Sale of TRIOPTICS to Jenoptik: GvW Graf von Westphalen advises seller capiton in China

The fund capiton IV GmbH & Co. Beteiligungs KG, managed by capiton AG, together with the founding shareholders, have sold 100% of the shares in TRIOPTICS GmbH to the TecDAX company Jenoptik. TRIOPTICS, headquartered in Wedel near Hamburg, is a leading provider of measurement technology for optical components and sensors. With more than 400 employees worldwide at locations in Germany, the USA, France as well as in China, Taiwan, Japan, Singapore and Korea, the company generated sales of around 80 million euros in 2019 of which more than 50 percent was generated in Asia. 

The transaction will take place in two steps: Jenoptik now acquires 75 percent of the shares with the remaining 25 percent of the shares to be acquired on December 31, 2021, subject to a condition precedent. The parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price. The transaction is still subject to approval by the competition authorities. 

BMH Bräutigam was the lead legal counsel for the entire transaction on the seller side. GvW Graf von Westphalen advised capiton from its office in Shanghai on the Chinese legal aspects of the sale. The GvW team around the Managing Partner of the Shanghai office Patrick Heid (lead partner) and Dr Dominic Köstner (local partner) included the associates Zheng Ye, Huanlei Yan and Mengyuan Gong (all corporate/M&A, Shanghai). 

Since its foundation in 1991, TRIOPTICS has developed into a leading international supplier of test equipment for optical components and sensors in the digital world. The company's products are used in the fields of smartphones, virtual & augmented reality, medical technology and life science as well as automotive. TRIOPTICS is growing dynamically and maintains a very strong presence in European and Asian markets with its own R&D and production sites.

Jenoptik is a globally active technology group that is mainly active in three photonics-based divisions. Its main customers are companies in the semiconductor equipment industry, the automotive and automotive supplier industry, medical technology, security and defense technology and the aviation industry. Jenoptik employs over 4,100 people worldwide and generated sales of around 855 million EUR in the 2019 fiscal year. Jenoptik AG is listed on the German Stock Exchange in Frankfurt and is included in the SDax and TecDax, among others.

Since 2008, the German and Chinese lawyers of GvW have regularly accompanied European and US companies in their M&A activities and business relations in China from their own office in Shanghai. In addition, the firm's China practice offers Chinese companies comprehensive advice on investments and business relationships in the German and European market.