SICK establishes strategic partnership with Endress+Hauser

Stutt­gart — The SICK Group, an inter­na­tio­nal provi­der of sensor-based auto­ma­tion solu­ti­ons head­quar­te­red in Germany, is estab­li­shing a stra­te­gic part­ner­ship with the Swiss measu­re­ment tech­no­logy specia­list Endress+Hause. With this part­ner­ship, the compa­nies invol­ved are joining forces in the field of process auto­ma­tion to provide their custo­mers with even better support and drive forward new tech­no­lo­gi­cal solu­ti­ons for the decar­bo­niza­tion of the process industry. 

As part of the tran­sac­tion, the corner­stone of which was laid with the signing of the contract in summer 2024 and which has now been comple­ted follo­wing the conclu­sion of the anti­trust reviews, the global play­ers SICK and Endress+Hauser have estab­lished the joint venture “Endress+Hauser SICK GmbH+Co. KG” based in Germany, in which they each hold a 50% stake.

The joint venture Endress+Hauser SICK GmbH+Co. KG will streng­then the deve­lo­p­ment and produc­tion of analy­ti­cal measu­re­ment tech­no­logy and gas flow measu­re­ment and further expand the part­ners’ range of solu­ti­ons. The deve­lo­p­ment and produc­tion of analy­ti­cal measu­re­ment tech­no­logy and gas flow measu­re­ment of the former SICK busi­ness unit “Clea­ner Indus­tries” and its appro­xi­m­ately 730 employees will be contin­ued by the joint venture in the future. The Endress+Hauser Group Sales Centers will take over the distri­bu­tion of the product solu­ti­ons manu­fac­tu­red there. 

In plan­ning and imple­men­ting the stra­te­gic part­ner­ship, the SICK Group was not only able to draw on the exper­tise of Deloitte Legal and Deloitte in Germany, but also bene­fit from the global Deloitte/Deloitte Legal network. Under the leader­ship of Deloitte Legal Germany, Deloitte Legal teams from over 40 juris­dic­tions supported the trans­fer of appro­xi­m­ately 800 sales and service employees from the SICK sales and service units in 42 count­ries to the respec­tive sales centers of the Endress+Hauser Group. 

Since April 2023, more than 90 employees of Deloitte Legal and Deloitte in Germany as well as nume­rous Deloitte and Deloitte Legal colle­agues from other Euro­pean and non-Euro­­pean juris­dic­tions have supported the SICK Group in the merger in the field of process automation.

In this project, the SICK Group relied on the legal advi­sory services of Deloitte’s legal prac­tice led by Stutt­gart part­ner Michael K. Schnei­der, who has an excel­lent network in the south-west German SME sector. “We are very plea­sed to have relied on the Deloitte and Deloitte Legal teams for this complex inter­na­tio­nal project. The expe­ri­ence and exper­tise of the Deloitte consul­tants helped us to iden­tify all rele­vant aspects in good time and to find a solu­tion, and their inter­di­sci­pli­nary approach saved us a lot of coor­di­na­tion effort,” says Dr. Matthias Rebmann, Vice Presi­dent Legal, Gover­nance & Compli­ance at SICK. “The prudent leader­ship of Michael K. Schnei­der enab­led a smooth and rapid imple­men­ta­tion in the 42 count­ries concerned.” 

Advi­sor to SICK AG: Deloitte Legal Rechts­an­walts­ge­sell­schaft mbH

Corporate/M&A: Michael Schnei­der (Lead, Part­ner, Stutt­gart), Jose­fin Wied­mann (Senior Asso­ciate, Stutt­gart), Marc Albrecht (Asso­ciate, Stutt­gart), Dr. Johan­nes Kapp­ler (Asso­ciate, Stutt­gart); Corporate/M&A | Chinese Law: Alex­an­der Fischer (Part­ner, Frank­furt am Main), Xinyi Wang (Senior Legal Advi­sor, Chinese Attor­ney at Law, Frank­furt am Main); Employ­ment Law: Claus Wilker (Coun­sel, Hano­ver); Anti­trust Law: Felix Skala (Part­ner, Hamburg), Katha­rina Zicker­mann (Coun­sel, Hamburg); Data and Data Protec­tion Law: Nikola Werry (Part­ner, Frank­furt am Main), Alina Scheja (Asso­ciate, Frank­furt am Main); Foreign Trade Law: Bettina Mert­gen (Part­ner, Frank­furt am Main), Jan-Michael Mergler (Senior Asso­ciate, Frank­furt am Main)

Deloitte GmbH Wirt­schafts­prü­fungs­ge­sell­schaft: Tax: Chris­tian Himmels­bach (over­all project respon­si­bi­lity, Part­ner, Stutt­gart), Björn Neumann (Direc­tor, Stutt­gart), Wladi­mir Petri (Senior Manager,
Stutt­gart); Finan­cial Advi­sory | M&A Opera­tio­nal Tran­sac­tion Services: Ihsan Ugurlu (Part­ner, Cologne),
Iven Krause (Direc­tor, Munich), Stefan Nguyen (Senior Mana­ger, Düssel­dorf); Finan­cial Advisory |
Valua­tion, Mode­ling & Econo­mics: Stefan Brauchle (Part­ner, Stutt­gart), Henrik Schar­now­ski (Senior
Mana­ger, Stuttgart).

About SICK

SICK is one of the world’s leading solu­tion provi­ders for sensor-based appli­ca­ti­ons for industrial
appli­ca­ti­ons. Foun­ded in 1946 by Dr. Ing. e. h. Erwin Sick and head­quar­te­red in
Wald­kirch in Breis­gau near Frei­burg, Germany, the company is one of the tech­no­logy and market leaders and is present around the globe with 60
subsi­dia­ries and affi­lia­tes as well as nume­rous agencies.
SICK employs more than 12,000 people world­wide and gene­ra­ted conso­li­da­ted sales of EUR 2.3 billion in fiscal year 2023
. www.sick.com