Heuking Kühn Lüer Wojtek advises shareholders of digital specialist diconium on sale of 49 percent stake to Volkswagen

A team comprised of members of several offices led by Stuttgart-based Partner Dr. Peter Ladwig comprehensively advised diconium group GmbH and its managing shareholders on the sale of a 49% stake in diconium digital GmbH to Volkswagen AG and accompanied the transaction. The relevant agreements were signed on November 21, 2018. The sale is subject to approval by the antitrust authorities. 

The advice provided by Heuking Kühn Lüer Wojtek included, among other activities, support in the due diligence process and the drafting and negotiation of all contracts as part of the transaction, in particular the purchase agreement and ancillary contracts.  

diconium (formerly dmc) was established by Andreas Schwend and Daniel Rebhorn in 1995 and is a leading specialist for the holistic development of digital business models. Its activities include strategy development and the design of the user experience (UX), as well as the implementation and operational realization of business ideas. Managed by its two founders, diconium group currently employs some 800 people at its sites in Germany, Portugal, the U.S., and India. diconium's core competences include the development of sales platforms for digital products and services as well as IT systems in customer management. 

Volkswagen Group, headquartered in Wolfsburg, is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of automobiles and commercial vehicles. Employing more than 600,000 people, Volkswagen delivered more than 10.741 million vehicles last year and generated sales of about EUR 230 billion. 

Volkswagen and diconium intend to jointly develop business models and expand Volkswagen’s range of digital value-added services in the future. diconium will thus become an important technology partner for the development of new digital services offered by Volkswagen. Among other activities, both companies intend to launch a global online sales platform allowing Volkswagen customers to purchase and manage all upcoming “We” services and on-demand functions for their connected vehicles. This will enable customers to quickly and easily access digital value-added services in their fully networked vehicles in the future. 

Counsel to diconium group GmbH and its shareholders
Heuking Kühn Lüer Wojtek:
Dr. Peter Ladwig (Lead),
Dr. Alexander Schott,
Caren Hertfelder (all Corporate/M&A),
Dr. Markus Klinger,
Antje Münch, LL.M. (both IP/IT),
Dr. Antonia Stein (Employment), all Stuttgart
Fabian G. Gaffron (Tax), Hamburg
Dr. Reinhard Siegert,
Dr. Ruth Schneider (both Antitrust), both Munich 

Counsel Clifford Chance LLP:
Dr. Jörg Rhiel, Corporate/M&A (Lead)
Dr. Nadine Fell, both Frankfurt