DLA Piper advises Unilever on strategic partnership with Aviko Rixona

DLA Piper has advised Unilever, one of the world's leading consumer goods manufacturers, on a strategic partnership with Aviko Rixona. As part of this agreement, Aviko Rixona will take over Unilever's potato products plant in Stavenhagen with all 210 Unilever employees becoming part of Aviko Rixona on completion. At the same time Aviko Rixona will become a long-term supplier of Unilever's potato products and snackpots.

The Pfanni-plant in Stavenhagen has been producing potato products for more than 45 years and stands out for its unique technologies as well as extensive expertise.

Unilever sells food, personal care products, detergents and household cleaners in over 190 countries, which are used by around 2.5 billion consumers every day. Unilever employs more than 150,000 people worldwide and achieved an annual revenue of EUR 52 billion in 2019.

Aviko Rixona, an Aviko subsidiary, is part of Royal Cosun, an international agro-industrial cooperative dedicated to the production of plant-based food, feed and non-food products and green energy. Over the past 90 years, Aviko Rixona has developed into a leading producer of dehydrated potato granules and potato flakes. These products are supplied to the snack food industry, catering and retail, bakery, meat and fish industries and to producers of soups and sauces in more than 60 countries on all 5 continents.

The DLA Piper core team jointly led by partner Dr Nils Krause and senior associate Dr Moritz von Hesberg (both Corporate/M&A) comprised partners Dr Kai Bodenstedt (Employment, all Hamburg), Dr Florian Biesalski (Real Estate), Semin O (Antitrust), Dr Björn Enders (Tax) and Dr Marco Arteaga (Pensions, all Frankfurt). In addition, counsel Dr Christoph Dachner (Corporate/M&A) and Dr Annekatrin Veit (Pensions, both Munich), senior associates Florian Jeske (Employment, Hamburg), Sonja Beier (Real Estate, Frankfurt) and Georg Haberkorn (Pensions, Munich) as well as the associates Rune Jelte Weltz, Christine Uwase (both Corporate/M&A, Hamburg), Alexander Lamers (Real Estate), Alexander Rösch (Competition Law) and Florian Hader (Tax, all Frankfurt) provided advice. The international DLA Piper team consisted of the partners Joris Willems (IPT, Amsterdam), Fabio del Bene (Corporate) and Gualtiero Luca Dragotti (IPT) as well as the lawyers Vittorio Riva (Corporate) and Giacomo Lusardi (IPT, all Milan).