Schalast advises founders and shareholders of DBU - Digital Business University of Applied Sciences GmbH on exit
Berlin, 6. December 2023
Schalast advised the founders and shareholders of DBU - Digital Business University of Applied Sciences GmbH ("DBU"), Prof Dr Achim Hecker and Dr Holger Bingmann, as well as the auditing and consulting firm PwC Germany as an additional shareholder on their exit to Kienbaum und Partner GmbH.
DBU is a state-recognised private business school with accredited degree programmes. Its aim is to optimally prepare students for the digital working world of tomorrow.
With this acquisition, the Kienbaum Group intends to expand its portfolio and offer an answer to the shortage of skilled labour. The family-run Cologne-based HR consultancy intends to provide its clients with even more comprehensive and targeted support for their talent and leadership development projects. Furthermore, the acquirer hopes that this step – which represents a forward-looking model for cooperation between talent, companies and educational institutions in the age of lifelong learning – will also serve as a role model for others, as the demand for a holistic and lifelong learning programme consisting of academic training and further education modules is very high.
The founders of the university, Prof Dr Achim Hecker as Managing Director and Dr Holger Bingmann as Senior Advisor, will remain with the university in their respective roles. This gives the acquirer the opportunity to further develop the visionary founding idea of the two to create "an innovative business school for the digital age" together.
About Prof Dr Achim Hecker: Prof Dr Achim Hecker is Professor of Digital Leadership and Founder and Managing Director of the DBU Digital Business University of Applied Sciences. After completing his doctorate in philosophy and habilitation in business administration, Prof Hecker held various professorships at universities in Germany and abroad. He also held a management position at the management consultancy McKinsey and has advised numerous clients on issues relating to digital leadership and digital transformation. From 2013 to 2018, he was the youngest rector in Austria to head the private university Schloss Seeburg. In 2018, he founded the DBU as a business school for the digital age, which focuses entirely on study and further education programmes for the digital business world with innovative educational concepts.
About Dr Holger Bingmann: Holger Bingmann, entrepreneur and President of several employers' associations, will remain associated with the Kienbaum Group as Senior Advisor. At the same time, he is pursuing further commitments in the field of education. Nexing Holding GmbH, Starnberg, is the family holding company of Dr Holger Bingmann in which various activities relating to education, consulting and raw materials are bundled.
About PwC: PwC is committed to building social trust and solving important problems. More than 364,000 employees in 151 countries contribute to this with high-quality, sector-specific services in the areas of auditing, tax and business consulting. The term PwC refers to the PwC network and/or one or more of the legally independent network companies. Further details at www.pwc.com/structure.
About DBU: DBU trains 350 students part-time for the digital world of work in degree programmes such as Cyber and IT Security, Data Management and Digital Marketing. It has been a state-recognised private university since 2019 and awards traditional Bachelor's and Master's degrees. For companies and their employees, the DBU combines its academic expertise with practical formats in its continuing education programmes. The university currently has more than 10,000 customers.
Advisor Founder / Shareholder DBU (Seller)
Schalast (Berlin, Frankfurt/Main): Dr Marc-André Rousseau (Lead, Partner, Venture Capital/M&A, Berlin), Kristof Schnitzler (Partner, M&A, Frankfurt/Main), Matthias Geurts (Partner, Tax, Frankfurt/Main), Oliver von Schweinitz (Partner, Tax, Hamburg), Julian Gloria (Paralegal, M&A/Project Management, Frankfurt/Main,), David Salewski, (Paralegal, Tax, Hamburg)
Advisor Kienbaum (Buyer)
Loschelder Rechtsanwälte Partnerschaftsgesellschaft mbB (Cologne): Dr Felix Ebbinghaus (Lead, Partner, M&A), Nils Derksen (Partner, M&A), Verena Hellmund (Commercial Lawyer, M&A)
Background
Schalast partner Dr Marc-André Rousseau and the previous shareholders of DBU, Prof. Dr Achim Hecker and Dr Holger Bingmann, have known each other for several years from their close cooperation on various transactions. Rousseau has already advised Dr Bingmann on the sale of a majority stake in Bingmann Pflüger International GmbH.
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About Schalast
Schalast is one of the leading commercial law firms in the German financial center of Frankfurt am Main. Further locations of the law firm are Berlin, Hamburg, Duesseldorf and Stuttgart. Schalast advises ambitious companies from Germany and around the world. The currently more than 80 lawyers are organized in the practice groups Employment Law, Banking & Finance, Corporate/M&A, Dispute Resolution, IP, IT & Media, Tax, Private Clients, Real Estate, Energy, Infrastructure & Telecommunications and Healthcare & Life Sciences. The notary's office forms a further focus. The firm is a member of the international Tier 1 network Multilaw and is thus able to assist clients worldwide.
Schalast has supported social projects for years through pro bono work as well as donations and wants to contribute to the topic of sustainability. Therefore, the law firm has derived internal standards derived from the United Nations (UN) Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs) and introduced an SDG Officer. Schalast has been certified as climate neutral since the beginning of 2020 and is a member of the initiatives Climate Change Now, and The Chancery Lane Project. www.schalast.com
Press contact for this transaction
Dr. Marc-André Rousseau
Marienstraße 30
D-10117 Berlin, Germany
telephone: +49 (0) 30 32 53 80 68
email: [email protected]