2021
(Private Equity, M&A)

Ranked individual, Chambers Europe 2021 
(Private Equity)