Heuking Kühn Lüer Wojtek Advises Reply on Acquisition of Digital Agency Elbkind

January, 2019 - Germany

Reply AG, the German subsidiary of publicly listed Italian IT service provider Reply SpA, has acquired Hamburg-based digital agency elbkind GmbH. A team led by Dr. Lothar Ende, Partner at Heuking Kühn Lüer Wojtek’s Hamburg office, advised Reply comprehensively. Reply intends to use the elbkind takeover to further expand its product range and market presence in the digital sector.

elbkind is a creative agency for digital dialog that uses the full range of digital communications to strengthen its customers’ business segments. With some 150 employees in Hamburg, Berlin, and Stuttgart, the company generated sales of almost EUR 11 million in the 2017 fiscal year.

Reply specializes in developing and introducing solutions based on new communication channels and digital media. Reply group’s highly specialized companies effectively support European industry leaders with business models based on new paradigms such as big data, cloud computing, digital media, and the Internet of Things. The focus is primarily on IT services and solutions in strategy, technology, and digital transformation. Reply group has subsidiaries in Europe, the USA, Brazil, and China. In 2017, it generated sales of EUR 884 million in Europe. The company is listed on Borsa Italiana.

Heuking Kühn Lüer Wojtek regularly advises Reply on its acquisitions in Germany, most recently on the acquisition of the German group companies of U.S. group CSPi.

Counsel to Reply
In-house:
Niclas Volkening

Heuking Kühn Lüer Wojtek:
Dr. Lothar Ende (Lead, Corporate/M&A)
Fabian G. Gaffron (Tax)
Dr. Sebastian Jungemeyer (Commercial, IT)
Melanie Prasse, LL.M. (IP)
Beliardis Ehlert-Gasde (Corporate), all Hamburg

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