With the support of CERHA HEMPEL, AT&S signed an agreement on 23 September 2024 for the sale of AT&S Korea to SO.MA.CI.S. The sale includes all shares held by AT&S in AT&S Korea CO., LTD. (and thus also includes the plant in Ansan, South Korea). The purchase price (equity value) amounts to EUR 405 million, plus interest and minus dividend payments. The transaction is subject to closing of the acquisition of SO.MA.CI.S. by Bain Capital Private Equity (Europe) LLP, as well as merger control approvals, and is expected to complete by March 2025.

Headquartered in Leoben, Austria, AT&S is a publicly listed leading global manufacturer of high-end IC substrates and printed circuit boards. AT&S industrializes leading-edge technologies for its core business segments Mobile Devices & Substrates, Automotive & Aerospace, Industrial and Medical. AT&S has a global presence with production sites in Austria (Leoben, Fehring) and plants in India (Nanjangud), China (Shanghai, Chongqing) and South Korea (Ansan, near Seoul). The company employs a workforce of approximately 14,000.

Commenting on the transaction, Clemens Hasenauer, Managing Partner at CERHA HEMPEL, said: "We're extremely pleased to have been able to demonstrate our skills, expertise and dedication as lead counsel in an international outbound transaction of this magnitude also considering the capital markets regulatory environment."

Robert Ranftler, General Counsel and SVP at AT&S Group, added: "Our long-standing trusted cooperation with the team at CERHA HEMPEL, has once again proven to be of utmost importance, particularly in this transaction."

AT&S wast advised by a team led by Clemens Hasenauer (Managing Partner, Corporate/M&A) and also including Harald Stingl (Partner, Corporate/M&A), Lorenz Pracht (Partner, Corporate/M&A), Johannes Prinz (Partner, Corporate/M&A, Tax), Benjamin Twardosz (Partner, Tax), Anna Wolf-Posch (Partner, Competition Law), Philipp Schaubach (Senior Associate, Competition Law), Sophie Stock (Associate, Corporate/M&A), Hannah Gerbl (Associate, Corporate/M&A), Alexander Kainz (Associate, Corporate/M&A) and Denise Runceanu (Associate, Corporate/M&A).

CERHA HEMPEL:
With offices in Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia, CERHA HEMPEL is one of Austria's largest and most renowned law firms. For more than nine decades, CERHA HEMPEL has been developing creative and groundbreaking solutions for its clients, as well as providing them with a personal service and expertise in the following areas: antitrust and competition, banking and finance, capital markets, corporate law, data protection and IT, distribution, employment law, insolvency and restructuring, IP and unfair competition, litigation and arbitration, mergers and acquisitions, private clients and trusts, private equity and venture capital, public commercial and European law, real estate and construction, tax law, and white collar crime.

CERHA HEMPEL has won numerous awards and is a member of Lex Mundi – The World’s Leading Association of Independent Law Firms.