Freshfields advises Blackstone on divestment of Qlar

Global law firm Freshfields advises Blackstone on its divestement of Qlar Group. Purchaser is Singaporean financial investor Everstone Capital.

Qlar Group, previously known as Schenck Process, develops and manufactures advanced, sustainable solutions for industrial processes including weighing, feeding, conveying, milling and grinding. Headquartered in Darmstadt, Germany, Qlar has more than 1,100 employees and significant operations in Europe, China and India and serves a diversified customer base across a variety of industries such as chemicals and performance materials, infrastructure and energy as well as alternative fuels, helping its clients to achieve a carbon-neutral sector by 2050.

Freshfields advised Blackstone and Schenck Process in 2022 on the sale of Schenck Process's mining division to Swedish Sandvik AB and, one year later, on the sale of its Food and Performance Materials division to the listed US conglomerate Hillenbrand, Inc. Freshfields also advised Blackstone on the acquisition of the Schenck Process Group in 2017.

The Freshfields team was led by Partner Steffen Kleefass (M&A, Frankfurt), Principal Associate Maximilian Kind (M&A, Hamburg) and Associate Maximilian von Scheidt (M&A, Frankfurt).

The team further comprised:

Partner: Norbert Schneider (Tax, Düsseldorf), Frank Schaer (Employment, Frankfurt)

Counsel: Marius Scherb (Commercial/IP, Hamburg)

Principal Associates: Thomas Richter, Sören Lehmann (both Tax, Düsseldorf), Valentin Lang (Employment, Frankfurt), Felix Roscam Abbing (ACT, Amsterdam)

Associates: Torben Gerhards, Armin Wulfinghoff (both Tax, Düsseldorf), Christina Dimick (Commercial/IP, Munich), Oliver Neuner (Regulatory, Hamburg), Lorena Faggioli (Employment, Frankfurt)

Senior Transaction Lawyer: Pipitsa Kousoula (Hamburg), Panagiotis Rentzeperis (Frankfurt)