Michael Ilter is a partner in the Corporate & Financial Services Department, advising on private equity and M&A transactions as well as on corporate law, reorganizations and capital markets law. His practice focuses on representing international clients in complex national and cross-border mid and large cap private equity and M&A transactions. Further, he specializes in advising on growth investments, carve-out transactions, joint ventures, consortia and club deals.
Michael has handled numerous private equity, growth and M&A deals including also public, infrastructure, real estate, venture capital and distressed transactions. He has particular experience in the automotive, aviation, consumer, financial services, healthcare/life sciences, industrials, medical technology, software and technology sectors. Michael is recognized by Legal 500, Best Lawyers and Leaders League Germany for Private Equity, M&A and Venture Capital.
Michael is fluent in German and English.
Experience
Prior to joining Willkie in 2021, Michael was an associated partner at Gleiss Lutz in Frankfurt. In 2016, he worked in the legal department of Deutsche Lufthansa AG as a secondee in the area of corporate/M&A.
- Carve-out transactions, Getting The Deal Through Practice Guide: Germany M&A 2024 (together with Dr. Kamyar Abrar)
- Distressed M&A 2024: Germany, Getting The Deal Through (together with Dr. Kamyar Abrar, Dr. Wolfram Prusko, Sebastian Brenner and Dr. Joachim Glöckler)
- Carve-out transactions, Getting The Deal Through Practice Guide: Germany M&A 2023 (together with Dr. Kamyar Abrar)
- W&I insurance in carve-out transactions, M&A Review Europe 1/2022, p. 18
- Participation in panel discussion on latest product trends at M&A Review event "Insurance in M&A Transactions", June 2022
- M&A Review #infocus podcast episode #5 on M&A Insurance, https://ma-review.de/folge-5-5-22-insurance-in-ma-transactions/
- W&I-Versicherungen in Carve-out-Transaktionen, M&A Review 6/2022, p. 220
- Carve-out transactions, Getting The Deal Through Practice Guide: Germany M&A 2022 (together with Dr. Kamyar Abrar)
- Corporate Governance in der GmbH - Grenzen der Realisierbarkeit effizienter Corporate Governance Strukturen im geltenden GmbH-Recht und Optimierungsbedarf de lege ferenda unter Berücksichtigung des gesetzlichen Leitbildes, Nomos Verlag, Baden-Baden, 2015
Reviewed by Theisen in: Der Aufsichtsrat 2015, p. 119
Michael has advised on the following significant matters (alphabetical order):*
Private equity
- 3i on various transactions including the sale of CHRIST Group, the leading German jewelry and watch retailer, to Italian Morellato Group
- American Industrial Partners on various transactions including the business combination of its portfolio company Goss Printing with manroland web systems and the acquisition of the personal care business of Domtar for USD 920 million
- Apax Partners and Apax Digital Growth on various transactions and bidding processes including the multi-billion Euro bid for AutoScout24 and the acquisition of Contraload Group by its portfolio company Tosca Services
- Ardian on the acquisition of a majority stake in investment manager SwanCap Partners from Unicredit
- Armira on the sale of SaaS provider F24 group to Hg Capital
- Blackstone and Blackstone Growth on various transactions, growth investments and bidding processes including the joint venture of portfolio company Clarion Events with gfu to host leading consumer electronics and home appliances trade show IFA, the sale of the offshore wind project Nördlicher Grund to Dong Energy, the acquisition of 400,000 sqm logistics assets from TREI Real Estate (Tengelmann Group), the sale of its European logistics platform Logicor to China Investment Corporation (CIC) for EUR 12.25 billion as well as the bidding processes for Xella and Airbus defense electronics
- Corpus Sireo on the sale of a nursing home portfolio to a Dutch investor
- CVC on various transactions including the acquisition by its majority owned portfolio company Sebia of ORGENTEC Diagnostika from Water Street Healthcare Partners and the bid for Bayer Environmental Science
- EQT and EQT Growth on various transactions including its EUR 100 million investment in Integrity Next GmbH, a leading SaaS ESG risk management platform, and the acquisition of GotPhoto, a leading vertical software platform for volume photographers
- Eurazeo, IK Investment Partners and Raise Investissement and their portfolio company Questel on the acquisition of NovumIP from Paragon Partners
- Gainline Capital Partners and its consortium partners on their multi-billion Dollar bid for Reebok
- GHO Capital on various transactions including the investment into Sanner group, a leading global supplier of high-quality active packaging solutions and components for the pharmaceutical, diagnostic, nutraceutical and medtech industries
- GoldenTree Asset Management on various transactions including block trades of shares in BAWAG Group for EUR 417 million and EUR 298 million
- H.I.G. Capital on the acquisition of Leuna-Tenside GmbH by its portfolio company Vantage Specialty Chemicals
- HQ Equita on the acquisition of microwave and plasma systems manufacturer Muegge GmbH and various bidding processes
- Intermediate Capital Group on its investment in Circet, the leading telecommunications network service provider in Europe, at a multi billion EUR valuation
- Invesco Real Estate and BNP Paribas REIM on the acquisition of Designer Outlet Wolfsburg for Bayerische Versorgungskammer
- KKR on various transactions including the acquisition and restructuring of the diabetes care division from Bayer AG for EUR 1.02 billion by way of a world-wide asset deal and the acquisition and restructuring of the anatomical pathology business of Thermo Fisher Scientific for USD 1.14 billion
- Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan on various transactions including the EUR 2.6 billion acquisition of CeramTec as a member of the consortium led by BC Partners and the EUR 4.6 billion acquisition of Techem as a member of the consortium led by Partners Group
- Porterhouse on various transactions and bidding processes including the sale of Paracelsus clinic Osnabrück, the acquisition of the acute geriatrics department of the Marienkrankenhaus Nassau, the sale of hospital hard- and software provider BEWATEC group and the restructuring of Paracelsus-Kliniken group
- Pradera on the acquisition of a pan-European real estate portfolio of IKEA centres for EUR 900 million
- Serafin on the public takeover of porcelain manufacturer BHS tabletop AG
- SGT Capital on various transactions including the acquisition of Utimaco group, a leading hardware security modules manufacturer, from EQT Mid Market Europe
- Siris Capital on the sale of software provider Xura Secure Communications GmbH to CLX Communications
- Swiss Life REIM France on the acquisition of ten buildings from LFPI Hotels Holding Deutschland
- Syntagma Capital on the acquisition of Aginode, the LAN/data center and telecom/fibre division of Nexans SA and Lennox EMEA, the European commercial HVAC and refrigeration divisions of Lennox International
- TSG Consumer Partners on various transactions including its investment in Zoeva cosmetics
Strategic M&A
- Advanced Energy Industries on the acquisition of Artesyn's Embedded Power business from Platinum Equity for USD 400 million
- Alcoa on various transactions including the acquisition of aerospace supplier TITAL
- AVIC Electromechanical System Co. on the acquisition of the automotive supplier KOKI TECHNIK Transmission Systems GmbH
- Bantleon on the acquisition of asset manager Warburg Invest AG from M.M.Warburg & CO
- BAWAG on various transactions including the acquisition of Südwestbank AG and Deutscher Ring Bausparkasse and in the bidding process for various banks, financial institutions and payment processors
- Brainlab on various transactions including the sale of the orthopaedic joint reconstruction division to Smith & Nephew
- Constellation Pharmaceuticals on its public take-over by MorphoSys for USD 1.7 billion
- Deutsche Lufthansa (while on secondment) on various transactions including the acquisitions of the outstanding minority stakes in time:matters by Lufthansa Cargo, Stegmann Aircraft Maintenance by a subsidiary of Lufthansa Technik and BCC Corporate by AirPlus International
- HeidelbergCement on various transactions including the sale of the German lime business to Rheinkalk and the sale of the DACH sand-lime bricks business to H+H for EUR 110 million
- Magna on the acquisition and restructuring of automotive supplier Stadco Group
- Nippon Life on a cornerstone investment of EUR 360 million in connection with the IPO of Deutsche Bank's asset management subsidiary DWS Group and on the strategic alliance between Nippon Life and DWS
- Perella Weinberg on the merger of Linde and Praxair with a transaction value of EUR 75 billion
- Shareholders on the sale of automotive supplier ZKW Group to LG Corporation for EUR 1.1 billion
- Showa Denko on the acquisition of the world-wide graphite electrodes business of SGL Carbon for EUR 350 million and the sale of the US graphite electrodes business of SGL GE to Tokai Carbon for USD 150 million
- Spectris on the acquisition of software products and services provider VI-grade group
- STARK Group on various transactions and bidding processes, including the acquisitions of German Tröger & Entenmann group and Konz group as well as Austrian Dach und Wand Handels GmbH and Schilowsky Baumarkt und Baustoffhandel KG
- Take-Two Interactive Software on the acquisition of Popcore, an independent mobile game developer based in Germany
- Valeo on various transactions including the joint venture with Siemens in the area of high voltage powertrains and the acquisitions of automotive suppliers Peiker, Spheros Group and the German start-up Gestigon GmbH
*Michael advised on some of these matters prior to joining Willkie.
Credentials
Education
Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Dr. iur., 2014 Higher Regional Court of Frankfurt, Second State Exam, 2013 Universität Mannheim, First State Exam, 2011