Latham Advises Ardian in Acquisition of Swissbit

Latham & Watkins LLP advised Ardian on the acquisition of a majority stake in Swissbit Holding AG (Swissbit). Swissbit’s existing management team led by Silvio Muschter, Thomas Luft, Vincenzo Esposito, and Matthias Poppel will significantly reinvest in the company as part of the transaction and will also hold a substantial stake in the company in the future. The parties have agreed not to disclose the financial details of the transaction, which is also subject to approval by the antitrust authorities.

Swissbit, based in Bronschhofen (Switzerland), is a leading global manufacturer of storage and embedded IoT solutions with its own production facilities in Germany. The company was founded in 2001 through a management buyout of Siemens AG, and has offices in Switzerland, Germany, USA, Japan and Taiwan.

Ardian is a world-leading private investment house with assets of US$96 billion managed or advised in Europe, the Americas and Asia. The company is majority-owned by its employees and maintains a truly global network, with more than 680 employees working from fifteen offices across Europe, the Americas and Asia.

The team was led by Munich private equity partner Burc Hesse with support of partner Sebastian Pauls and associates Hendrik Ley, Andreas Holzgreve and Chris Freitag. Tax advice was provided by Munich partner Stefan Süß, on antitrust matters by Frankfurt partner Max Hauser and associate Anne Haas, on finance matters by Munich partner Thomas Weitkamp and associate Thomas Freund, on employment matters by Munich partner Anne Kleffmann and associate Kristina Steckermeier, on corporate matters by Frankfurt counsels Thies Deike and Joachim Grittmann, on real estate matters by Hamburg partner Otto v. Gruben and associate Maximilian Berenbrok, and on litigation matters by Frankfurt associate Jan Vollkammer. Support was also provided by teams in London, New York and Washington.