Bird & Bird advised Avery Dennison Corporation (USA), a global materials science and manufacturing company specialising in the design and manufacture of a wide variety of labelling and functional materials, on the acquisition of Smartrac's RFID transponder business.
Avery Dennison operates in over 50 countries, and its products, which are used in nearly every major industry, include pressure-sensitive materials for labels and graphic applications, tapes and other bonding solutions for industrial, medical and retail applications, tags, labels and embellishments for apparel as well as radio-frequency identification (RFID) solutions serving retail apparel and other markets.
Smartrac is the world's leading provider of scalable product digitisation solutions based on RFID and IoT technology. Smartrac enables companies to complement their product offerings with digital services and connect products to the "Internet of Things". Founded in 2000 in Amsterdam (Netherlands), Smartrac has established offices and manufacturing facilities in Europe, America and Asia.
The transaction is subject to antitrust clearance and is expected to be closed in the first quarter of 2020.
Avery Dennison was advised by the following Bird & Bird core team: Partner Dr Kai Kerger and Associate Marianne Nawroth (international coordination) as well as Partner Dr Hans Peter Leube, LL.M. and Associate Chyngyz Timur, all Corporate/M&A, Frankfurt.
In addition, the following Bird & Bird lawyers from Germany, the Netherlands, Great Britain, China and Hong Kong as well as Singapore provided support:
Germany: Associates Michael Maier, Dr. Ann-Kristin Asmuß, LL.M. and Christoph Meves (all Corporate/M&A), Partner Dr. Matthias Meyer and Associate Dr. Kevin Kuta (both patent law), Partner Dr Barbara Geck as well as Associates Florian Kessenich and Carina Seum (all employment law), Partner Mascha Grundmann and Associate Julia Präger (both trademark law), Partner Jörg-Alexander Paul as well as Associates Oliver Belitz and Holger Niedenfuehr (all IT/Data Protection)
United Kingdom: Partner Simon Shooter and Of Counsel Simon Phippard (both Commercial/Compliance)
Netherlands: Partner Pauline Vos and Associates Marinke Moeliker (both Corporate/M&A), Associate Hanneke Senden (labour law), Partner Brian Mulier as well as Associates Dick Ignacio and Goran Danilovic (all Commercial/Compliance)
Hong Kong: Partner James Fong and Associate Philip Chui (both Corporate/M&A)
China: Partner Shan Lai and Associates Amy Yang, Jing Li, Candice Wang and Wen Zhang (all Corporate/M&A)
Singapore: Partner Marcus Chow and Associate Jaclyn Chow (both Corporate/M&A)
Bird & Bird was also supported by Dr. Rolf Schmich (tax law) of SZA Schilling, Zutt & Anschütz and in Malaysia by Tay & Partners (Partner Hoong Wie En) and in the USA by Moore & VanAllen (Partner John Beltz, Corporate/M&A).
