POELLATH advises management regarding MPP on the acquisition of a stake in Axel Springer

After coordination with the other major shareholders - former owner Friede Springer and CEO Mathias Döpfner - KKR then announced a public delisting offer for Springer shares at the end of January. At the time, Springer was valued at around EUR 6.8 billion and around 9.7 percent were free-float shares. The media group was subsequently delisted from the stock exchange in April 2020.

At least 45 percent of the shares are now bundled in the Dutch holding company Traviata, which acted as the bidder. Traviata is owned by funds advised by KKR and had received the required financing confirmation for the transaction from Unicredit Bank.

The Springer Group already generates more than 70 percent of its revenues in the digital business and intends to further expand this line of business. In total, the company generated revenues of around EUR 3.1 billion in 2019. In addition to the newspapers “Bild”, “Welt” and “BZ”, the Springer Group also owns the job portal stepstone and the price comparison exchange idealo, among others.

POELLATH advised the management of Axel Springer on the implementation of a management participation program with the following Munich team:

• Dr. Benedikt Hohaus (partner, lead, M&A, private equity, MPP)
• Johanna Scherk (associate, M&A, private equity, MPP)