Bird & Bird advises Keolis on German market exit

Published

Jan 07 2022

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Senior Counsel
Germany

I work as Senior Counsel in our corporate team in Düsseldorf, advising German and international clients in all M&A, corporate and restructuring matters and joint ventures. I also focus on the drafting and negotiation of complex purchase and sales agreements, cooperation, distribution and service agreements – an area where I have profound expertise in particular through my secondments in various industries.

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Germany

Bird & Bird has advised French Keolis S.A. on its market exit from the German local passenger rail transport (SPNV) business. Keolis S.A. is a subsidiary of the French national railway SNCF and the pension and insurance fund of Quebec Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ).

From 1st January 2022, the Noerr subsidiary TEAM Treuhand GmbH will acquire the shares of Keolis S.A. via a subsidiary in the form of a UG (limited liability) and will become the new shareholder of Keolis Deutschland GmbH & Co. KG, as well as its general partner. The well-known brand name eurobahn becomes the company name, and Keolis Deutschland GmbH & Co. KG becomes eurobahn GmbH & Co. KG.

Keolis Deutschland, Keolis SA. and the public transport authorities Nahverkehr Westfalen-Lippe (NWL), Verkehrsverbund Rhein Ruhr (VRR), Landesnahverkehrsgesellschaft Niedersachsen (LNVG) and Provincie Overijssel have also agreed on the reorganisation of the existing transport contracts.
Keolis Deutschland's operations will continue unchanged.

The parties have agreed not to disclose the financial details of the transaction.

Keolis S.A. was advised by an interdisciplinary team with the following Bird & Bird lawyers: senior Counsel Dr Kathrin Knöfler (Corporate/M&A), partner Dr Jan Byok, LL.M. (Public Procurement Law), both lead; partner Dr Stefan Gottgetreu, associates Benita Schild and Dominic Poster (both Corporate/M&A); associates Anna Horschik and Mario Kreutzer (both Public Procurement Law); partner Dr Jörg Witting, associate Tamy Tietze (Competition Law), all Düsseldorf.