Convergys Corporation, a global leader in customer management, today announced a definitive agreement under which Convergys will acquire Germany-based and owner-operated buw for €123 million, subject to certain adjustments and regulatory approvals.
Gowling WLG partner Dr Andreas Woelfle - together with new partner Manuela Finger (IP/IT and Commercial) - advised Convergys on all aspects of the acquisition, supporting the company in expanding its global footprint into the German market. With the acquisition, 6,000 buw employees spread across Germany, Hungary, and Romania will be added to the existing Convergys workforce of 130,000.
By adding buw's complementary client base, and German language capabilities, Convergys expects the acquisition to expand its presence in the growing €2.8 billion German outsourced customer management services market. buw is a growing and profitable business which generates approximately €150 million annual revenue, providing end-to-end business process outsourcing (BPO) services to leading companies across a wide breadth of industries.
Andrea Ayers, Convergys President and CEO said, "This accretive transaction will increase our capacity to serve the customer management BPO market in Germany, further diversify our marquee client base, and strengthen our relationships with the multinational clients we share. We believe buw clients will benefit from Convergys's unique global platform for driving operational excellence, and look forward to helping our new clients maintain exceptional relationships with their customers."
Dr Andreas Woelfle was in charge of the transaction and led a team comprising lawyers from Gowling WLG, Menold Bezler and Cerha Hempel Spiegelfeld Hlawati. Andreas Woelfle can draw upon more than 20 years of experience in negotiating major and complex cross-border transaction projects. He is highly recognised among his German and non-German clients for providing incisive and accurate legal and tactical advice on German law and cultural issues.
Legal counsel Convergys:
Gowling WLG: Overall responsibility: Dr Andreas Woelfle (Partner, Stuttgart), Greg Dunn (Director, Birmingham; both Corporate/M&A); Manuela Finger (Partner), Joerg Khoeber (Senior Associate), Stefanie Fuchs (Associate), Katharina Weimer (Associate), Dr Thomas Farkas (Associate; all Munich, IP/IT and Commercial)
Menold Bezler (Stuttgart): Jost Rudersdorf (Partner); Valerie Gundlach (Associate, both Corporate/M&A); Dr Stefan Messmer (Partner), Dr Jochen Bernhard (Associate, both Competition); Dr Frieder Werner (Associate, Employment), Steffen Follner (Associate, Finance), Dr Alexandra Kierner (Associate, Restructuring)
Cerha Hempel Spiegelfeld Hlawati: Dr Albert Birkner (Partner); Maximilian Mayer (Corporate/M&A, Vienna); Mirela Nathanzon (Partner); Sebastian Bolda; Zizi Popa (Bucharest); Andrea Presser (Partner); György Bálint; Péter Szajlai (Budapest)
Frost Brown Todd: Jeffrey L. Hallos, Kai Bitter, Kirby D. Ifland
Legal counsel buw Group: Taylor Wessing: Overall responsibility Dr Mark Hoenike (Partner, Corporate/M&A, Hamburg)