Freshfields and Latham among advisers on €7bn EQT-backed hearing aid company merger
Freshfields leads for EQT and Sivantos on tie-up with Denmark's Widex
May 18, 2018 at 05:47 AM
2 minute read
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Latham & Watkins have advised on the €7bn (£6.1bn) merger of hearing-aid makers Sivantos and Widex.
The merger, announced on Wednesday (16 May), will create the third-largest supplier of hearing aids in the world, behind Sonova and William Demant.
Swedish private equity house EQT, which has owned Germany's Sivantos since 2015 when it acquired it from Siemens, will own the majority share in the combined company, which will have an enterprise value of more than €7bn.
Freshfields acted for EQT and Sivantos on the deal, alongside Danish law firm Plesner.
The magic circle firm fielded a team of German partners led by Munich-based global insurance head Wessel Heukamp, corporate partner Ludwig Leyendecker, competition partners Uta Itzen and Katrin Gassner, tax partner David Beutel and intellectual property partner Wolrad Prinz zu Waldeck, alongside Washington DC antitrust partner Tom Ensign.
Plesner's team is led by corporate partners Thomas Holst Laursen and Torben Norskov.
Denmark's Widex is being represented by Copenhagen-based firm Kromann Reumert, headed up by lead partner Christian Lundgren, a capital markets specialist, and supported by corporate partner Jakob Hans Johansen.
Latham advised on financing for the merger, which was provided by JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank.
The new company will employ more than 10,000 people around the world and will have combined revenues of approximately €1.6bn (£1.4bn).
The roles for Freshfields and Latham come after both firms advised on Vodafone's recent £16.1bn purchase of US cable company Liberty Global's European assets. Freshfields took the lead corporate role for Liberty, while Latham advised the company on German antitrust matters.
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