Martin Neuhaus, M.B.L.-HSG
Rechtsanwalt (Lawyer), Partner
Martin Neuhaus is one of the leading Corporate/M&A practitioners in Germany and draws on insights gained through more than 20 years of experience, advising on a broad range of transactions representing well in excess of € 100 billion. Martin advises DAX40 and other publicly listed companies, private companies, as well as private equity and sovereign wealth funds on domestic and cross-border corporate M&A projects. He also advises management and supervisory boards on corporate governance and capital markets issues.
Projects
- Nippon Steel on its USD 14,9bn acquisition of U. S. Steel (2023/2024)
- Mercedes-Benz on the divestiture of its stake in KAMAZ to Himgrad (2023/2024)
- Sandoz on its spin-off from Novartis (2023/2024)
- VR Equitypartner on the divestiture of Groneweg Group to Thrive Foods/Mubadala Investment (2023/2024)
- Omnicom on the formation of a global joint venture with Mercedes-Benz regarding NFTs (Mercedes-Benz NXT) (2023)
- Omnicom on the acquisition of Garbarz group (2023)
- Omnicom on the divestiture of various Russian businesses (2022/2023)
- Mercedes-Benz on the divestiture of its Russian business operations to AVTODOM-Group (2022/2023)
- Henkel on the divestiture of Russian business operations (2022/2023)
- Omnicom on the divestiture of Siegel & Gale LLC (2022)
- Omnicom on the reorganization of adagency / Lemon groups (2022)
- Omnicom on the formation of global Team X (2021/2022)
- Omnicom on the acquisition of OSK group (2021)
- Omnicom on the acquisition of antoni group (2021)
- VR Equitypartner on the divestiture of GHM group to GENUI
- CECONOMY on the reorganization of shareholder base of Media-Saturn-Holding and roll-up of Convergenta (2021)
- Novelis on the divestiture of European aluminum activities (2020/2021)
- Scout24 on its sale of its AutoScout24 platform to financial investor Hellman & Friedman (2020/2021)
- VR Equitypartner on its participation in KTN group (2020/2021)
- DuMont on the divestiture of its newspaper subgroup Morgenpost Verlag to Chronic Capital and the contemplated divestiture of mopo online to Funke Mediengruppe (2019/2020)
- Haniel on the contemplated acquisition of a global business (2020)
- LogMeIn on a contemplated public takeover (2020)
- Omnicom/DDB on a compliance investigation regarding the Volkswagen advertising campaign (2020)
- TVEL on the formation of a cross-border joint venture involving the production of nuclear fuels (2020)
- Omnicom on the acquisition of Smart Digital group (2019/2020)
- Allianz Capital Partners on the re-design of its various global executive LTIP schemes (2019)
- DuMont on the divestiture of its newspaper subgroups (i) Mitteldeutsche Zeitungsgruppe to Bauer Media and (ii) Berliner Zeitung to CCG Commercial Coordination Germany (2019/2020)
- Hamburger Hochbahn on the disentanglement and divestiture of BeNEX, a joint venture with infrastructure fund INPP (2016/2019)
- Haniel on the contemplated carve-out and acquisition of a global business (2019)
- Modine on the contemplated divestiture of a strategic business segment (2019)
- Scout24 on the contemplated formation of global joint venture (2019)
- CECONOMY on the contribution of the MediaMarkt business in Greece into a joint venture with Olympia Group (2019)
- CECONOMY on the divestiture of a minority stake in Metro to EP Global Commerce (2018/2019)
- Daimler on its carve-out and divestiture of Toll Collect to the German government (2018/2019)
- Lanxess on the design, formation and expansion of CheMondis, the world’s second largest digital B2B chemicals trading platform (2018 to 2020)
- Omnicom / BBDO on the divestiture of its global outsourcing business (Sellbytel) to Webhelp / KKR and subsequent minority shareholder litigation (2018 to 2020)
- DuMont on the acquisition of Deutsche Auftragsdienst AG (DTAD) (2018)
- ArcelorMittal on the corporate restructuring of its entire German steel activities (2017/2018)
- Bosch SEG on its carve-out and divesture by Bosch to Zhenzhou Coal Mining Machinery (ZMJ) / China Renaissance Capital and formation of a separate global group (2017/2018)
- Israel Chemicals Ltd. on the carve-out and divestiture of its European fire safety chemicals / oil additives business to SK Capital (2017/2018)
- Stada on corporate and capital markets matters (including DPLTA and delisting) and compliance investigation matters (2017/2018)
- ARAG family shareholders in the divestiture of ARAG Lebensversicherung to Heidelberger Leben / Fosun and carve-out of ARAG Krankenversicherung (2017/2018)
- CECONOMY on the divestiture of MediaMarktSaturn Russia and the acquisition of a 15% stake in Russian M.video/Safmar by MediaMarktSaturn (2017)
- Henkel on the global carve-out and acquisition of Darex Packaging Technologies (2016/2019)
- Tengelmann on the group’s divestiture of its supermarket division Kaiser’s Tengelmann and Tengelmann E-stores to the EDEKA group (2016/2017)
- Uniper on the contemplated divestiture of a stake in Nord Stream 2 pipeline project (2017)
- Uniper on the divestiture of its stake in the giant Russian Yuzhno-Russkoye gas field (2016/2017)
- ITW on the acquisition of the global Engineered Fasteners and Components business from ZF Friedrichshafen (2016)
- Novartis/Sandoz on the acquisition of a biosimilar pipeline product from Pfizer (2016)
- CanitaCorp. on the divestiture of Draht + Schutz Group to Securitas (2017)
- VR Equitypartner on compliance investigations and restructuring of European Convenience Food group
- VR Equitypartner on the acquisition/divestiture and restructuring of various investments (ongoing)
Distinctions
- "Deal Maker of the Year", Finance Magazine (2024)
- Leading partner in M&A in Germany, JUVE Handbook (2021)
- Among the most renowned M&A lawyers in Germany, Handelsblatt Best Lawyers (2020)
- Frequently recommended for corporate, M&A and private equity and venture capital (large-cap and mid-cap), JUVE Handbook (2020); “excellent transaction management” (cli-ent); “getting-the-deal-done mentality” (client)
- Clients: "excellent transaction management"; "getting-the-deal-done mentality"
- Recognized corporate/M&A practitioner, Chambers Europe Germany (2020)
- Highly regarded for M&A in Germany, IFLR1000 (2020)
- Selected as one of the Top “40 under 40” lawyers in Germany, JUVE Handbook (2012)
Insights
Career
First German State Exam, University of Münster
Postgraduate program: Master of European & International Business Law (M.B.L.-HSG,) at the University of St. Gallen
Ph.D. at the University of Münster
Second German State Exam, Dusseldorf Higher Regional Court
Partner in the Corporate/M&A department of an international law firm, Dusseldorf
At Noerr since 2020
Admitted to the Dusseldorf Chamber of Lawyers
Memberships
- German Corporate Law Association (VGR)
- German-American Lawyer’s Association (DAJV)
Lectures
- Lecturer on cross-border M&A transactions involving Germany and the USA in the LL.M. post-graduate programme of the University of Münster, Germany
- C.H. Beck Academy workshop on purchase price adjustments in M&A deals
Publications
- Handbook on “Purchase Price Adjustments”, co-author, first edition 2015, second edition 2018 and third edition 2023, C.H. BECK
- “Acquisition of Companies”, Chapter 27, Handbook on "Business Transactions in Germany", 2014
- “New Legal Environment for Secondary Offerings in Germany”, co-author, AmLaw, 2012
- “Share for Share Transactions in Germany”, co-author, AmLaw, 2012
- “Third-party Remuneration of Supervisory Board Members”, NZG 2011, p. 1361 et seq.
- “Private Equity Investments in Minority Participations”, 2007
- “Liability Risks for the Management in Company Crisis”, Handbuch Unternehmensrestrukturierungen (Corporate Restructuring Handbook), co-author, 2006
- “Dividend in Kind pursuant to the German Stock Corporation Law”, Corporate Finance Handbook, 2005
- “Share Buy-back in the Context of Acquisition Finance”, M&A Yearbook, 2004
- “Legal Topics as to International Protection of Intellectual Property Rights”, 2002
- “Global Free-Trade and Trademark Rights”, 2001