CHSH successfully advised Rentokil Initial regarding the formation of a joint venture with Franz Haniel & Cie. GmbH

The M&A team of CHSH Cerha Hempel Spiegelfeld Hlawati advised Rentokil Initial plc ("Rentokil Initial") in the formation of a joint venture (the "Joint Venture") with Franz Haniel & Cie. GmbH (“Haniel”) in Austria, the Czech Republic and in Slovakia.

The M&A team of CHSH Cerha Hempel Spiegelfeld Hlawati advised Rentokil Initial plc ("Rentokil Initial") in the formation of a joint venture (the "Joint Venture") with Franz Haniel & Cie. GmbH (“Haniel”) in Austria, the Czech Republic and in Slovakia. The cross-border deal was successfully closed on 30 June 2017.

By forming the Joint Venture, Rentokil Initial’s Workwear and Hygiene businesses in 10 countries principally in the Benelux and Central Europe regions is brought together with Haniel’s businesses in 16 countries operating under the CWS-boco brand. The Joint Venture also covers Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, where Rentokil Initial’s Workwear and Hygiene businesses were transferred through share deals to the joint venture company CWS-boco International GmbH, a company so far wholly owned by Haniel.

In consideration for the transfer of its Workwear and Hygiene businesses to the Joint Venture, Rentokil Initial received, inter alia, a stake of approximately 18% in the Joint Venture as well as EUR 520 million in cash.

CHSH acted as legal counsel to Rentokil Initial for Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Prior to the actual transfer of shares to the Joint Venture, several share transfers within the group of Rentokil Initial had to take place and the pest control business of Rentokil Initial had to be separated from its Workwear and Hygiene businesses through asset deals. “These challenges could be met by CHSH due to its sound experience in cross-border-transactions and corporate reorganisations and due to the strong collaboration between its offices in Vienna, Prague and Bratislava”, explained Johannes Aehrenthal, partner at CHSH.

The deal at CHSH was led by the partner Johannes Aehrenthal (corporate) and, moreover, consisted of the attorney Jakob Hartig (corporate) and the associates Stefanie Heimel (real estate) and Florian Wünscher (corporate) in Austria. The Czech team of CHSH was formed by the partner Petr Kališ and the associate Jiří Prouza (both corporate). The Slovakian team consisted of Jozef Bannert (partner) and Veronika Šišková (associate, both corporate).