CMS Hasche Sigle advises Highlight Communications on the acquisition of a further 25.1 per cent stake in Constantin Film

The Swiss company Highlight Communications AG is set to become the sole major shareholder of Constantin Film AG having exercised the option which it was granted last June to purchase the 25.1 % stake of Bernd Eichinger Holding GmbH & Co. KG in Constantin Film AG. Once the purchase agreement has been concluded Highlight Communications AG's direct stake will rise from 65.51 % to over 90 %.

Dr Martin Bell and Dr Jochen Schlotter from the CMS Hasche Sigle Frankfurt office advised Highlight Communications on the transaction. Martin Bell advised the Swiss media company in 2003 on the progressive increase of its interest in Constantin Film, including a public takeover bid.

Bernd Eichinger will continue its close association with Constantin Film by way of a production and consultancy agreement with a term of several years. Highlight Communications AG is currently not seeking any changes concerning the stock exchange presence or the shareholder structure of Constantin Film AG.


Advisers to Highlight Communications AG:

CMS Hasche Sigle, Frankfurt
Dr Martin Bell, partner (corporate)
Dr Jochen Schlotter (corporate)
Dr Markus Rasner (corporate)

Advisers to Bernd Eichinger Holding GmbH & Co. KG:

Schwarz Kelwing Wicke Westpfahl, Munich
Prof. Dr Mathias Schwarz

Nörr Stiefenhofer Lutz, Munich
Dr Tobias Bürgers


Contact CMS Hasche Sigle:

Dr Martin Bell
Tel.: +49 (0)69 / 71701-0
E-Mail: Martin.Bell@cms-hs.com
About CMS Hasche Sigle:

CMS Hasche Sigle is one of the leading German law firms with more than 420 lawyers. It covers the entire area of commercial law and provides legal advice to major German and international companies from a wide spectrum of industry. CMS Hasche Sigle operates at all the major business centres. It has offices in Berlin, Cologne, Duesseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Leipzig, Munich, Stuttgart, Chemnitz, Dresden, Brussels, Belgrade, Moscow and Prague.

CMS Hasche Sigle is a partnership of lawyers and tax consultants; for register details / list of partners see www.cms-hs.com

CMS Hasche Sigle is a member of CMS, an alliance of leading European law firms. With over 575 partners, a total of 2,000 lawyers and tax consultants and around 3,800 support staff we advise our clients in 24 countries in Europe and further afield on legal and tax issues.

Local strength and legal tax advice tailored to the requirements of the market combined with a substantial amount of business and organisational integration form the basis for high-quality international legal advice.

In addition to CMS Hasche Sigle, the following firms are also members of the CMS alliance: CMS Adonnino Ascoli & Cavasola Scamoni (Italy), CMS Albiñana & Suárez de Lezo (Spain), CMS Bureau Francis Lefebvre (France), CMS Cameron McKenna LLP (Great Britain), CMS DeBacker (Belgium), CMS Derks Star Busmann (the Netherlands), CMS von Erlach Henrici (Switzerland) and CMS Reich-Rohrwig Hainz (Austria). CMS has 57 offices in 24 countries in Western and Central Europe, North and South America, Asia and North Africa.

For further information on CMS Hasche Sigle see www.cms-hs.com and on the CMS alliance see www.cmslegal.com .