CERHA HEMPEL advises SAN Group on the acquisition of AniCon Labor GmbH, one of the leading producers of autogenous vaccines in Europe

CERHA HEMPEL has advised the SAN Group in connection with the acquisition of all shares in AniCon Labor GmbH and Campus Grundstücks GmbH, both located in Lower Saxony, Germany, by which SAN Group expanded its portfolio with autogenous vaccines and veterinary diagnostics.
AniCon Labor GmbH was founded in 2005 as a service laboratory. AniCon's continuously expanding diagnostics as well as its uncompromising service mentality and expertise as inde-pendent consultants, resulted in AniCon's constant growth. Today AniCon is one of Germany's leading lab service providers for livestock and is worldwide known as a modern laboratory center with comprehensive experimental opportunities for poultry, swine, cattle, sheep, goats and fish and employs about 220 staff members.
SAN Group was founded by Erich Erber and has offices and employees on four continents. SAN Group's main businesses are Sanphar (animal health) and bio-ferm (biotechnological crop protection) together with the Austrian construction and real estate company SAN Real, Singapore-based SAN Pacific Investments, and the recently acquired US crop protection and fertilizer company Westbridge.
The parties agreed not to disclose any details regarding the purchase agreement. The transaction was planned and structured, and legal support was provided to SAN Group, by the transaction team at SAN Venture Services GmbH headed by Head of M&A Sabrina Klaushofer and CERHA HEMPEL. Despite extremely difficult circumstances resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, all steps of this complex transaction were completed efficiently and according to plan, so that both purchase agreements could be signed and closing could take place in June 2021. The complex transaction could only be realized due to the excellent collaboration, both on a professional and personal level, between CERHA HEMPEL and the highly professional teams involved in the transaction at SAN Group and Gowling WLG as German counsel.
CERHA HEMPEL acted as lead and transaction counsel for SAN Group. The team at CERHA HEMPEL consisted of Albert Birkner (Managing Partner, Corporate/M&A, Takeovers), Nadine Leitner and Alistair Gillespie (Senior Associates Corporate/M&A, Takeovers), Katharina Majchrzak (Counsel, IP/IT) and Armin Schwabl (Counsel, Regulatory).