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Clifford Chance

Clifford Chance
Max Alles

Max Alles

Counsel

Counsel
Counsel
Max Alles
Max Alles

Max Alles advises industrial companies and private equity institutions on (private/public) M&A transactions, joint ventures, carve-outs, restructurings and as well as general corporate matters.

Max also advises management and supervisory boards and shareholders of large listed and non-listed companies on various corporate and reorganization matters, including minority shareholdings, squeeze-out procedures, implementation of corporate governance systems, compliance with the business judgment rule as well as with capital markets regulations.

Max is a triple-qualified lawyer admitted to practice in Germany, the State of New York and England & Wales and. He lectures at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich and publishes regularly on corporate/M&A and capital markets related topics. 

Max has been named by Handelsblatt as one of the "Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch” for Mergers and Acquisitions, Corporate Law as well as Corporate Governance and Compliance Practice.

Private M&A Transactions:

  • Airbus on the carve-out and divestiture of its defence electronics business to KKR (€1.3 billion)*
  • Allianz on
    • its contemplated acquisition of VIVAT N.V. (€1.1 billion) (bid not successful)*
    • its contemplated acquisition (together with Athora Holding Ltd.) of the French Aviva business (€1.2 billion) (bid not successful)*
  • CENTROTEC SE on the sale of its climate systems business operated under CENTROTEC Climate Systems GmbH to Ariston Holding N.V. for a consideration of €703 million in cash and a subscription by CENTROTEC SE to approximately 41.4 million Ariston shares*
  • CJSC Energoprom Management on the contemplated acquisition of the performance products business from SGL Carbon (bid not successful)*
  • EasyPark AB, a portfolio company of Vitruvian and Verdane, on the acquisition of Flowbird*
  • EVN AG on the
    • sale of its (indirect) 49% stake in the joint venture company STEAG-EVN Walsum 10 Kraftwerksgesellschaft mbH regarding the power plant project Walsum 10 to STEAG and its exit from the power plant project Walsum 10*
    • contemplated sale of WTE Wassertechnik GmbH (aborted)*
  • Fidelidade – Companhia de Seguros, S.A., a subsidiary of Fosun, on the acquisition of a 70% majority stake in the prosperity company AG*
  • HSH Nordbank on
    • the divestiture of a ship loan portfolio to hsh portfoliomanagement AöR (€5 billion)*
    • divestiture of a loan portfolio to Merrill Lynch and the Australian investment bank Macquarie (€1.64 billion)*
  • Jungheinrich AG on the acquisition of the Indiana-based Storage Solutions group (€375 million)*
  • LANXESS Deutschland GmbH on the carveout of its worldwide rubber business and the creation of the ARLANXEO joint venture with Aramcos (€2.75 billion)*
  • MAN on the
    • sale of its Bus Modification Center in Plauen to BINZ*
    • sale of MAN Truck and Bus RUS LLC to MAN Truck Chelny LLC*
  • Messer
    • together with CVC on the carve-out and acquisition of the North and South American gases business of the Linde Group (€3.6 billion)*
    • on the carve-out and divestiture of its Castolin Eutectic business to Paragon*
  • Razor Group on its acquisition of US e-commerce aggregator Perch and related financing transactions*
  • Russian Railways on the sale of its stake in Trans-Eurasia Logistics GmbH to DB Cargo Aktiengesellschaft*
  • SMS Group and Altor on the acquisition of a 50% stake in KAEFER Isoliertechnik SE & Co. KG*
  • Solvay on the sale of its cellulose acetate business to Blackstone (€1.2 billion)*
  • Stumpf Capital GmbH on the planned acquisition of the rehabilitation clinics business from Fresenius (bid not successful)*
  • Theon International Plc on its investment in Harder Digital Ingenieur- und Industriegesellschaft mbH, a defense business
  • TRATON SE on the
    • acquisition of a 10.1% stake in Scania Real Estate Deutschland GmbH from Scania Real Estate Services AB*
    • on the sale by its subsidiary (i) Scania AB of its financial services operations to VOLKSWAGEN AG, Volkswagen Finance Luxemburg S.A. and Škoda Auto a.s., and of its commercial operations to Kompaniya Alfa OOO; (ii) MAN Truck & Bus SE of MAN Truck and Bus RUS LLC to MAN Truck Chelny LLC*
  • Viridium Group on the
    • acquisition of a portfolio of traditional life insurance policies with approximately 720,000 insurance contracts and assets under management of approximately €21 billion from Zurich Group Germany (€500 million)*
    • contemplated acquisition of a life insurance portfolio from AXA Group (bid not successful)*
  • Vonovia SE on
    • the sale of a minority participation in its Südewo portfolio to Apollo (€1 billion)*
    • sale of a minority participation in a real estate portfolio in North Germany to Apollo (€1 billion)*
  • Yara International ASA on the contemplated sale of its industrial environmental solutions business (€1 billion) (aborted)*
  • Major German automotive company on the sale of its manufacturing facility in Greece
  • Major German industrial company on the contemplated acquisition of a wood fiber insulation business*

Private Equity:

  • Altor and SMS Group on the acquisition of a 50% stake in KAEFER Isoliertechnik SE & Co. KG (€420 million)*
  • Cinven and Bain Capital on its acquisition offer in the bidding process for the construction chemicals division of BASF SE (€3.2 billion) (bid not successful)*
  • CVC and Messer on the carve-out and acquisition of the North and South American gases business of the Linde Group (€3.6 billion)*
  • EGERIA on the divestiture of the ISOPLUS group to Viessmann
  • EGERIA on the acquisition of the SAP software business Implico from BPE
  • EQT on the
    • sale of Bilfinger Hochbau to the Swiss construction company Implenia AG*
    • contemplated acquisition of Schön Kliniken (bid not successful)*
  • Permira on the contemplated acquisition of Reebok from Adidas (€1 billion) (bid not successful)*
  • Vitruvian and Verdane, through their portfolio company, EasyPark AB, on the acquisition of Flowbird*
  • Major German private equity institution on the comprehensive refinancing (incl. dividend racapitalisation) of a portfolio business in the defense sector
  • Major German private equity institution on the contemplated acquisition of the Paracelsus rehabilitation clinics from Porterhouse (bid not successful)
  • Major German private equity institution on the contemplated acquisition of a business in the defense sector (aborted)
  • Major New York and London based infrastructure private equity institution on the con-templated acquisition of a waste management and recycling business (aborted)*

Public M&A:

  • ADLER Real Estate AG on its public takeover of A.D.O. Group Ltd. (€709 million)*
  • HOCHTIEF AG on its joint investment together with ACT and Atlantia in Abertis (€32 billion)*
  • Major New York-based private equity institution on its contemplated public takeover offer for NYSE listed software company (aborted)*
  • TRATON SE on its public takeover offer for Navistar International Corporation (€2.9 billion)*
  • TUI AG on various corporate and capital markets compliance matters*
  • Vonovia SE on its business combination with Deutsche Wohnen SE and the respective public takeover offer (€27.8 billion)*
  • Major listed German chemicals company on the contemplated takeover of another major listed chemicals company (aborted)*
  • Major listed German real estate company on the contemplated takeover of another major listed German real estate company (aborted)*

Capital markets transactions:

  • Douglas on the comprehensive refinancing of the company's capital structure comprising a €600 million term loan (Term Loan B), a €1,305 million senior capital market-listed bond, a fur-ther €475 million capital market-listed bon, and a €170 million revolving credit facility (€2.55 billion)*
  • TRATON SE on its initial public offering and dual listing on the regulated market (Prime Standard) of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the regulated market of Nasdaq Stockholm (€1.6 billion)*
  • TUI AG on the comprehensive refinancing package with the Economic Stabilization Fund (WSF), KfW, Unifirm Ltd., and a consortium of banks, including a rights issue, a convertible silent participation by the WSF, a state guarantee and a credit line with the participation of KfW (€1.8 billion)*

Corporate advisory matters:

  • Executive boards, supervisory boards and shareholders of large listed and non-listed companies on various corporate and reorganization matters, incl. minority participations, squeeze-out procedures, implementation of corporate governance systems, joint ventures, compliance with the business judgement rule, and capital markets regulations compliance*
  • Almefy GmbH on a financing round and other corporate law matters*
  • Douglas on a comprehensive corporate reorganisation including various measures under the German Transformation Act (UmwG)*
  • HOCHTIEF AG on the organisation and execution of its annual shareholders’ meeting and on general corporate and capital markets law related matters*
  • Majority shareholders of a major German listed company on the planning of their company succession and various capital markets laws related aspects*
  • Merckle on various corporate and capital markets law issues*
  • Meyer Werft on various corporate and corporate governance matters*
  • Salzgitter AG on corporate law and corporate governance matters*
  • Software AG on a comprehensive corporate reorganisation
  • Ströer SE & Co. KGaA on general corporate and capital markets laws related matters*
  • TRATON SE on
    • the squeeze-out proceedings (via merger) in relation to its subsidiary MAN SE and on various corporate law and corporate governance issues*
    • structuring and implementation of a matrix structure*
    • various corporate, capital markets matters*
  • Vonovia SE on the integration of Deutsche Wohnen SE into the Vonovia group and on various corporate law and corporate governance issues*

International Arbitration / Dispute Resolution:

  • Evonik Industries AG on various disputes with the general contractor in connection with the construction of the coal-fired power plant Walsum 10*
  • Major nuclear fuel and uranium enrichment company, on its ICC arbitration against another major nuclear power plant company*
  • Volkswagen AG in relation to customer claims based on the recall of VW diesel vehicles for nitrogen oxide emission*

*matter handled at previous law firm

News and client work

View all news and client work featuring Max Alles

Contact details

Career and qualifications

  • University of Regensburg (First State Examination) 2012
  • Higher Regional Court Nuremberg (Second State Examination) 2014
  • Admitted as a Rechtsanwalt in Germany 2016
  • University of Regensburg (Dr. jur. - PhD) 2017
  • Columbia University (Master of Laws - LLM) 2018
  • Admitted to the New York bar as Attorney-at-Law in New York 2019
  • Admitted as Solicitor in England & Wales 2021
  • University of Cambridge (Executive MBA) 2022
  • Cambridge Judge Business School (Executive Education, Business Administration and Management), beginning in 2023 (ongoing)
  • Joined Clifford Chance as Counsel 2024
  • Lecturer at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich 2025

Awards and citations

  • Ones to Watch for Mergers & Acquisitions
    Handelsblatt Best Lawyers 2023, 2024