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Dr. Max Alles

Principal Associate

Automotive | Chemicals | Corporate advisory and governance | ESG and sustainability | Manufacturing | Mergers and acquisitions | Private capital |

Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch for Mergers & Acquisitions

Handelsblatt

Profile details

About Dr. Max Alles

Max Alles is a principal associate in our Global Transactions group in Munich. He is currently seconded to our Frankfurt office.

Max advises industrial companies and private equity institutions on (private / public) M&A transactions, joint ventures, carve-out and restructuring measures as well as general corporate matters. In addtition, he has developed extended expertise in corporate and capital markets compliance. Max also advises clients in international commercial arbitration proceedings.

Max has been named by Handelsblatt as one of the "Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch" for Mergers & Acquisitions.

He publishes regularly on corporate / M&A and capital markets related topics.

Max speaks German, English, Russian and French.

Recent work

Private M&A:

  • Airbus on the carve-out and divestiture of its defence electronics business to KKR (€1.3bn)
  • Altor Fund V and SMS Group on the acquisition of a 50% stake in KAEFER Isoliertechnik SE & Co. KG
  • CENTROTEC SE on the sale of its climate systems business operated under CENTROTEC Climate Systems GmbH to Ariston Holding N.V. for a consideration of EUR 703 million in cash and a subscription by CENTROTEC SE to approximately 41.4m Ariston shares (€1.1bn)
  • CVC and Messer on the carve-out and acquisition of the North and South American gases business of the Linde Group ($3.6bn)
  • EQT Partners on the sale of Bilfinger Hochbau, a construction business, to Implenia
  • Fidelidade – Companhia de Seguros, S.A., a subsidiary of Fosun, on the acquisition of a 70% majority stake in the prosperity company AG (an insurtech company)
  • HSH Nordbank on the divestiture of a ship loan portfolio to hsh portfoliomanagement AöR (€5bn)
  • LANXESS on the carve-out and joint venture with Saudi Aramco regarding its synthetic rubber business (€2.75bn)
  • HSH Nordbank on its sale of a loan portfolio to Merrill Lynch and the Australian investment bank Macquarie (€1.64 bn)
  • Jungheinrich AG on the acquisition of the Indiana-based Storage Solutions group (€ 375m)
  • MAN SE on the sale of its Bus Modification Center in Plauen to BINZ
  • MAN Truck & Bus SE on the sale of MAN Truck and Bus RUS LLC to MAN Truck Chelny LLC
  • Messer on the carve-out and divestiture of its Castolin Eutectic business to Paragon
  • EVN AG on the sale of its (indirect) 49% stake in the joint venture company STEAG-EVN Walsum 10 Kraftwerksgesellschaft mbH regarding the power plant project Walsum 10 to its joint venture partner STEAG and on its exit from the power plant project Walsum 10
  • Permira on the contemplated acquisition of Reebok von Adidas (€1bn) (bid not successful)
  • Razor on its acquisition of US e-commerce aggregator Perch and related financing transactions 
  • Viridium Group in the acquisition of a portfolio of traditional life insurance policies with approximately 720,000 insurance contracts and assets under management of approximately EUR 21 billion from Zurich Group Germany (EUR 500 million)
  • Solvay on the sale of its cellulose acetate tow business to Blackstone (€1.2bn)
  • TRATON SE on the
    • sale by its subsidiary Scania AB of its financial services operations to VOLKSWAGEN AG, Volkswagen Finance Luxemburg S.A. and Škoda Auto a.s., and of its commercial operations to Kompaniya Alfa OOO;
    • acquisition from its indirect subsidiary Scania Real Estate Services AB of a 10.1% stake in Scania Real Estate Deutschland GmbH
  • Vonovia SE
    • on its sale of a minority participation in its Südewo portfolio to Apollo (€1bn)
    • on its sale of a minority participation in a real estate portfolio in North Germany to Apollo (€1bn)

Public M&A:

  • ADLER Real Estate AG on its public takeover of A.D.O. Group Ltd. (€709m)
  • HOCHTIEF AG on its joint investment together with ACT and Atlantia in Abertis (€32bn)
  • TRATON SE on its public takeover offer for Navistar International Corporation (€2.9bn)
  • major New York based private equity institution on the contemplated public takeover of a NYSE listed company (€800m)
  • Vonovia SE
  • on the contempated business combination with Deutsche Wohnen SE and the respective public takeover offer (€18bn).

Capital Markets:

  • TRATON SE on its initial public offering and dual listing on the regulated market (Prime Standard) of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the regulated market of Nasdaq Stockholm (€1.6bn)
  • TUI AG on the comprehensive refinancing package with the Economic Stabilization Fund (WSF), KfW, Unifirm Ltd., and a consortium of banks, including a rights issue, a convertible silent participation by the WSF, a state guarantee and a credit line with the participation of KfW (€1.8bn)
  • Douglas on the comprehensive refinancing of the company's capital structure comprising a €600m term loan (Term Loan B), a €1,305m senior capital market-listed bond, a further €475m capital market-listed bon, and a €170 million revolving credit facility. (€2.55bn) 

Corporate Advisory Matters:

  • Executive boards, supervisory boards and majority shareholders of large listed and non-listed companies on various corporate and reorganization matters, incl. minority participations, squeeze-out procedures, implementation of corporate governance systems, joint ventures, compliance with the business judgement rule, capital markets regulations compliance
  • Douglas on a comprehensive corporate restructuring including various measures under the German Transformation Act (UmwG)
  • HOCHTIEF AG on the organisation and execution of its annual shareholders’ meeting and various other corporate and capital markets related issues
  • Majority shareholders of a major blue chip company on the planning of their company succession and various capital markets laws related aspects
  • Merckle on corporate and capital markets related issues
  • Meyer Werft on corporate and governance related issues
  • Salzgitter AG on various corporate and capital markets related matters
  • Ströer SE & Co. KGaA on various corporate and capital markets related matters
  • TRATON SE on the squeeze-out proceedings (via merger) in relation to its subsidiary MAN SE and various other corporate and capital markets related matters

International Arbitration / Dispute Resolution:

  • Volkswagen AG in relation to customer claims based on the recall of VW diesel vehicles for nitrogen oxide emission.
  • Evonik Industries AG on various disputes with the general contractor in connection with the construction of the coal-fired power plant Walsum 10
  • Major European nuclear fuel and uranium enrichment company, on its ICC arbitration against another major European nuclear power plant company

Qualifications

Education

  • Legal education at the Universitiy of Regensburg, Germany and Columbia University 
  • Legal Traineeship (Referendariat) at the Higher Regional Court in Nuremberg, with a stage in London
  • Doctor of Laws – Ph.D (Dr. iur.)
  • Master of Laws – LL.M. (Columbia University)
  • Executive MBA – EMBA (Pembroke College – University of Cambridge)
  • Executive education – regular attendance of various executive education courses with different focus areas at the University of Cambridge

Professional qualifications

  • Attorney and Counselor at Law, New York, US
  • Rechtsanwalt, Germany
  • Solicitor of the Senior Courts of England and Wales
  • Commercial Mediator (MuCDR)

Recognitions / Awards

  • Cambridge Executive MBA Scholarship (University of Cambridge)
  • Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar (Columbia University)
  • Schmitz-Nüchterlein-Foundation Price
  • German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) Scholarship
  • Foresight Foundation (Stiftung Vorsorge) Grant
  • German Notary Association (NotRV) Grant
  • University of Regensburg Dean's Book Award
  • Oskar-Karl Forster Fellowship