Joachim Kaffanke – GC Powerlist
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Germany 2014

Joachim Kaffanke

General counsel | KION Group

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Germany 2014

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Joachim Kaffanke

General counsel | KION Group

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Joachim Kaffanke is able to handle ‘extremely complex transactions under immense time pressure’. His employer KION is (after Toyota) the world’s second biggest manufacturer of forklifts and storage technology and European market leader. KION has had a turbulent recent past which created a range of challenging situations for Kaffanke. In 2012 when Weichai took over 25 percent of the company, Kaffanke led the negotiations with the Chinese investor, resulting in the largest inbound investment of a Chinese company in Germany to date, with peers complimenting Kaffanke on his ‘outstanding work’. The 2013 IPO has been another milestone, again requiring legal guidance on complex matters. Overall, one of Kaffanke’s career highlights was the successful management of ‘this extremely critical takeover situation with interests of major stake holders that did not match’. He particularly enjoys the ‘freedom to create, something that restructuring situations inevitably bring with them’ and the ‘development of bespoke government structures’. To him, a key task in his role is to ‘find, win and develop legal talent’. Law firms should ‘optimise efficiency’ particularly regarding ‘the size of the team and the experience of individual team members’.

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