The Legal 500

Düsseldorf/Munich, 13 February 2012. “Following a downturn in the German M&A market at the end of the year, we are expecting increased activity in 2012.” This assessment was given by Dr Thomas Schulz, Co-Head of Corporate at the international law firm Noerr, at the mergermarket German M&A and Private Equity Forum in Düsseldorf. Noerr is one of the leading transactional services law firms and was able last year to reinforce its position amongst the top 10 law firms in the German market according to the latest mergermarket League Tables.

Schulz expects impulses for an upturn in market activities to come from various different sources. “Investors will make an increasing number of opportunistic acquisitions in Germany, even if they remain confronted with unfavourable financing terms. We will also see more Asian investors – albeit limited to a few sectors such as mechanical engineering.” Schulz also said that the bailout of German companies will continue and that more takeovers are also likely in regulated sectors such as energy and healthcare. “If is encouraging that deal business is recovering again despite the financial crisis”, said Schulz. “Family offices in particular are increasing their presence as investors on the M&A market.” According to the intelligence service mergermarket, Noerr was able to further reinforce its strong position on the German M&A market. Despite an overall weaker market in 2011, the law firm was involved in nearly as many transactions as in the year before and therefore continues to hold its ranking of number 5 in the mergermarket League Tables.

For more information please visit www.noerr.com