Noerr advises Schwarz Group on acquisition of Ferrovial’s waste management division in Spain and Portugal

A team from Noerr led by Gerald Reger and Maurice Séché is advising Schwarz Group on the market entry of its PreZero environmental division in Spain and Portugal. The diversified conglomerate Ferrovial and PreZero have entered into a contract to acquire Ferrovial’s environmental services division in both countries.

For the purposes of the transaction, the division has been valued at €1.13 billion. Ferrovial’s environmental services division has 16,000 employees in Spain and Portugal. The division includes environmental services, waste collection and treatment, and recycling.

PreZero is continuing its growth strategy with the acquisition. With Noerr’s advice PreZero acquired SUEZ’s waste management and recycling business in Sweden, the Netherlands, Germany, Poland and Luxembourg in the autumn of 2020. With the support of Noerr, in 2018 Schwarz Group already acquired the fifth largest waste management company in Germany, Karl Tönsmeier Entsorgungswirtschaft GmbH & Co. KG, together with its Polish subsidiaries. Last year, Noerr also assisted PreZero International GmbH in acquiring the Polish environmental services provider Komart. PreZero currently has around 13,000 employees in Germany, Poland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Sweden, Austria, Italy and the USA.

The transaction is set to be completed by the end of the year, subject to merger control clearance.

Advisors to the Schwarz Group/PreZero:

Schwarz Group (in-house)

Schwarz Dienstleistung: Dr Georg Heiß, Dr Human Behforouzi, Hannah Bursianis, Dr Verena Broer, Jessica Brunner, Birger Schröder; Tax: Marcus Hillen, Dennis Goßen

PreZero: Dr Michael Fuchs, Dr Senta Bell

Lead counsel: Noerr Partnerschaftsgesellschaft mbB

Dr Gerald Reger (Corporate/M&A, Munich), Dr Maurice Séché (Corporate/M&A, Düsseldorf), Susanne Rummel (joint team lead, Corporate/M&A, Munich)

Dr Carsten Heinz (Tax, Munich), Dr Moritz Nikolaus Koch (Private Equity, Hamburg), Patrick Neidinger (Digital Business, Munich), Dr Falk Osterloh (Corporate/M&A, Düsseldorf), Dr Martin Schorn (Compliance, Düsseldorf), Dr Stefan Schwab (Employment & Pensions, Berlin)

Associates: Dr Michael Braun (Capital Markets, Munich), Frédéric Kuhn (Compliance, Düsseldorf), Felix Link (Capital Markets, Munich), Dr Mario Merget (Employment & Pensions, Berlin), Anne-Kristin Schiller (Corporate/M&A, New York), Marius Siemen (Tax, Munich), Dr Marie-Helen Stojec (Corporate/M&A, Munich), Dr Manuel Weiß (Private Equity, Munich), Vanessa Wüsthoff (Corporate/M&A, Hamburg)

Noerr Warsaw: Ludomir Biedecki, Associates: Jerzy Kapitanczuk, Mateusz Slodczyk (all Corporate/M&A)

Local counsel for Spain: Pérez-Llorca

Javier Carvajal García-Valdecasas, Fernando Quicios (joint team lead, partners)

EY Spanien (Tax): Sonia Diaz Perez (lead partner)

Local Counsel für Portugal: Vieira de Almeida

Local counsel for Portugal: Vieira de Almeida

Paulo Trindade Costa (lead partner)

EY Portugal (Tax):  Jaime Rocha (lead partner)

Local counsel for the UK: Burges Salmon

Richard Spink (lead partner)