Freshfields advises Ottobock and Näder family on IPO

Global law firm Freshfields has comprehensively advised Ottobock SE & Co. KGaA on its initial public offering. Yesterday, Ottobock shares were listed and traded for the first time on the regulated market of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. The offer price was set at €66 per share. At the time of initial listing, the company’s market capitalization amounted to approximately €4.6bn.

The placement volume totals approximately €807.6m, and the expected free float will be up to 19.1%, assuming full exercise of the over-allotment option. Following the IPO, Näder Holding GmbH & Co. KG – held by Prof. Hans Georg Näder and his family members – will indirectly retain at least 80,9% of the share capital of Ottobock SE & Co. KGaA.

Freshfields provided advice to Ottobock SE & Co. KGaA and the Näder family on all capital markets, corporate, and employment law matters related to the IPO. At the same time, Freshfields also advised Näder Holding GmbH & Co. KG on a refinancing completed in connection with the IPO.

The Freshfields team for the Ottobock SE & Co. KGaA IPO included Partners Daniel von Bülow (lead), Christoph Gleske (both Capital Markets, Frankfurt), Christoph H. Seibt (Corporate, Hamburg), Simone Bono (Capital Markets, London), and Judith Römer (Employment, Hamburg), as well as (Principal) Associates John Haviland, Linus Cathomas (both Capital Markets, Frankfurt), Jean Mohamed, Felix Schüßler (both Corporate, Hamburg), Laura Schaumann (Employment, Düsseldorf), Katharina Reinhardt and Vinzent Will (both Regulatory, Berlin).

The refinancing advice to Näder Holding GmbH & Co. KG was led by Partner Mario Hüther and Counsel Alexander Pospisil and Principal Associate Lucas Lengersdorf (all Finance, Frankfurt). The team further included Partner Christoph H. Seibt (Corporate, Hamburg), as well as (Principal) Associates Andreas Thümmler, Beatrice Zobel, and Thilo Köhler (all Finance, Frankfurt).

The legal work on both the IPO and refinancing was coordinated in-house by Regina Thums, General Counsel.

Teams led by Freshfields partner Christoph H. Seibt have been regularly advising the Näder family and the Ottobock group on corporate law matters, as well as on M&A transactions and financings for a decade – including extensive group reorganization from 2016 with the transformation of the company into an SE & Co. KG, the admission of financial investor EQT as a shareholder in 2017, the reacquisition of EQT’s minority stake by Näder Holding in 2024, and the acquisition of a strategic stake in the listed ONWARD Medical NV in 2024.