Hengeler Mueller advises Argand on acquisition of Cherry

The New York and San Francisco, USA, based private equity firm Argand Partners, LP ("Argand") has entered into an agreement to acquire Cherry group ("Cherry"), Germany, a leading global manufacturer of computer input devices with a focus on Office, Gaming, Industry, Security and high precision switches for mechanical keyboards with production plants and corporate branches in Germany, France, UK, China and the USA. Sellers are the Hamburg based private equity firm Genui Partners as well as IT equipment trading company Greendich Enterprise Co., both remaining invested in Cherry with a rolled-over minority stake. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals.

Hengeler Mueller advised Argand as lead counsel on the transaction. The Hengeler Mueller team was led by partner Annika Clauss and includes partners Peter Weyland (both M&A), Daniela Böning (Financing) (all Frankfurt), Alf-Henrik Bischke (Antitrust), Dirk Uwer (both Düsseldorf), Jan Bonhage (Berlin) (both Public Law), Christian Hoefs (Employment, Frankfurt), Matthias Scheifele (Tax, Munich) and Carl-Philipp Eberlein (Investment Law, Düsseldorf), counsel Patrick Wilkening (IP, Düsseldorf) as well as associates Nicholas Kubesch, Benedikt Hoegen, Pinja Lindholm (all M&A, Frankfurt), Carsten Bormann, Frederic Geber (both Public Law), Florian von Schreitter, Fabian Grossmann (both Antitrust) (all Düsseldorf), Anne Broll (Employment), Tom Shingler, Fabian Henneberg (both Financing), Philipp Ersfeld (Commercial), Marius Marx (Tax) and Patrick Schmidt (IP) (all Frankfurt).

The team was supported on local aspects of the transaction by Winston & Strawn LLP (USA), Jun He LLP (China) and Gide Loyrette Nouel AARPI (France).