Viessmann sells air conditioning business to Carrier in the USA for 12 billion euros

Allen­dorf — The mega deal of the year: heating manu­fac­tu­rer Viess­mann sells its air condi­tio­ning divi­sion, inclu­ding the lucra­tive heat pumps, to US compe­ti­tor Carrier Global for 12 billion euros.

Germany’s future hope in the heat pump busi­ness moves to America. What are the goals of the inter­na­tio­nally opera­ting company? What was once a family busi­ness in Connec­ti­cut is now a global player in the heating equip­ment busi­ness. Carrier Global is said to have appro­xi­m­ately 52,000 employees around the world, compared to 14,500 at Viess­mann in Hesse. Much larger, he said, is the U.S. company based in Palm Beach. World­wide acqui­si­ti­ons from Asia to Europe confirm the giant’s expan­sion efforts.

Advi­sor VIESSMANN Group: Henge­ler Muel­ler

Cororate/ M&A: Dr. Matthias Hent­zen, Thomas Meurer (both part­ners, both lead, Düssel­dorf), Dr. Jan Häller (asso­ciate, Frank­furt), Dr. Johan­nes Fütte­rer, Julia Redbrake, Bene­dikt Mertens (all asso­cia­tes, Düsseldorf),
IP/IT: Dr. Wolf­gang Kellen­ter (Part­ner), Dr. Matthias Roth­kopf, Dr. Astrid Harm­sen, Dr. Andrea Schlaffge, (all Coun­sel), Johan­nes Jäkle (Asso­ciate, all Düsseldorf),
Tax Law: Dr. Matthias Schei­fele (Part­ner, Munich), Dr. Sebas­tian Adam (Frank­furt), Dr. Isabella Zimmerl (Munich, both Associates),
Labor Law: Dr. Chris­tian Hoefs (Part­ner), Dr. Andreas Kaletsch (Asso­ciate, both Frankfurt),
Anti­trust: Dr. Thors­ten Mäger (Part­ner), Dr. Anja Balitzki (Coun­sel), Sara Junge­welter (Asso­ciate, all Düsseldorf),
Public Commer­cial Law: Dr. Vera Jung­kind (Part­ner), Dr. Moritz Rade­ma­cher (Coun­sel), Dr. Sandra Plötz (Asso­ciate, all Düsseldorf),
FDI: Jan Schül­ting (Asso­ciate, Düsseldorf),
Compli­ance: Dr. Constan­tin Lauter­wein (Part­ner), Dr. Melena Krause (Asso­ciate, both Berlin),
Capi­tal Markets: Dr. Dirk Busch (Part­ner), Caspar Haar­mann (Coun­sel, both Düsseldorf),
Finan­cing: Dr. Daniel Weiß (Part­ner), Nükhet Tanri­kulu (Asso­ciate, both Frankfurt),
US Law: Davis Polk.

Advi­sor Carrier: Linklaters

Link­la­ters’ cross-prac­­tice inter­na­tio­nal team was led by Corpo­rate Part­ners Derek Tong in London and Dr. Timo Engel­hardt in Munich. The tran­sac­tion is the largest in the German M&A market so far this year.

The expan­ded team includes experts from all prac­tice groups, inclu­ding Matthew Devey (Part­ner, Employ­ment Law, Frank­furt), Dr. Julia Schön­bohm (Part­ner, IP/Dispute Reso­lu­tion, Frank­furt), Dr. Chris­tian Hunde­sha­gen (Part­ner, Tax Law, Frank­furt), Anna Mitchell (Part­ner, Anti­trust & Invest­ment Control, London), Chris­toph Barth (Part­ner, Anti­trust & Invest­ment Control, Düssel­dorf), Dr. Julia Grot­haus for ESG (Part­ner, Dispute Reso­lu­tion, Frank­furt), Dr. Rupert Belling­hau­sen (Part­ner, Dispute Reso­lu­tion, Frank­furt), Dr. Daniel Pauly, Michael Leicht (both Part­ners, TMT, Frank­furt) and Wolf­ram Krüger (Part­ner, Real Estate, Frankfurt).

Link­la­ters regu­larly advi­ses Carrier, most recently on the sale of Chubb in 2020 and the outright acqui­si­tion of Toshiba Carrier Corpo­ra­tion from Toshiba.