Acquisition of Swissbit by Ardian

Niederer Kraft Frey acted as Swiss counsel to the private equity investor Ardian on the acquisition of a majority stake in Swissbit Holding AG. Swissbit’s existing management will significantly reinvest in the company as part of the transaction and will also hold a substantial stake in the company in the future. The parties have agreed not to disclose the financial details of the transaction, which is also subject to approval by the antitrust authorities.

Swissbit, based in Bronschhofen, is a leading global manufacturer of storage and embedded IoT solutions with its own production facilities in Germany. The company was founded in 2001 through a management buyout of Siemens AG, and has offices in Switzerland, Germany, USA, Japan and Taiwan.

Ardian is a world-leading private investment house with assets of USD 96 billion managed or advised in Europe, the Americas and Asia. The company is majority-owned by its employees and maintains a truly global network, with more than 680 employees working from fifteen offices across Europe, the Americas and Asia.

The NKF team was co-led by M&A partners Patrik Peyer, Till Spillmann and Moritz Maurer and supported by senior associates Andrea Giger, Adrian Koller, associates Katalin Siklosi, Aurèle Bertrand, Anne Huber, Olivia Biehal and junior associate Stephanie Huchler (all M&A), working with partner Clara-Ann Gordon and junior associate Tanja Lutz (both Technology/Data Privacy) and partner Thomas Graf (Tax).

Latham & Watkins LLP acted as lead counsel for Ardian. The team was led by Munich private equity partner Burc Hesse and Sebastian Pauls.