Swedish private equity group EQT said Monday that it has agreed to pay $2.2 billion to purchase BSN medical, a Hamburg, Germanybased maker of medical products that include bandages, casts, and splints.
EQT snagged BSN by winning a bidding process reaching an agreement with company management and the U.K.’s Montagu Private Equity, which acquired the medical device company in 2005 for roughly $1.1 billion. The auction for BSNwhich employs about 4,000 people around the world; supplies wound care and orthopedic products to clients that include hospitals and pharmacies; and took in more than $800 million in revenue last yearalso attracted interest from such other potential buyers as Kimberly-Clark Corporation, and buyout firms BC Partners and CVC, according to Reuters.
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer is acting as lead counsel to EQT on the transaction, with Cologne, Germanybased corporate partner Ludwig Leyendecker heading the firm’s team. The Freshfields global team also includes corporate partners Kai Hasselbach and Patrick Tardivy, along with tax partners Stephan Eilers and Adalbert Rödding. Employment law partner Elmar Schnitker, intellectual property partner Matthias Koch, and competition partner Bruce McCulloch also helped on the deal.
EQT is receiving additional legal counsel from a Baker & McKenzie team led by London-based banking and finance partner Bernard Sharp, with Frankfurt-based Baker partner Oliver Socher advising on aspects of German law.
German legal publication Juve reports that German law firm P+P Pöllath + Partners is also advising EQT on the deal.
Having handled the Montagu’s acquisition of BSN nearly seven years ago, Clifford Chance is representing the private equity investor on its sale of the company as well. The firm’s team on the current transaction is led by Frankfurt-based private equity partner Christopher Kellett and also includes private equity counsel Rose Brounts. Health care partner Peter Dieners and intellectual property partner Claudia Milbradt are advising in Düsseldorf, while finance partner Richard Sharples and capital markets partner Fabio Diminich are working on the deal in London.
