Latham scoops Clerical Medical German M&A first

Latham & Watkins advised longstanding client Clerical Medical on its first major German acquisition.

Three of the law firm’s offices were involved in the deal to buy German life assurance company MLP Lebenversicherung.

The team was led by partner Christoph von Teichman from the firm’s corporate department in Hamburg and partner Holger Iversen. The Hamburg team also included Christian Thiele, partner on due diligence issues plus lawyers from Latham’s Brussels and Frankfurt practices.

The EUR270m acquisition followed an auction which started in March, Morgan Stanley acting as the financial adviser to Clerical Medical.

Clerical Medical has been a client of Latham’s for around 10-years. "This is Clerical Medical’s first German acquisition. The previous work we have done was related to more general business issues such as regulation, distribution, insurance etc. We have also represented them on their purchase of stakes in German life insurance distributors," von Teichman told The Lawyer.

Two firms acted for MLP Versicherung, both with long-standing relationships with the company. Shearmann & Sterling, led by Martin Winter in Mannheim, worked on corporate issues including IT and the distribution agreement while Bach Langheid and Dallmeyr covered regulatory and reinsurance.