Schoenherr has advised Schweighofer Group on the sale of Schweighofer Fiber GmbH (Schweighofer Fiber), to private equity group TowerBrook Capital Partners L.P., London/New York (TowerBrook Capital Partners).

The closing of the transaction took place on 12 September 2017.

The Schweighofer Group is one of Europe’s leading timber processing companies exporting products to over 70 countries worldwide. Following the sale, which was purely strategic, Schweighofer Group will concentrate on its core business of wood processing.

The company sold, Schweighofer Fiber, is located near Salzburg in Austria and specialises in the production of viscose pulp for export and bio-energy from renewable energy sources. With more than 240 employees, Schweighofer Fiber is among the market leaders worldwide for the special type of viscose pulp produced in Austria and among the most profitable of the top 250 industrial companies in Austria, a true hidden champion.

Schweighofer Fiber was acquired by TowerBrook Capital Partners, which focuses on investing in enterprises with future-oriented products. TowerBrook’s private equity strategy is geared at large and mid-market companies and the group already has a strong track record of investments in German-speaking Europe.

Schoenherr advised Schweighofer Group on all legal aspects of the M&A transaction through to the successful closing.

The Schoenherr team advising Schweighofer Group was led by Christian Herbst (partner, corporate/m&a), who was supported by Maximilian Lang (counsel, corporate/m&a), Alexander Mazevski (associate, corporate/m&a), and Volker Weiss (partner, eu & competition).

TowerBrook was advised by CMS Reich Rohrwig Hainz, Attorneys at Law, Vienna.