Flick Gocke Schaumburg advises Printus group on majority stake in Office Partner

Flick Gocke Schaumburg has advised the Printus group on the acquisition of a majority stake in Office Partner. The Printus group is acquiring a 70 percent stake in the Office Partner group. Office Partner is an established e-commerce specialist for printers and IT products in Germany. Printus is Germany’s market leader for commercial office supplies. The parties have agreed not to disclose details of the transaction. The closing of the transaction is subject to approval by the relevant antitrust authorities.

Office Partner will retain its operational independence. Managing directors Peter Pölling and Sven Osterholt will hold the remaining 30 percent and continue managing the operational business of Office Partner. Andreas von dem Berge, one of the company’s founders and managing directors, is to retire on age grounds.

Advisors to Printus: Flick Gocke Schaumburg

Prof. Dr. Joachim Schmitt (tax, project lead), Dr. Markus Keuthen (tax), Dr. Philipp Rulf (corporate/M&A, project lead), Dr. Christian Bochmann (corporate/M&A), Dr. Tobias Nießen, Dr. Sandy Siegfanz-Strauß (both labor law), Dr. Florian C. Haus (antitrust law), Johannes Leverkus (financial due diligence), Alexander Löschhorn (data privacy law/IT), associates: Dr. Sebastian Cloppenburg, Dr. Philipp Stallknecht (both tax), Jessica Graeber, Alexander Heinen, Dr. Denis Kaspras, Dr. Tobias Keller (all corporate/M&A), Fabian Schmidt (antitrust law)

Other advisors:

Shareholders at Office Partner (legal advice): McDermott Will & Emery LLP

Dr. Philipp Grenzebach (corporate/M&A, project lead), Sebastian Bonk (corporate/M&A), Christian Krohs (antitrust law), Dr. Sandra Urban-Crell (labor law), Carina Kant (antitrust law, counsel), associates: Dr. Frederic Peine, Sebastian Klein (both corporate/M&A), Dr. Helen Lindenberg (antitrust law)

Shareholders at Office Partner (tax advice): Dr. von der Hardt & Partner mbB,

Daniel Telg genannt Kortmann, Dr. Andreas Hadamitzky, Miriam Schwaaf

The main changes concern the shareholding structure. The organizational structure, contact persons and locations remain unchanged, as does the strategic orientation. Office Partner will continue to operate and expand its own logistics locations in the future; the company name and brand identity will remain unchanged.

The Office Partner group of companies, based in Gescher (North Rhine-Westphalia) and soon also in Münster, is an established e-commerce specialist for printers and IT products in Germany. Founded in 1997, the group has developed from an office supplies retailer into a specialist for printers and accessories, PCs and notebooks, networks and servers, projectors and smart signage, telecommunications as well as gaming and consumer IT products. Consulting and services as well as its project and tendering business are also major drivers of revenue. The owner-led company currently has 160 employees and in 2021 announced a turnover of EUR 189 million.

Based in Offenburg, the Printus group was founded in 1977 in Hamburg as a distribution company for photocopying films and is today the leading online and mail-order retailer for office supplies in Germany and one of the largest in Europe. The family-owned company has more than 1,600 employees and achieves an annual turnover of over EUR 850 million. <<<