P+P advises DPE on acquisition of majority stake in Swiss IT advisor AWK

Funds of the investment firm DPE Deutsche Private Equity (DPE) have acquired a majority stake in AWK, the largest independent IT advisory firm in Switzerland. According to press releases, this is the largest M&A deal in the Swiss advisory sector in years.

The owner-managed AWK Group advises its customers on the application of and strategies for information technologies and has already successfully implemented over 4000 projects in various sectors. Most recently, the firm had a turnover of over CHF 50 m. In the medium term, the number of employees will double from the current 250 to 500.

DPE is an independent German investment company that invests in medium-sized companies in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. DPE was founded in Munich in 2007 and has since launched three funds, advised and supervised by the P+P private funds team.

P+P Pöllath + Partners advised DPE on the tax aspects of the cross-border transaction structure with the following Munich-based team:

• Dr. Michael Best (partner, tax)
• Gerald Herrmann (counsel, tax)
• Dr. Anna Schiefelbein (associate, tax)