Greenberg Traurig advised Australian publicly listed company ALS Limited (ALS) on the acquisition of the Wessling Group, which includes 17 group companies. The Federal Cartel Office and the relevant ministries for investment control in Germany and France still need to approve the execution of the transaction. The purchase price is confidential.
ALS is a global provider of testing, inspection, and laboratory certification based in Brisbane, Australia. The company operates test centers worldwide and offers services particularly for the pharmaceutical and life sciences industries.
The Wessling Group is an international company specializing in analytics, testing, and consulting. With 1,200 employees at 24 locations in Europe and China, the Wessling Group offers diverse expertise engineering services, environmental and agricultural analytics, food, consumer products, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals.
Greenberg Traurig lawyers advised ALS on all aspects of the cross-border transaction, including the purchase agreement, legal due diligence on Wessling Groups’s 17 companies, the acquisition process, as well as questions of antitrust and foreign investment control law. A team of 25 lawyers including ally firms coordinated the process in six jurisdictions: Germany, Poland, China, Switzerland, France, and Romania.
Background:
This is the second time ALS has retained Greenberg Traurig, with the firm in 2021 prevailing in a pitch against other law firms to provide advice on the acquisition of a 49 percent stake in the Nuvisan Group. Coincidentally, this week also saw the completed acquisition of the remaining 51percent of Nuvisan by ALS, with legal support from Greenberg Traurig.