Gerold Niggemann

Gerold Niggemann is a partner in Hughes Hubbard’s corporate department. His practice focuses on cross-border mergers and acquisitions, venture capital and general corporate matters. His experience includes representing both strategic and financial investors in public and private acquisitions and divestitures as well as early and late stage startups in fundraisings in the United States and a multitude of international jurisdictions.

Gerold is an honoree in The Deal’s Top Rising Stars: Class of 2021. The list spotlights new M&A-focused partners at major U.S. law firms who have shown an ability to navigate complex deal-making situations. 

• Represented Grab, Southeast Asia’s super app, in:
  • Its proposed merger with Altimeter Growth Corp., a special purpose acquisition company or SPAC, that will take Grab public in what is expected to be the largest-ever U.S. equity offering by a Southeast Asian company ascribing to Grab a pro-forma equity value of approximately $39.6 billion
  • Its proposed digital banking joint venture with Singapore Telecommunications
  • A $300m funding round for its fintech arm Grab Financial
  • Its multi-billion Series H preferred equity financing
  • Its acquisition of Uber’s business in various Southeast Asian jurisdictions, which transaction was selected Technology, Media & Telecom Deal of the Year in The Deal's Cross-Border Asia Awards 2019
  • A $1 billion preferred equity investment by lead investor Toyota
  • A $700 million preferred equity investment by MUFG, Japan's largest bank
  • The formation of a strategic partnership with Microsoft pursuant to which Microsoft will invest in Grab, and Grab will leverage Microsoft's expertise in machine learning and other artificial intelligence
• Represented Cantor Fitzgerald as sponsor in a SPAC merger with View Inc., the Silicon Valley-based smart glass manufacturer
• Represented Platinum Equity in its $1.9 billion public takeover of Wesco Aircraft
• Represented Patrick Drahi in his $3.7 billion public takeover of Sotheby’s
• Represented JD Sports Fashion, one of the world's leading retailers of sports and fashion brands headquartered in the U.K., in:
  • Its acquisition of athletic footwear and apparel streetwear retailer DTLR Villa
  • Its acquisition of Shoe Palace and Nice Kicks for cash consideration of $325 million and the issuance to certain sellers of equity valued at approx. $356 million
  • Its $558 million public takeover of Finish Line, a retailer of athletic footwear, apparel and accessories
• Represented German automaker Daimler in:
  • Its acquisition of a majority stake in U.S. self-driving technology company Torc Robotics (through its subsidiary Daimler Trucks and Buses Holding Inc.), which transaction was selected as a finalist for Most Innovative Deal of the Year in The Deal Awards Middle Market 2020
  • Its acquisition of a provider of remanufactured heavy-duty powertrain components (through its subsidiary Detroit Diesel Remanufacturing)
• Represented Latin America’s fintech startup Ualá in its seed round and Series A, B and C rounds, raising funds from affiliates of Tencent, Softbank, Goldman Sachs Investment Partners, Soros Fund Management, Monashees, Ribbit Capital and Jefferies, among others
• Representation of ANI Pharmaceuticals in its proposed acquisition of Novitium
• Represented Coupang, the largest Korean e-commerce website, in its $2 billion Series J fundraising
• Represented TechOps, a Delta Air Lines and Aeromexico joint venture for the operation of an MRO facility in Mexico, in connection with an agreement to grant MRO Holdings, one of America’s largest aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul service providers, access to TechOps’ capacity for a period of ten years
• Represented the Corporate Governance and Conflicts Committee of the Board of Directors of TerraForm Power, Inc. in its $6.6 billion merger and sponsorship transaction with Brookfield Asset Management and the concurrent settlement arrangements with its former sponsor SunEdison
• Represented Greenbriar Equity Group LLC in its sale of transportation management firm Transplace Holdings LLC to TPG Capital
• Represented India-based IT giant Wipro in its $500 million acquisition of Appirio Inc., a cloud computing and IT consulting company
• Represented Wafra Capital in several of its acquisitions
• Represented Cenveo, a world leader in custom printing, in the restructuring of its debt profile through an offer to exchange its outstanding 11.5% senior notes due 2017 for new 6% senior notes due 2024 and warrants, and relating arrangements with certain significant noteholders (including a repurchase from Allianz Global Investors of Cenveo’s 7% senior exchangeable notes due 2017)
• Represented Gazprom, one of the world’s largest energy companies based in Russia, in:
  • A complex asset swap (involving gas fields in Siberia, Russia, and gas trading and storage facilities in Germany and Switzerland) with Wintershall, a subsidiary of BASF, the largest diversified chemical company in the world; and
  • The divestment of a minority stake in VNG, a German gas pipeline operator
• Represented Nexans, a leading global cable manufacturer headquartered in Paris, France, in the divestment of its German rolling stock and wire harnesses business to Sirail, a French specialty manufacturer of rolling stock and wire harnesses
• Represented Edenred, a leading provider of expense management services headquartered in Paris, France, in its acquisition of a minority stake (with an option to acquire a majority stake) in UTA, a key player in the European fleet management market, and the entering into of relating joint venture arrangements