A multi-disciplinary team from BDO led by Frankfurt partner Thorsten Zwiener (Corporate Finance) advised GCB Cocoa Singapore Pte. Ltd. on the acquisition of Mannheim based SCHOKINAG-Schokolade-Industrie GmbH. The vendors are two Dutch private equity funds led by the Nimbus Group.
GCB Cocoa Singapore Pte. Ltd. is a subsidiary of Guan Chong Berhad, a corporation publicly listed at Bursa Malaysia and one of the world's largest producers of cocoa intermediary products such as cocoa butter, cocoa liquor and cocoa powder. Through the acquisition of the chocolate manufacturer SCHOKINAG, Guan Chong Berhad gains access to new growth opportunities in the European market.
The multi-disciplinary team with specialists from BDO Corporate Finance, Tax and cooperation partner BDO Legal Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft mbH, together with Covington antitrust and competition specialists, acted as an integrated, end-to-end corporate finance/M&A transaction advisor to Guan Chong Berhad, advising throughout the transaction process in all financial, tax and legal matters, from the non-binding offer through the due diligence, structuring and negotiation phases until closing.
“With the acquisition of SCHOKINAG, we are now ideally equipped to open up new growth opportunities in the largest consumer market for chocolate,” comments Guan Chong Berhad Managing Director and CEO Brandon Tay Hoe Lian. Guan Chong Berhad Executive Director and CFO Hia Cheng adds: “BDO and Covington were at our side at all times and in all aspects of the transaction as competent and reliable partners in all questions.”