Dr. Simon Sabel
Lawyer
Partner
Gründer
Simon advises on the purchase and sale of companies and shareholdings (M&A, private equity), financing rounds (venture capital) and joint ventures. He is highly eperienced in drafting and negotiating complex transaction documentation, also in a cross-border context. He has a long lasting track record in legal structuring of companies and assets from formation, expansion, investment and restructuring to exit and succession.
Simon was named M&A Lawyer of the Year (Germany) by Finance Monthly (UK) and received the FM Deal Maker Award 2024. IFLR 1000 (UK) lists Simon as a “Notable Practitioner” in the area of Corporate M&A.
Qualifications
Solicitor
Dr. iur. (University of Tübingen)
Typical areas of practice
- Purchase and sale of companies and shareholdings (M&A, private equity), financing rounds (venture capital) and joint ventures, also in special situations such as insolvency and conflict
- Negotiation of complex transaction situations, also in a cross-border context
- Structuring of transactions and investments
- Structirung of assets
Qualifikationen
Solicitor
Dr. iur. (University of Tübingen)
Typische Einsatzfelder
- Purchase and sale of companies and shareholdings (M&A, private equity), financing rounds (venture capital) and joint ventures, also in special situations such as insolvency and conflict
- Negotiation of complex transaction situations, also in a cross-border context
- Structuring of transactions and investments
- Structirung of assets
Training & Career
Simon studied law and economics in Bayreuth and Munich. He was a visiting doctoral student at the Max Planck Institute for Competition and Innovation in Munich and a doctoral fellow atthe Cusanuswerk. He received his doctorate from Prof. Dr. Wernhard Möschel on an antitrust law topic. He worked in Munich and Hamburg at major national and international law firms Flick Gocke Schaumburg and CMS as well as at private equity manager HQ Capital in Bad Homburg v. d. Höhe and New York City. For several years, he worked as a partner in a law firm in Munich and Berlin. Simon is a lecturer in corporate law at the University of Bayreuth. Before founding Walberg & Cie., he worked as a partner in a German boutique in the area of M&A and corporate law.
Selected References
Afinum: Advise on Acquisition of Altendorf Gruppe*
Flyby: Advise on Seed Financing Round
Freepik (EQT): Advise on Acquisition of EyeEm
Good Home: Advise on Seed Financing Round
Harald Quandt Industriebeteiligungen: Advise on Acquisition of Mittelstand Companies*
Highland Capital Group: Advise on Joint Venture with Copenhagen Infrastructure and Siemens Energy*
Holtzbrinck Publishing Group: Advise on Merger of Macmillan Science and Education with Springer Science+Business Media (BC Partners)*
Telefonica: Advise on Acquisition E-Plus*
Wahtari: Advise on Joint Venture with Helu Kabel
Wizard Ventures: Advise on sale of Base Templates to Round Ventures
* Transactions in previous firms before founding Walberg & Cie.
Publications
Investment Performance, Family Control and Family Harmony — Thoughts on Successful SFO Advice, The International Family Office Journal, Volume 5, Issue 4, June 2021, 5 et seq. (together with Richard Narva)
Expansion strategies abroad — Subsidiary, M&A, joint venture: Internationalization of medium-sized and family businesses in: Windthorst, challenges for family businesses — digitization, internationalization, governance, Nomos 2020
Direct investments by foundations, ZStV 4/2020, Editorial
Structuring a family holding company — corporate law vs. foundation law, ZStV 2018, pp. 81-93 (together with Dr. Dirk Schauer)
The entrepreneurial family as a legal framework, in: Handbook of Family Businesses and Business Families, Design Practice in Civil, Corporate and Tax Law, Schäffer-Pöschel Verlag Stuttgart, 2nd edition 2020
Corporate transactions as implementation of corporate and family strategy, in: Handbook of Family Businesses and Entrepreneurial Families, see above.
The family business as a target company, in: Handbook of Family Businesses and Entrepreneurial Families, see above.
Financial investors as minority stakeholders, in: Handbook of Family Businesses and Entrepreneurial Families, see above
Management of shareholding in family businesses, NZG 2015, pp. 1249-1254 (together with Prof. Dr. Knut Werner Lange)
Succession planning using foreign foundations, ZStV 2014, 201-207 (together with Prof. Dr. Knut Werner Lange)
Recent developments in European and German control of conglomerate business combinations, Nomos Verlag, 2010
Talks
Network M&A JUC - Discussion on current topics with M&A professionals, November 27, 2024
Beck-Seminar Family Offices - Structuring, Investments, Succession, November 21, 2024
Company purchase — purchase structure, purchase agreement, integration, group of entrepreneurs off-site, December 1, 2021
Corporate Law and Investments, University of Bayreuth, Impuls Lecture Corporate Law, June 18, 2021
Family Office — Structuring, Investments and Succession, Beck Seminar (2021)
Partnership Law in Legal Design Practice, Corporate Law Lecture, University of Bayreuth (2019)
Partnership law, specialization, course on corporate law, University of Bayreuth (2019)
Corporate Minority Protection and Drafting of Company Agreements, Corporate Law Lecture, University of Bayreuth (2019)
Corporate Minority Protection and Drafting of Company Agreements, Corporate Law Lecture, University of Bayreuth (2018)
International expansion through M&A, subsidiary and joint venture — internationalization of family businesses and SMEs, Research Center for Family Businesses, University of Bayreuth, IHK Oberfranken, Bayreuth (2017)
Legal Essentials for Start-Ups — UnternehmerTUM, Center for Innovation and Start-Up at TU Munich, Munich (2017)
Legal aspects of structuring assets: Design approaches for setting up a single family office — professionalization and security of family assets, together with Association of Independent Family Offices and Henkel Family Office, Munich (2016)
Inbound investments US — Germany (M&A, private equity, venture capital), panelist at 5th Annual Investors Conference, The New York Academy of Sciences, New York City (2016)
Minority Protection in Partnerships, Corporate Law lecture, together with Prof. Dr. Werner Knut Lange, University of Bayreuth (2016)
Management liability risks in family businesses — compliance in family businesses and SMEs, Research Center for Family Businesses University of Bayreuth, IHK Oberfranken, Bayreuth (2016)
Family Offices, Structuring and Investments Workshop, University of Bayreuth, Bayreuth (2015)
Business succession (including family foundation and company sale), IHK Oberbayern, Munich (2015)
Governance workshop in family businesses, Munich (2015)
Business Succession (including Family Foundation), Research Center for Family Businesses University of Bayreuth, IHK Oberfranken, Bayreuth (2015)
Minority Protection in Partnerships, Corporate Law lecture, together with Prof. Dr. Werner Knut Lange, University of Bayreuth (2015)
WIR Round Table Family Offices, Sigmaringen Castle (2014)
Business succession (including company sale), Research Center for Family Businesses University of Bayreuth, IHK Oberfranken, Bayreuth, October 7, 2014