Advising Walter Rau Group on sale to Bunge
Bunge Group, one of the world’s leading oil seed and grain trading and refining companies, acquired Walter Rau Lebensmittelwerke GmbH & Co. KG, Hilter, from family shareholders Hubertus Rau and Eva Rau. Together with its subsidiaries, Walter Rau Lebensmittelwerke GmbH & Co. KG is a leading of margarine, edible fats and oils producer in Germany and boasts a 104-year successful story as family enterprise. Walter Rau Group employs about 280 people and in 2007 achieved sales of about 130 million euro. The forward-looking merger creates an integrated value-added chain from raw material to the finished product. The companies expect dynamic continued expansion on the German and European markets as well as long-term security of manufacturing locations and jobs in Hilter and Kleve.
Counsel to the Rau family:
Heuking Kühn Lüer Wojtek, Düsseldorf
- Till Knappke (all Corporate)
- Dr. Rainer Velte (Anti-Trust Law)
Counsel to Bunge:
Zenk Rechtsanwälte, Hamburg
Jan Dietze, Dr. Bastian Schmidt-Vollmer
Background information:
Heuking Kühn Lüer Wojtek has advised the Rau family and the Walter Rau Group for several years. Dr. Kühn had already provided counsel to the Rau family at the time they sold Hansa Tiefkühlmenü Group to apetito AG and Walter Rau Neusser Öl- und Fett AG to the Cremer Group. In addition to issues with respect to the operative business, Kühn and Imhof advised the Walter Rau Group most recently on the acquisition of the manufacturing plant in Kleve at the beginning of 2006. Bunge turned to trusted advisers as well: Dietze provided counsel to the company several times in transactions in the seed and oilseed mill fields.
