Deutsche Aircraft Holdings acquires minority stake in DAH Beteiligungsgesellschaft

Wess­ling / Munich. — Deut­sche Aircraft Holdings (DAH), the sole owner of the compa­nies in the Deut­sche Aircraft Group, recently secu­red an important mino­rity inte­rest in DAH Betei­li­gungs­ge­sell­schaft mbH, which is jointly held by OHB and AFK.

The invest­ment is being made through a joint venture between aero­space company OHB SE and invest­ment company AFK Enter­prise AG, and will drive the deve­lo­p­ment of new green avia­tion tech­no­lo­gies inclu­ding D328eco™, an envi­ron­men­tally friendly version of the proven Do328® short-range passen­ger aircraft manu­fac­tu­red by Deut­sche Aircraft GmbH. Under the agree­ment, the inves­tors have the option of acqui­ring further shares up to a majo­rity stake at a later date.

Deut­sche Aircraft’s D328 series is based on the proud heri­tage of Dornier, and Deut­sche Aircraft holds the type certi­fi­cate for the Do328®. With new propul­sion systems, latest gene­ra­tion avia­tion tech­no­logy and more seats, the D328eco will set new stan­dards for envi­ron­men­tally friendly short-haul flying. Deut­sche Aircraft is also inves­ti­ga­ting various alter­na­tive fuels and future climate-neutral propul­sion systems as part of its product road­map. The Do328 is the last commer­cial aircraft to date to have been deve­lo­ped and built enti­rely in-house by a German company — and this will also be the case with the D328eco.

The invest­ment in DAH is subject to the appr­oval of the German govern­ment, which is support­ing the deve­lo­p­ment of the D328eco with a large-volume deve­lo­p­ment cost loan and is also support­ing the deve­lo­p­ment of clean avia­tion initia­ti­ves at Deut­sche Aircraft. The tran­sac­tion is expec­ted to close in the first quar­ter of 2023, once regu­la­tory appr­ovals and other custo­mary closing condi­ti­ons are satisfied.

Advi­sors to Deut­sche Aircraft Holdings (DAH): SKW Schwarz
Lead Part­ner Dr. Kolja Petro­vicki toge­ther with Cohen & Gresser (US law, UK law) and Carey Olsen (Cayman Islands law).

Consul­ting Attor­neys: Dr. Kolja Petro­vicki, LL.M. (UPenn), (Corporate/M&A, lead), Dr. Oliver M. Bühr (Corporate/M&A), Dr. Tatjana Schroe­der (Restruc­tu­ring), Alex­an­der Möller, Sabrina Hoch­brück­ner (both Labor Law), Stefan Skulesch (Tax) (all Frank­furt); Dr. Klaus Jankow­ski, Maria Rothä­mel (both Public Law, both Berlin), Heiko Wunder­lich (Tax); Eva Bona­cker (Merger Control) (both Munich).

About SKW Schwarz

SKW Schwarz is an inde­pen­dent law firm with 130 lawy­ers, four loca­ti­ons and a common claim: We think ahead. As a full-service law firm and member of TerraLex, we are globally networked and advise in all rele­vant areas of busi­ness law. Also in an area that is parti­cu­larly important for compa­nies: the future. We analyze, create clarity and provide advice today in the key legal areas of tomorrow.

About AFK Enterprise

AFK Enter­prise AG, based in Switz­er­land, the indus­trial arm of the AFK Kumar Family Office, is a private family office char­ged with the preser­va­tion, manage­ment and growth of the AFK Kumar family’s wealth. AFK makes stra­te­gic invest­ments across a broad spec­trum of markets, with a focus on equity and growth capi­tal. With its inter­na­tio­nal focus, AFK actively pursues and enga­ges in a variety of high-tech invest­ment oppor­tu­ni­ties in Europe, the U.S. the Middle East, India, Asia, and emer­ging markets.

About OHB SE

OHB SE is a German space and tech­no­logy group and one of the leading inde­pen­dent forces in the Euro­pean space indus­try. With many years of expe­ri­ence in the realiza­tion of sophisti­ca­ted projects, OHB SE is excel­lently posi­tio­ned in inter­na­tio­nal compe­ti­tion and offers its custo­mers a broad port­fo­lio of inno­va­tive products in the three busi­ness units: Space Systems, Aero­space and Digi­tal. The company employs around 3,000 people and gene­ra­tes total sales of around one billion euros.

About Deut­sche Aircraft GmbH

Deut­sche Aircraft is Germany’s new targe­ted OEM. Deut­sche Aircraft’s new D328eco™ aircraft, based on the legacy of avia­tion pioneers, is desi­gned to signi­fi­cantly reduce opera­ting and main­ten­ance costs and lower the over­all carbon foot­print. This is in line with Deut­sche Aircraft’s vision and stra­te­gic road­map to support a more sustainable future for avia­tion. The D328eco will offer maxi­mum flexi­bi­lity as it can run on exis­ting avia­tion gaso­line as well as 100% H2-PtL. The aircraft is assem­bled in the paper­less finis­hing line (FAL) in Leipzig/Germany. All para­me­ters are in high demand in the current avia­tion envi­ron­ment, and there is alre­ady increased inte­rest in the D328eco among poten­tial custo­mers and partners.