Osborne Clarke has advised the press wholesaler 4Press on the territorial takeover of Fritzenschaft & Partner and the business combination with Frankenthaler Pressevertrieb.
4Press GmbH & Co. KG (4Press), based in Machern in the district of Leipzig, was created in 2023 from the merger of the three companies Verlagsgrosso Nord, Verlagsgrosso Ost and Presse Vertrieb Berlin. Led by Katharina Horsch-Littig and Joachim Sander as well as the management team consisting of Axel Muß, Olaf Thurm and Frank Tschirch, the company is Germany's largest press wholesaler in terms of the number of press outlets supplied.
In future, the delivery area is to be significantly expanded again through a takeover and a business combination: 4Press is planning to acquire the distribution area from Fritzenschaft & Partner GmbH (F&P), based in Lutherstadt Wittenberg. With around 1,400 retailers, this area covers the south-eastern part of Brandenburg as well as parts of Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt and is to be transferred to 4Press by the end of 2024, subject to the approval of the antitrust authorities.
In addition, 4Press is also preparing a business combination with Frankenthaler Pressevertrieb GmbH & Co. KG (FPV) this year. The latter supplies around 4,500 retailers in southern Hessen, the Palatinate and northern Baden-Württemberg from its headquarters in Frankenthal/Pfalz. FPV's shareholders are three private shareholders and ten publishers/national distributors. The business combination is also still subject to the approval of the respective shareholders and the antitrust authorities.
If all approvals are granted, the distribution area of 4Press would comprise around 22,000 press retailers in future.
The Osborne Clarke team that advised 4Press on the acquisition and the business combination, led by Dr Fabian Christoph, consisted of Alexandra Nautsch, Dr Hendrik Greinert, Felix Jäger (all Corporate / M&A), Dr Ulrike Bär, Dr Jens Wrede, Michael Kungurov (all Tax), Thomas Schnabel, Moritz Windheuser, Maria Bibik (all Real Estate), Christoph Seidler, Dr Philipp Raben, Dr Sebastian Lilje (all Employment), Dr Sebastian Hack, Susanne Schricker (both Antitrust and Investment Control), Dr Martin Soppe (IP) and Carsten Dau (Commercial).
Frankenthaler Pressevertrieb was advised by Dr Axel Klumpp (Menold Bezler) and Dr Steffen Bangert (Falk).
Fritzenschaft & Partner was represented by Andreas Volz (Ose Sturm Volz).
Dr Michael von Hinden acted as notary.
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