Dr. Stefan Schultes-Schnitzlein

Partner

Düsseldorf

Stefan is a tax partner in the Düsseldorf office. He is both qualified as a German lawyer (Rechtsanwalt) and as a German tax advisor (Steuerberater).

Stefan has continuously been listed as frequently recommended in Germany's leading lawyer ranking magazine JUVE Handbook of German Commercial Law Firms in the last years. Clients recommend Stefan for his work and say that he “can convey complicated facts convincingly”.

He advises industry clients, private equity funds and financial institutions on all sorts of German tax and accounting issues. Stefan's focus lies on corporate transactions, financings and re-financings and restructurings as well as on tax field audits and tax litigation in connection with any of the former. He also advises individual persons on succession and related issues.

In the last five years, tax work for growth companies at all stages has become an ever-increasing part of his work. U.S. flips, management incentivization, financing rounds, exits and SPAC transactions are only some of the areas in which Stefan has been involved in the growth space.

Prior to his move to Orrick in the beginning of 2014, Stefan has been with international law firms for eight years.

  • Stefan has recently been engaged in a number of high-profile transactions, having advised on tax aspects of:

    • Kinnevik AB and Temasek on their investment in a $100 million convertible bond to finance the Berlin travel planning platform Omio
    • auxmoney GmbH, the largest credit marketplace in Continental Europe, on its €150 million financing round, led by Centerbridge with participation of certain existing investors including Foundation Capital
    • Contentful GmbH, a global leader in headless content management systems, on its $80 million Series E funding led by Sapphire Ventures, with participation from General Catalyst, Salesforce Ventures and five other new and existing backers
    • Aviation pioneer Lilium on its SPAC transaction
    • FAST LTA AG, a specialist for data storing with integrated data protection, on the sale of the company to Afinum
    • Leading private equity investor EQT Mid Market on the sale of aerospace product and service provider E.I.S. Aircraft Products & Services to Germany-based HANNOVER Finanz Group
    • EQT Expansion Capital II on the sale of UDG, a specialized German agency group for digital marketing services and communications, to leading digital agency group Performance Interactive Alliance (PIA), owned by European mid-market private equity firm Equistone
    • GENUI, an investment company focused on sustainable growth, on its investment in Mindcurv, a European market leader in digital transformation
    • Estun Automation and China Renaissance Capital Investment (CRCI) on the acquisition of Carl Cloos Schweißtechnik GmbH, a German market leader in welding technology and robotics
    • Kennet Partners and the two founders of HYPE Softwaretechnik GmbH (known as HYPE Innovation) on the sale of Kennet Partners' majority stake in the company to Dutch private equity investor Main Capital Partners
    • Independent mid-market private equity fund Findos Investor on the sale of its majority stake in auto parts retailer Rameder Group to FSN Capital