Johannes Frey

Dr. Frey’s tax practice focuses on complex tax controversy matters, as well as international tax planning and cross-border mergers.

He has co-authored numerous articles on a wide range of international topics that have been published in leading tax journals, including the Tax Management International Journal, Tax Notes and Tax Notes International. He also served as adjunct professor for international taxation at the University of Lausanne.

Dr. Frey has been repeatedly selected for inclusion as a leading lawyer in Chambers Global, Chambers Europe, International Tax Review World Tax, Who’s Who Legal, Expert Guides’ Guide to the World’s Leading Tax Advisers, Handelsblatt/Best Lawyers and JUVE Wirtschaftskanzleien. He also was recently named one of the top 25 corporate tax lawyers in Germany by WirtschaftsWoche (a leading German journal), a Thought Leader and Highly Recommended Lawyer for Corporate Tax in Germany by Lexology Index (formerly Who’s Who Legal) and one of Lawdragon’s 500 Leading Global Tax Lawyers.

Selective representations include:

• many multinational companies in joint audits, appeals, litigation and other tax proceedings
• Dürr AG on the tax structuring aspects of the sale of its environmental technology business (Division Clean Technology Systems Environmental) to investor Stellex Capital Management at an enterprise value of €385 million
• CureVac N.V. on the tax structuring of its business combination and all-stock acquisition by BioNTech SE that values CureVac N.V. at US$1.25 billion
• Dover Corporation on the tax aspects of its €550 million acquisition of SIKORA AG, a leading provider of precision measurement, inspection and control solutions for production processes in the wire and cable, hose, tube, sheet, optical fiber and plastics industries
• BlackRock:
  • as part of a consortium of investors, including Allianz and T&D Holdings, on the tax structuring of its acquisition of Viridium Group, a leading European life insurance consolidation platform, from Cinven at an enterprise value of €3.5 billion
  • in a cross-border reorganization
• NXP, a global leader in automotive processing and networking, on the tax aspects of its $625 million acquisition of TTTech Auto, an Austria-based provider of unique safety-critical systems and middleware for software-defined vehicles
• Castik Capital on the tax aspects of its acquisition of WATR Group from private equity fund Borromin Capital Management
• International Flavors and Fragrances Inc. on the tax aspects of the sale of its nitrocellulose business, associated production facilities and the Walsrode Industrial Park to Czechoslovak Group A.S.
• alstria office REIT-AG on:
  • all tax aspects in connection with the public takeover by Brookfield against a cash consideration of €3.5 billion
  • the tax aspects of its proposed, unsolicited $890 million acquisition of DO Deutsche Office AG. Both companies are based in Germany
• Trimble on the tax aspects of its €1.9 billion acquisition of Transporeon, a leading cloud-based transportation management software platform, from Hg
• Hillenbrand, Inc. on the $730 million acquisition of the Food and Performance Materials business of Schenck Process and the post-closing reorganization
• Netflix, Inc. on the tax structuring and aspects of its acquisition of Scanline VFX
• The SCP Group in its:
  • €1.2 billion acquisition of the Real Group from METRO AG
  • sale of the digital business of Real, including the online marketplace operated under real. de, to Schwarz Gruppe
• Coty Inc. in its strategic partnership with KKR & Co. Inc. including the carve-out sale of 60% of its professional beauty and retail hair businesses to KKR with an enterprise value of $4.3 billion
• The Coca-Cola Company on the tax aspects of the combination of Coca-Cola Enterprises, Inc., Coca-Cola Iberian Partners SA and Coca-Cola Erfrischungsgetränke AG to form a new company called Coca-Cola European Partners Plc
• Merck KGaA on the tax aspects of its $17 billion acquisition of Sigma-Aldrich Corporation, a chemical company for the life science industry