Frank Gerhard

Practice Areas

M&A, PTOs, private equity (incl. venture capital), IPOs, equity offerings (incl. innovative structures), shareholder activism, corporate law and governance, securities regulation.

Career

Homburger since 1998. Foreign Associate at Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, New York, 2003-04. Secondment with Nestlé in 2004. Partner at Homburger since 2005. Authorised representative at SIX Swiss Exchange since 2005.

Professional Memberships

Admissions: all Swiss courts (1994); New York Bar (1998).

Publications

Publications include articles on (i) SPACs and De-SPAC transactions, (ii) equity kickers, (i) merger of equals, (iv) shareholder activism and settlement, (v) banking M&A, (vi) takeover offers vs. mergers, (vi) spin-offs and demergers, (vii) company valuations and appraisal rights, (ix) PIPEs and cornerstone investors, (x) private equity financing and exits, (xi) cross-border triangular mergers, (xii) venture capital financing in down rounds and (xiii) business judgment rule.

Personal

Columbia Law School (LLM, 1997) University of Neuchâtel (Dr iur, 2000); Member of the editori-al board of the law journal "Gesellschafts- und Kapitalmarktrecht (GesKR)".

Work Highlights

• Addex Therapeutics in M&A, corporate and capital markets matters;

• Alcon Inc. in M&A, corporate and capital markets matters;

• Avolta AG (formerly Dufry AG) in M&A, corporate and capital markets matters, recently its strategic combination with Autogrill;

• Clariant Ltd in M&A, corporate and capital markets matters, recently in the sale of its worldwide Pigments and Masterbatches businesses, and in the aborted merger of equals with Huntsman;

• DKSH Holding AG in M&A, corporate and capital markets matters, recently in the acquisition of Terra Firma and Refarmed;

• Temasek in various investments in Switzerland;

• Softbank in its investment in GetYourGuide;

• Various IPOs and rights issues (Dufry, Leonteq, Medacta, PolyPeptide, etc).

Industry Sector Expertise

• Financial Investors

• Financial Services

• Healthcare and Life Sciences

• Industrial, Engineering and Manufacturing

• Retail and Consumer

• Technology, Medias and Telecoms (TMT)