White & Case Advises AIXTRON AG on its Transformation into SE

Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Frankfurt, January 27, 2011 ... Global law firm White & Case LLP advised German Prime Standard and NASDAQ listed AIXTRON AG on its transformation into a Societas Europaea (SE). The transformation into AIXTRON SE became effective with registration in the commercial register on December 22, 2010. It followed extended negotiations over several months, which culminated in the company's management successfully reaching an agreement with the special negotiating body of employee representatives from Germany, the UK and Sweden on the involvement of employees in AIXTRON SE.

AIXTRON SE is a leading provider of deposition equipment to the semiconductor industry. The company's products are used worldwide to build components for display technology, lighting technology, wireless and cell telephony applications, optical and electronic data storage, computer technology and other high-tech applications. Most of the systems sold by AIXTRON are used in the LED industry.

"A whole range of corporate and labor law aspects made the transformation particularly challenging. Nevertheless, we were able to complete the process successfully in much less than a year", says Florian Brügel, Local Partner of the Düsseldorf Office of White & Case. "It stands as proof that if you have an efficient organization even highly complex SE transformations can be realized according to tight schedules."

The White & Case team around Local Partners Florian Brügel (Corporate, Düsseldorf) and Dr. David Plitt (Labor Law, Hamburg) with proven expertise in SE foundations together with Partners Markus Hauptmann (M&A/Corporate, Frankfurt) and Dr. Robert Weber (Corporate, Frankfurt) was instrumental in ensuring the success of the transformation. The team additionally comprised Partner James Black, Local Partner Dr. Matthias Kiesewetter (both Capital Market Law, Frankfurt) and Associates Dr. Lars Hinrichs (Labor Law, Hamburg), Simon Pawlitz (M&A/Corporate, Düsseldorf) and Dr. Julia Kersjes (Corporate, Frankfurt).

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