More capital for Borussia Dortmund – Noerr acts for Close Brothers in the German Football League Club’s capital increase

The law firm Noerr advised Close Brothers Seydler Bank AG on the Borussia Dortmund GmbH & Co. KGaA rights issue of 21 August 2014. With full take-up of the issue, BVB anticipates gross proceeds of approx. 114.4 million Euro. Of the funds after expenses, approx. 40 million Euro will be used to reduce debt and the remainder retained as liquidity reserves.

Close Brothers Seydler Bank AG acted as Sole Global Coordinator and Sole Lead Manager in the transaction and will subscribe the new shares with the obligation to offer them to the limited partners. If the new shares are not subscribed by the limited partners, they will be offered to various strategic investors at a pre-determined prince. The company already has undertakings from Puma SE, SIGNAL IDUNA Allgemeine Versicherung Aktiengesellschaft and Evonik Industries AG. The securities prospectus required for the issue was prepared according to the rules of simplified securities prospectuses for rights issues.

Noerr advised Close Brothers Seydler Bank AG comprehensively on the transaction and also led in the preparation of the prospectus. A team led by the Frankfurt partners and capital markets lawyers Dr. Holger Alfes and Dr. Stephan Schulz acted. “The capital increase shows that the simplified securities prospectus could be an interesting alternative even for major rights issues”, said Schulz.

Advisor Close Brothers Seydler Bank AG: Noerr LLP

Dr. Holger Alfes and Dr. Stephan Schulz (joint lead, both capital markets law, Frankfurt)

Dr. Andreas Butz (employment, Düsseldorf), Dr. Laurenz Wieneke (capital markets, Frankfurt), Dr. Ingo Theusinger (corporate, Düsseldorf), Dr. Oliver Trautmann (tax, Frankfurt)

Associates: Dr. Christian Schützler, Christian Ruf (both capital markets, Frankfurt), Dr. Moritz Kraft (corporate, Düsseldorf), Nikolay Herber (tax, Frankfurt)