Noerr advises AURELIUS on the takeover of leading valve manufacturer VAG

Noerr has advised listed investment company AURELIUS Equity Opportunities SE & Co. KGaA on the takeover of water valve manufacturer VAG, based in Mannheim, Germany. The seller is the Rexnord Group, which is listed in the USA. VAG has 1,200 employees worldwide and recently recorded sales of €200 million.

VAG is one of world’s leading suppliers of industrial valves in the water infrastructure sector, with six production facilities on four continents. The valves are available in more than 100 countries and are intended for water treatment and distribution, wastewater management, dams, power stations and the energy industry.

AURELIUS will separate VAG from the structures of the Rexnord Group and make it independent. Additional investments are to be made to expand the company’s largest facility based in the Czech Republic, where it operates its own foundry. In addition, the company’s procurement and distribution structures are to be optimised further and the global cost structure will be improved by purposefully reducing complexity in the company’s globally interconnected structure.

The transaction is scheduled to be implemented in the fourth quarter of 2018.

AURELIUS relied on Noerr and a team led by Christian Pleister, co-head of the Private Equity practice group, in this complex and cross-jurisdictional transaction. A Noerr team led by Christian Pleister previously advised the investment company on the sale of the SECOP Group to major listed Japanese corporation Nidec – one of the largest exits in corporate history.

Advisors to AURELIUS Equity Opportunities SE & Co. KGaA: Noerr LLP

Professor Christian Pleister (Private Equity, Frankfurt/Berlin, lead), Dr Tibor Fedke (Corporate/M&A, Berlin), Barbara Kusak (Corporate/M&A, Prague), Dr Maurice Séché (Corporate/M&A, Düsseldorf)

Associates: Manuel Weiß, Alison Heinze, Dr Armin Bartsch (all Private Equity, Berlin), Rafal Kozlowski (Corporate/M&A, Warsaw), Martin Heinzel, Jakub Vojtech, Petr Hrncír (all Corporate/M&A, Prague), Natalie Oei, Silke Fink (both IP, Munich)

Aurelius (Inhouse): Dr Dominik Massing (Lead), Christian Steigerwald (Tax)