Hogan Lovells advises Versicherungskammer Group on acquisition of Ferngas

Press releases | 31 March 2021

With a team led by its Frankfurt-based partner Alexander Stefan Rieger, international law firm Hogan Lovells advised Germany's largest public insurer on the acquisition of the Ferngas Group.

The transaction, which has a volume of EUR 720 million, constitutes the first direct infrastructure investment by Versicherungskammer Group and is expected to be closed in the second quarter of 2021. The seller is a European infrastructure fund managed by First Sentier Investors (formerly First State Investments).

The Ferngas Group based in Schwaig near Nuremberg is a leading transmission and distribution system operator (so-called combined network operator) and operates a transmission and a distribution network with a total length of over 3,000 km. The network area covers Bavaria and Thuringia as well as parts of Hesse, Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt. Ferngas was formed from the merger of former Ferngas Nordbayern and Erdgasversorgungsgesellschaft Thüringen-Sachsen, which were acquired by First Sentier Investors in 2013 and 2014 respectively.

Hogan Lovells supported and advised Versicherungskammer Group with regard to all legal aspects. The highly complex transaction was handled by a 30 head strong team. Frankfurt-based strategic and M&A advisory firm Maxwell was also involved on behalf of Versicherungskammer Group.

In addition, Rothschild & Co and Latham & Watkins were engaged by First Sentier Investors as financial and legal advisors respectively.

Hogan Lovells team for Versicherungskammer Group

Frankfurt

Dr. Alexander Stefan Rieger (Partner/Lead, Infrastructure), Dr. Jörg Herwig (Partner/Notary, Corporate/M&A), Johannes Groß (Associate), Pascal Wagenführ (Associate), Camilla Fröhlich (Associate) (all Infrastructure), Alexandra Willm (Associate), Konstantin Weber (Associate) (both Corporate/M&A), Markus Franken (Of Counsel/Notar), Annika Lind (Associate) (both Real Estate), Dr. Kerstin Neighbour (Partner), Charlotte Baecker (Associate) (both Employment), Prof. Dr. Fabian Pfuhl (Counsel), Anne Schmitt (Senior Associate) (both Intellectual Property)

Hamburg

Dr. Carla Luh (Partner), Christian Hermanussen (Senior Associate) (both Infrastructure), Dr. Marc Schweda (Partner), Dr. Jan-Christoph Rudowicz (Senior Associate) (both Antitrust)

Dusseldorf

Dr. Stefan Schröder (Partner/Lead Regulatory), Tobias Grossevollmer (Associate), Finn Poll-Wolbeck (Associate) (all Regulatory), Dr. Matthias Schönhaus (Partner), Anja Brunthaler (Associate) (both Tax), Prof. Dr. Thomas Dünchheim (Partner), Dr. Sebastian Gräler (Senior Associate), Ines D. Mittermeier (Associate) (all Environmental)

Munich

Bernd Klemm (Partner), Dr. Thomas Frank (Senior Associate) (both Pensions)

Luxemburg

Alexander Koch (Partner), Benoit Serraf (Senior Associate) (both Corporate/M&A), Pierre Reuter (Partner), Simon Recher (Senior Associate) (both Funds), Gerard Neiens (Partner, Tax)

External team for Versicherungskammer Group

J.C.Maxwell + Company GmbH: Holger Mayer, Anke Janousch, Jochen Czelecz