Biography
Prior to joining Weil, Karsten was a lawyer at another major international law firm. Before beginning his legal traineeship, Karsten worked as a Research Associate at the Institute for Corporate and Business Law of the University of Osnabrueck, Germany and obtained his Masters of Corporate Law at the University of Cambridge, England.
Karsten has advised on a number of transactions including:
- Private equity investor regarding an acquisition of all shares in a German stock corporation*
- Japanese automotive supplier regarding a joint venture with a German stock-listed corporation*
- Family office (inter alia holding company for a stock-listed company) in its restructuring including capital markets law aspects*
- US investment bank regarding a convertible loan note in a German target*
- German fin-tech in the defense against claims by its shareholders after a financing round*
- Foreign energy company regarding corporate restructuring including corporate governance and ring-fencing strategies*
- US investment bank in an acquisition of a majority stake in a German target*
- Pollen Street Capital (PSC) on the acquisition and integration of niiio finance group AG, fundsaccess AG, FundHero SA, FinTecc and MiFID-Recorder GmbH*
- Adler Group on the successful restructuring and provision of new financing including amendments to the terms and conditions of certain of its bonds with an aggregate nominal amount of €3.2 billion and the provision of up to €937.5 million of new money funding*
- Siemens Energy AG on its takeover bid for Siemens Gamesa, S.A. with the aim of delisting and fully integrating Siemens Gamesa; transaction volume approx. €4 billion*
- Aareal Bank AG on a takeover bid by, and the conclusion of an investor agreement with, Atlantic BidCo, which is indirectly held by the financial investors Advent International Corporation, Centerbridge Partners, L.P., CPP Investment Board Europe S.àr.l, a wholly owned subsidiary of Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Goldman Sachs and other investors with Aareal Bank Group being valued at approx. €2 billion based on offer price*
- Multinational fashion and lifestyle retail conglomerate in comprehensive redesign of its international corporate governance structure*
- Distressed automotive supplier regarding corporate restructuring including corporate governance and its annual general meetings*
- German DAX-40 listed automotive supplier on carve-out in 14 jurisdictions*
- Multinational media conglomerate on the carve-out of a division in eight European jurisdictions and subsequent restructurings in preparation for the establishment of a joint venture*
- Family office in several restructurings (spin-offs, mergers) for succession planning*
- Financial investor in bidding process for the acquisition of a large retail chain including real estate*
- German manufacturer on the formation of a joint venture in the USA with a local partner and subsequent two-time increase of the stake in the joint venture*
- Supervisory Board of Rocket Internet SE on public delisting self-tender offer including an extraordinary general meeting and a parallel share buy-back program with the total value of transactions being approx. €1.5 billion*
- Distressed global restaurant chain listed in the Prime Standard of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange before and after insolvency filings with regard to corporate restructuring and capital market implications, e.g. listing and ad-hoc obligations*
- OSRAM Licht AG on the sale of its lighting business Siteco (part of Lighting Solutions segment)*
- Continental AG on creating a new holding structure under the new Continental Group umbrella brand with three group sectors, namely Continental Rubber, Continental Automotive and Powertrain*
- Continental AG on the corporate reorganization (carve-out in 20 jurisdictions worldwide, split-off) and IPO of the Powertrain business now known as Vitesco*
- adesso AG in its conversion into the legal form of a Societas Europaea (SE)*
- HELLA GmbH & Co. KGaA, one of Europe's largest retail organizations for automotive parts, on the sale of its wholesale business in Denmark and Poland to Mekonomen AB as well as to AURELIUS Equity Opportunities SE & Co. KGaA in Norway*
*Matters prior to working for Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP.
Karsten is a graduate of the Universities of Osnabrueck, Germany (first state exam 2013, Doctorate Degree (Dr. iur.) 2019), Murcia, Spain (2010) as well as Cambridge, England (Master of Corporate Law, 2015). He completed his legal clerkship in Hamburg, Bonn and Hong Kong. He received his second state exam from the Hanseatic Higher Regional Court in 2017 and was admitted to practice in Germany in the same year.
Karsten is fluent in German and English and has advanced knowledge of the Spanish language.
Publications:
Prohibition of voting in a de-facto stock corporation group in the event of a special audit and assertion of claims for damages (Stimmverbot im faktischen AG-Konzern bei Sonderprüfung und Geltendmachung von Ersatzansprüchen), AG 2024, 345 (together with Alexander Kiefner and Philip Eichhorn)
The legality of "Don't Ask, Don't Waive" clauses in US and German Stock Corporation Law (Die Zulässigkeit von „Don't Ask, Don't Waive“-Klauseln im US-amerikanischen und deutschen Aktienrecht), NZG 2019, 1081 (together with Gerrit Bulgrin)
Traffic monitoring by private parties (Verkehrsüberwachung durch Private), NVwZ 2020, 526 (together with Maximilian Wolf)
Shopping spree with consequences (Ein Einkaufsbummel mit Folgen), JuS 2016, 135 (together with Jan-Heinrich Ehlers)
End-of-semester exam - Civil law: Property law - Money troubles of a farmer (Semester-abschlussklausur – Zivilrecht: Sachenrecht – Geldnöte eines Landwirts), JuS 2014, 1090 (together with Jan-Heinrich Ehlers)