Demergers, divestments and successio

ATRIUM Partners has substantial experience in advising on demergers, divestments and successions

ATRIUM Partners has among other transactions advised the owner of Bonus Energy in regards to the succession of the company – Bonus Energy was ultimately sold to Siemens. In previous positions, ATRIUM Partners' partners have been involved in quite a number of divestments and successions, including Arla’s divestment of Novadan, Sophus Berendsen’s divestment of Berendsen Components to Bergman & Beving, the divestment of Telmore to TDC, the divestment of Vest-Wood to Axcel and Polaris, the divestment of Lindab to Ratos, the divestment of three Radisson SAS hotels to Wenaas Holding, the succession of LM Glasfiber via divestment to Doughty Hanson, the divestment of Microtronic to Nordic Capital and Polaris, the divestment of RKI Kredit Information to EQT etc. In order to achieve the highest possible price and the best possible terms when divesting a business, ATRIUM Partners is centrally involved in the structuring and process management of such divestment. Often businesses are offered to carefully selected prospective buyers in so-called structured auctions where the prospective buyers bid on price and terms in competition with each other. In addition to structuring and managing such processes, ATRIUM Partners is instrumental in preparing information material aimed at presenting the business and testing the prospective buyers’ true interest. ATRIUM Partners also takes part (together with the business’ lawyers and accountants) in the establishment of a data room containing relevant legal and financial information etc. just as ATRIUM Partners assists and advises the owner of the business in regards to the all-important final negotiations. A demerger (or spin-off) followed by a sale of the demerged (or spun-off) entity constitutes a particularly complicated form of divestment as there prior to the ordinary divestment process may be considerable strategic, operational and/or financial preparation to be performed. ATRIUM Partners has qua the partners’ previous positions substantial experience within demergers and spin-offs. Such experience includes the Novo Nordisk / Novozymes demerger followed by Novozymes’ listing on Copenhagen Stock Exchange and the spin-offs of various Danisco Food divisions to different buyers. In such transactions, ATRIUM Partners advises not only on the divestment or listing itself but also on the strategic, operational and/or financial issues that may arise during the preparation of the demerger or spin-off. In this regard, ATRIUM Partners makes a virtue of exercising the patience required by a lengthy and often complicated preparation phase in order to achieve the desired outcome.