S&C acted as German and U.S. counsel to the underwriters, as German asset manager DWS Group GmbH & Co. KGaA, an indirect 100 percent subsidiary of Deutsche Bank AG, launched an initial public offering consisting of 44,500,000 existing DWS shares, equaling a total placement volume of €1.4 billion, including 4,500,000 shares to cover over-allotments.
DWS is a global asset manager with €700 billion of assets under management and leading market positions in Germany and Europe. It was formed in a series of transactions carving out the asset management activities of Deutsche Bank (formerly known as Deutsche Asset Management). In 2017, DWS had combined revenues of around €2.5 billion and a combined profit before tax of around €747 million.
The IPO consisted of public offerings in Germany and Luxembourg, a Rule 144A placement to qualified institutional buyers in the United States and private placements to institutional investors in other jurisdictions, including Japan, in reliance on Regulation S. Before the launch of the offering, Deutsche Bank and DWS had entered into an investment agreement with Nippon Life, the largest Japanese life insurance company, pursuant to which Nippon Life had agreed to acquire five percent of DWS’ share capital in the offering in connection with a strategic partnership.
The underwriters were led by Deutsche Bank (sole global coordinator and bookrunner), Barclays, Citigroup and Credit Suisse (joint bookrunners). The S&C team was led by Carsten Berrar and Krystian Czerniecki, along with Lars Rueve, Martin Gross-Langenhoff, Sebastian Plassmann and Peter Klormann. Benjamin Weiner, along with and Michael Jung advised on certain U.S. regulatory matters and Slki Hong advised on U.S. tax matters.