Hengeler Mueller advises ATON on public tender offer in South Africa

On 9 April 2018, ATON GmbH, an investment company of the Helmig family whose portfolio companies are mainly active in the business-to-business segments AT Engineering, AT Mining and AT Med Tech, has published a tender offer for all outstanding shares of Murray & Roberts Holdings Limited, South Africa. Murray & Roberts, listed at the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, is a multinational engineering and construction group mainly active in the areas Underground Mining, Oil & Gas and Power & Water. Based on the offer price the group is valued at approximately EUR 460 m on a Euro basis. The transaction is one of the largest foreign direct investments of a German company in South Africa over the last years. The offer is subject to a 50 percent plus one share minimum acceptance threshold and customary closing conditions, including antitrust and other regulatory approvals. 

Hengeler Mueller is advising ATON on the transaction as lead counsel in the areas of Capital Markets and Corporate, M&A, Financing as well as Antitrust and Public Law, acting together with South African law firm Bowmans (Ezra Davids, Corporate and M&A).

The Hengeler Mueller team is led by partner Dirk Busch (Capital Markets/Corporate, Düsseldorf) and includes the partners Thomas Meurer (M&A, Düsseldorf), Johannes Tieves, Daniela Böning (both Financing, Frankfurt), Alf-Henrik Bischke (Antitrust, Düsseldorf) and Vera Jungkind (Public Law, Düsseldorf) as well as the associates Oda Goetzke, Caspar Jacob Haarmann (both Capital Markets/Corporate, Düsseldorf), Pierre Zickert (Financing, Frankfurt), Anja Balitzki (Antitrust, Düsseldorf) and Marina Kederoglu (Public Law, Düsseldorf).