International law firm Bird & Bird advises the FUJIFILM group on the acquisition of German medwork GmbH, a company that develops, manufactures and markets instruments for therapeutic and diagnostic endoscopy. The company will be a 100%-owned subsidiary of the Fujifilm group. The acquisition marks Fujifilm's full-scale entry into the endoscopic instrument business.
The anti-trust authorities' consent is still pending. The exact purchase price has not been disclosed.
medwork develops, manufactures and markets endoscopic instruments in-house. In Europe, the company has built a solid reputation by offering an extensive line-up of high quality products and swift delivery services, including same-day delivery. The demand for minimally-invasive endoscopic examination and treatments is increasing globally due to its low strains on patients, and the market for endoscopic instruments is expected to have strong growth.
This latest acquisition of Fujifilm will significantly expand its product line-up in the area of endoscopic instrumentation. Fujifilm’s overarching strategy is to continue meeting diverse needs at the medical frontline, thereby improving the quality of healthcare.
The transaction was led by Bird & Bird’s Düsseldorf Corporate/M&A partners Dr. Stefanie Orttmann, LL.M. and Alfred Herda and comprises the following team: Associates Jan Medele and Michael Maier (Corporate/M&A, Düsseldorf/Frankfurt), Partner Dr. Alexander Csaki (Regulatory, Munich), Partner Dr. Anna Wolters-Höhne and Associate Lucas Brons (both Patents, Hamburg), Partner Dr. Catharina Klumpp, LL.M. and Associate Benjamin Karcher (both Employment, Düsseldorf), Partner Dr. Dirk Barcaba and Counsel Elie Kaufman, LL.M. (both Real Estate, Frankfurt), Partner Dr. Michael Jünemann and Associates Julia Froehder and Liliana Rodrigues-Kaps (all Finance, Frankfurt), Partner Guido Bormann and Associates Johannes Woltering and Kristin Kattwinkel (all Regulatory, Düsseldorf), Counsel Dr. Stephan Waldheim and Associates Heike Lesch and Marcio Da Silva Lima (both EU & Competition, Düsseldorf), Counsel Lea Mackert, LL.M. and Associate Dr. Natallia Karniyevich (both Commercial, Düsseldorf) and Associate Julia Präger (Trade mark, Düsseldorf).
The team acted in close cooperation with further Bird & Bird colleagues from Spain, Poland, France, Netherlands, UK and with the Fujifilm in-house team led by Oboama Addy, Dr. Robert Ferschen, MBA, Satoshi Tanigawa, Dr. Robert Fischer (all FUJIFILM Europe GmbH) and Tsutomu Tokuda (FUJIFILM Corporation).
