CMS has advised Hugo Pfohe GmbH on the legal aspects of a competitive tender to sell Bulgaria's Moto-Pfohe Group, with Wolf Theiss advising the winning bidder, the Sumitomo Corporation.
CMS describes the deal as the largest ever in the automotive sector in Bulgaria, and as "substantial for the market as a whole."
According to a Moto-Pfohe press release, the company is "the official representative of Ford, Volvo, Jaguar and Land Rover in Bulgaria, [and] is the most successfully developing automotive company in the country and industry leader for the last 26 years. With the acquisition by Sumitomo Corporation the Moto-Pfohe Group becomes part of one of the largest integrated trading and investment groups in the world, with a 400 year history and offices in 65 countries. This is a huge step forward for Moto-Pfohe, providing the company with new opportunities for further growth and intensive development of its potential in order to reach even greater success in the future. With recognition of the excellent image, eminent financial stability and progressive business achievements of the company, the name Moto-Pfohe, its management and structure remain unchanged after the ownership change.
CMS reports that "the seller was committed to bringing the best possible strategic investor for the business. Therefore, it organized a very competitive and transparent tender, which resulted in participation of European and world leaders in the sector, awarding the winning bid to Sumitomo Corporation, one of the largest integrated trading and investment groups with a 400 year history, USD 69 billion assets, and around 800 group companies."
UniCredit Bulbank was the investment and financial adviser to Hugo Pfohe, and Deloitte Bulgaria provided investment and financial advice to Sumitomo Corporation.
The CMS team was led by Partners Atanas Bangachev and Kostadin Sirleshtov, assisted by lawyers Veliko Savov, Valentina Santambrogio, Jenia Dimitrova, Dimitar Dimitrov, Iveta Manolova, Desislava Vasileva, Alexander Rangelov, and Angel Naydenov.
The Wolf Theiss team was led by Partners Richard Clegg and Anna Rizova, supported by Associates Jasmina Uzova, Hristina Dzhevlekova, Atanas Mihaylov, Petko Atanasov, and others.
