Messer Griesheim (A)

Posted: 20 Apr 2012

See all articles by Josh Lerner

Josh Lerner

Harvard Business School - Finance Unit; Harvard University - Entrepreneurial Management Unit; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI); Harvard University - Private Capital Research Institute

Ann‐Kristin Achleitner

Technische Universität München - Center for Entrepreneurial and Financial Studies

Eva Lutz

Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, Endowed Chair in Entrepreneurship/Entrepreneurial Finance

Kerry Herman

Harvard Business School

Date Written: July 20, 2010

Abstract

In 2001, Allianz Capital Partners and Goldman Sachs acquired a majority stake in Messer Griesheim, a European industrial gas concern held by Hoechst. The dealmakers faced several challenges, including delicate corporate governance issues due to partial family ownership and a consolidating market for industrial gases. Aiming to make Messer Griesheim a more attractive potential acquisition, Messer Griesheim management had drawn up a restructuring plan as early as 2000. By late 2003 the private equity players were ready to exit and the Messer family agitated for further control. Several factors were in play: the family had a buy-back option, the window of which was quickly closing; there were few possible strategic buyers, given the anti-trust issues facing a European player interested in buying the firm; and the family made no secret of its desire to retain a piece of the firm, at the very least, and some measure of control. The case explores the steps taken by the private equity investors to restructure the firm, and the relationship the partners forged with the family owners, to bring about a favorable exit for the private equity partners and ownership for the Messer family.

Suggested Citation

Lerner, Josh and Achleitner, Ann-Kristin and Lutz, Eva and Herman, Kerry, Messer Griesheim (A) (July 20, 2010). Harvard Business School Entrepreneurial Management Case No. 809-056, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2042698

Josh Lerner (Contact Author)

Harvard Business School - Finance Unit ( email )

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Ann-Kristin Achleitner

Technische Universität München - Center for Entrepreneurial and Financial Studies ( email )

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Germany
+49 89 289 25181 (Phone)

Eva Lutz

Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, Endowed Chair in Entrepreneurship/Entrepreneurial Finance ( email )

Universitätsstr. 1
Duesseldorf, 40225
Germany

Kerry Herman

Harvard Business School ( email )

Cambridge, MA
United States

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