DLA Piper advises Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG on formation of production joint venture with Masterwork

DLA Piper has advised Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG ("Heidelberg") on the formation of a production joint venture with its long-standing partner and strategic anchor shareholder Masterwork Group Co. ("Masterwork").

With this joint venture, Heidelberg aims to further strengthen its leading competitive position in the growth market of China and will also benefit from the closer cooperation within the value chain of the two companies, particularly at its production site near Shanghai. Both companies also expect the expansion of the strategic cooperation through joint parts production by the joint venture at Masterwork’s new and innovative site in Tianjin to open up substantial opportunities for boosting efficiency.

Under the terms of the cooperation agreement, the joint venture will take over some of the machine parts previously manufactured by Heidelberg. The joint venture has already been approved by the relevant antitrust authorities and production is scheduled to start at the beginning of 2021.

The international DLA Piper Hamburg-based Corporate team was led by partner Dr. Benjamin Parameswaran and counsel Dr. Isaschar Nicolaysen and also included senior associate Dr. Diedrich Schröder. Other team members included partners Semin O (Antitrust, Frankfurt), Dr. Thilo von Bodungen (Commercial, Munich), Kerstin Schnabel (Corporate, Cologne), Dr. Roland Maaß (Capital Markets, Frankfurt), counsel Dr. Susanne Weckbach, senior associates Olga Blaszczyk (both Commercial, Munich), Dr. Gregor Schroll (Antitrust), Hubertus Neu (Corporate, both Cologne) and associate Alexander Rösch (Antitrust Law, Frankfurt). In China, a DLA Piper Corporate team led by partner Stewart Wang and consultant Ken Tang also advised on the transaction.