City-Yuwa Partners (Tokyo) and CMS advised Showa Denko on the acquisition of the ILAG Group from Helvetica Capital
Showa Denko K.K. (SDK) acquired all shares in the ILAG group (ILAG) from a group of investors represented and led by Helvetica Capital AG, a Swiss-based private equity firm. All employees and production sites of ILAG were taken over by SDK.
ILAG is a Swiss specialist company for the production of non-stick coatings. The non-stick coating chemicals are used on consumer goods such as cookware, bakeware, and home electrical appliances, and also on industrial goods including automotive parts and other industrial equipment. ILAG has facilities in Switzerland and China, serving its customers in over 50 countries in both the consumer goods and industrial goods industries. In recent years, ILAG has been steadily increasing sales by continually investing in its powerful suite of consumer brands, as well as by its deep research and development capabilities.
SDK is a listed Japanese company with the goal of becoming a leading player in the non-stick coatings market. Under the new ownership, ILAG will have strong presence and competitiveness in global market by the complementary integration with the GMM Group, a US company previously acquired by SDK. SDK's non-stick coatings business (together with ILAG and GMM) is envisaged to play an important role as a global center of competence and development and to further advance the worldwide activities.
CMS advised SDK comprehensively on all Swiss legal aspects of this cross-border transaction.
CMS Switzerland
Dr Daniel Jenny, Lead Partner, Corporate/M&A
Andrea Relly, Senior Associate, Corporate/M&A
Florian Jung, Associate, Corporate/M&A
Oliver Girstmair, Junior Associate, Corporate/M&A
