Clyde & Co advises W&W Group on the acquisition of start:bausparkasse AG in Germany

Clyde & Co has advised Wüstenrot Bausparkasse AG, a group company of German financial services group Wüstenrot & Württembergische AG (W&W), on the acquisition of start:bausparkasse AG (formerly Deutscher Ring Bausparkasse), a home loan and savings association.

The seller is BAWAG Group AG, a publicly listed holding company headquartered in Vienna, Austria. The transaction is still subject to approval by the antitrust and supervisory authorities, and is expected to close in the course of 2024. The parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price.

With the acquisition of start:bausparkasse, Wüstenrot Bausparkasse AG is strengthening its position as a leading partner building savings banks. The company already has the largest network of building society sales channels in Germany.

Clyde & Co’s team was led by corporate partner Eva-Maria Barbosa. She has regularly advised the W&W Group for many years and has also successfully completed other transactions for the company, most recently in 2019 on the sale of her client’s Czech subsidiaries.

The Clyde & Co team further included data protection partner Jan Spittka (Düsseldorf), counsel Nikolaus Wank, senior associates Ena Kurbegovic, Adriaan Louw, Victor Gontard, and associates Dardan Gashi and Thora Rock (all corporate/insurance, Munich).

Counsel on tax has been Dissmann Orth (Jochen Ettinger, Christian Winkler), Herbst Kinsky (Christoph Wildmoser) acted as Austrian legal counsel.