TRANSACTION INTERVIEW 101 It is absolutely crucial to develop a perfect understanding of the counterparty and its positions and also the positions of any other advisors or stakeholders in a transaction. Legal Advisors to Efeso: Other Legal Advisors involved within the transaction: Did you encounter any challenges as part of this work? If so, how did you overcome them? Well, every transaction has its challenges. In the Efeso/Tsetinis deal it certainly was the timing. The timeline proposed by the parties was extremely tight and there were also other bidders in the race. We had to carry out a very quick and very focused but still thorough due diligence, while working in parallel on the share purchase agreement, the shareholders’ agreement, new articles of association and other ancillary documentation, including corporate documentation and documents for the public registers, POAs, etc. How did we overcome this? Simply by working night and day with high speed, high motivation and high concentration. Nothing else would have worked in this case. In what ways would you say that your work on this acquisition fits the profile of your firm? The Efeso/Tsetinis transaction perfectly fits our firm’s profile. Over 70% of my corporate work is international. In the Efeso/Tsetinis transaction we were working with the German and French offices of Bird & Bird, our client was headquartered in Paris and we were supported and guided by Efeso’s leading people based in Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and the US. Do you have any further comments to make about this transaction? Let me say that I am very grateful and humble that I had the opportunity to work with so many not only wonderful but also professionally experienced and organised people – both alongside Efeso and its shareholder EURAZEO and also on the side of the seller, ZF Friedrichshafen AG. It was a great pleasure and honour working on this transaction.
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