Orrick logo
  1. Home
  2. People
  3. Greulich, Sven

Dr. Sven Greulich, LL.M. (Cantuar), EMBA

Partner

Dusseldorf

Dr. Sven Greulich, partner at Orrick's Düsseldorf office, guides technology companies of all stages and their financial sponsors through transformational corporate transactions. These deals include technology acquisitions, buy-out M&A of technology companies and strategic  cross-border investments/JV as well as later stage venture capital investments.

Sven advises technology companies on complex cross-border mergers and acquisitions, and private equity and venture capital investments, and provides general corporate counseling.

His clients include technology companies of all stages and their investors at all points in the company life cycle. Supported by a global and cross-practice team, he also counsels major corporations on expansion/market entry projects and has a special focus on in- and outbound German/US investments and joint ventures.

Sven is passionate about building a bridge for his clients from Germany to the US and other international technology hubs and to help them succeed in the international market. With a dual background in business and law, an entrepreneurial spirit, and experience in over 200 M&A transactions and financing rounds across many industries (including energy, automotive, information technology, commerce and life science), Sven has a unique perspective, which inspires him to find the best strategic and commercially viable solution for his clients.

Sven volunteers with entrepreneur groups at the WHU Otto Beisheim School of Management and the RWTH Aachen and periodically lectures at the WHU on venture capital financings and legal aspects of corporate venture capital structures.

Sven's work has been repeatedly awarded, inter alia

  • in the 2017 edition of its Innovative Lawyers Report Europe, the Financial Times named Sven’s work to connect start-ups with Germany’s Mittelstand (mid-sized companies) a standout “for making bridges between Silicon Valley and Germany”;
  • since 2017, he has annually received the “Acritas Star Lawyer” award from the leading international legal research company Acritas based on clients' praise for Sven's responsiveness and business-oriented advice for technology companies;
  • the Legal500 Ranking EMEA for 2019 recommends Sven for “mid-sized international Corporate M&A deals (€100m-€500m)”;
  • Best Lawyers and Handelsblatt recommend him as top lawyer for M&A transactions; and
  • the leading German market publication JUVE ranks him as "frequently recommended for M&A, PE and corporate advice. In its latest yearbook 2019/2020, JUVE named Sven as one of Germany's top attorneys for venture capital (the highest recognition for this category awarded by JUVE).


  • His recent engagements include the following projects and transactions:

    Corporate M&A

    • Multinational Kärcher group on its acquisition of SaaS company Service Partner One as well as various corporate venture capital investments
    • HAHN Group on the acquisition of robotic technology from US cobot rpbotic pioneer rethink robotics inc.
    • STEAG on the acquisition of a business division of GILDEMEISTER group
    • STEAG on the acquisition of the Krantz-Business from Caverion
    • STEAG on the divestment of a minority shareholding in STEAG Power Minerals to HAWAR Group
    • STEAG on various other international joint venture and acquisition projects
    • STEAG on the formation of a bidding consortium with Beijing Capital Group in their bid for power plants sold by EQT
    • GEA Group on the acquisition of the sanitary pump producer HILGE from Grundfos Group and several other M&A projects
    • Cisco on the establishment of a joint venture with ABB and Bosch to develop software standards for smart home applications
    • Quip on the acquisition of Kolumbus Personalmanagement and of mit-uns Personaldienstleistungen as part of a buy & build strategy
    • Thales in an auction process for the defense business unit of Airbus Group

    Venture Capital and Corporate Venture Capital

    • SaaS scaleup Contentful on its 80m USD Series E with lead investor Sapphire and the preceding Series D and Series C financing rounds
    • US VC investor Coatue as lead investor in a 30m USD financing round of Choco Communications
    • US VC fund Goodwater Capital on its participation as co-lead in a 60m USD financing round of German e-scooter company TIER Mobility
    • Equity family office Haniel on its investment in the robotic startup Wandelbots in Dresden
    • UK VC fund Atomico on its investment in a German deep-tech startup
    • 3D printing startup DyeMansion on various investments made by, among others, VCs BtoV and UnternehmerTUM
    • Real estate crowdinvesting platform Bergfürst on a corporate venture capital by Commerz Real
    • P2P lending platform creditshelf on its public listing on the Frankfurt stock exchange (Prime Standard) - Sven has been counsel to the company since its incorporation
    • Deutsche Telekom on the establishment of an international joint venture with Zeiss Group to develop smart glasses
    • Vito Ventures and Project A on a € 4m investment in AI startup Artisense
    • German investor on venture capital investment in US robotic startup
    • German tech companies Mage App, localyze.de, Demodesk, Hypecloud, colabel and Taktile on their flip into a US corporation as part of their admission to a Silicon Valley-based accelerator program as well as on subsequent financings
    • Aesculap on its corporate venture capital investment in Neuroloop, one of the largest university spin-outs in the medtech sector in Germany ever
    • Augmented reality specialist RE'FLEKT on a corporate venture capital investment by Bosch Group
    • Augmented reality specialist RE'FLEKT on a corporate venture capital investment by BASF Venture
    • Various German Mittelstand corporates on corporate venture capital investments and technology/team acquisition projects in the DACH region and investments in venture capital funds
    • Investors and founders of leading network systems company LANCOM on its divestment to Rohde & Schwarz
    • Founders of Imagine Easy Solution (the company behind EasyBib, Citation Machine and BibMe) on their exit to Chegg
      •   
    Private Equity
    • BIP Investment Partners and Luxempart on the acquisition of ARWE Group (a leading European provider of mobility services for car rental and car sharing companies)
    • Luxempart on the acquisition of the leading Austrian education company Weidinger&Partner and subsequent buy&build acquisitions
    • Luxempart on its acquisition of a stake in German engineering company Rattay and subsequent buy&build acquisitions in the UK
    • Luxempart on various growth equity investments in the healthcare sector, including in Deutsche Fachpflege Gruppe (including subsequent exit thereof) and RIMED AG (a Swiss operator of radiology centers)
    • Findos Investor on the acquisition (2012) and divestment (2015) of Faist ChemTec, an international specialist for noise dampening material(sold to L-GAM)
    • Findos Investor on the acquisition of e-commerce specialist Rameder Group
    • Invision Private Equity on the acquisition of restoration expert Pfeifer GmbH as well as subsequent add-on acquisitions

    Other

    • W.W. Grainger, Inc., on its entry into the European online market for MRO products - launch of www.zoro.de

Insights

Événements

Actualités