HVG Law and EY Law have advised Fonterra in connection with the agreed sale of its 50% share of DFE Pharma to CVC Capital Partners for NZ$633 million, which was announced on 25 September.

DFE Pharma is currently a 50/50 joint venture between dairy companies FrieslandCampina and Fonterra. It is a leading global excipients manufacturer for the pharmaceutical industry. DFE Pharma has operations in Europe, India and New Zealand, is headquartered in Germany and presence in over 100 countries. Fonterra is a global dairy nutrition co-operative headquartered in New Zealand owned by 10,000 farmers. It is the world’s largest dairy exporter and employs around 22,000 people globally. CVC is a leading private equity and investment advisory firm with approximately US$83 billion of assets under management.

The legal advisors of Fonterra comprised HVG Law, EY Law offices in Germany and India, and Russell McVeagh in New Zealand.

The HVG Law deal team was led by partner Matthijs Driedonks (Corporate/M&A). The core team comprised senior associate Francijn de Rotte, associate Wienke Havinga and associate Jesse Trommel (all Corporate/M&A). Antitrust was provided by associate partner Misha lutje Beerenbroek. German law advice was given by associate partner Torsten Göcke of EY Law Germany and Indian law advice was provided by Anirudh Mukherjee of EY Law India.

The EY Transaction Advisory Services team provided financial due diligence services headed by partner Maurice Van Den Hoek. EY Tax provided tax advice, which was led by partner Anne Mieke Holland.

Other advisers on this transaction were Goldman Sachs who acted as financial advisor to Fonterra. FrieslandCampina was advised by Allen & Overy, and CVC Capital Partners by Rothschild & Co, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and KPMG.