Mario Pofahl

Mario specialises in advising corporate and financial investors on private and public M&A transactions, reorganisations and joint ventures, with a particular focus on regulated business sectors such as energy, healthcare and financial institutions. He has extensive experience in complex corporate restructurings, prior to divestments and carve-outs.

Mario also advises on Brexit-related matters and is a member of the firm’s Germany-India desk.

Mario spent six months on secondment in the investment banking division of Citigroup between 2008 and 2009 and six months on secondment to the firm’s Düsseldorf office in 2012.

Work highlights

Mario has advised on many major corporate transactions in Germany and Europe. These include advising:

• BP on separation of its Ruhr Oel joint venture with Rosneft
• the federal states of Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein on the restructuring of HSH Nordbank
• Bayer on the global restructuring of its materials science division, renamed Covestro, in advance of an IPO
• Novartis in its transformational restructuring involving three strategic deals with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). The deals include the acquisition of GSK’s oncology division, the sale of Novartis’ vaccines business and the creation of a joint venture involving the contribution of Novartis’ OTC business with GSK’s consumer healthcare business
• Vodafone on its public takeover of Kabel Deutschland, Germany’s largest cable operator

Mario offers pro bono advice to the Catholic German student association, Novesia Bonn.

Mario regularly speaks at seminars and forums organised by the Euro Forum.

He has co-written a book on the subject of M&A in real estate transactions, which is due to be published in 2018.

Mario studied law and economics at the University of Bayreuth and international law at the Universities of Lausanne and Geneva and holds a master’s in law from the University of Sydney and East China University of Politics and Law.

He speaks German, English, French and Russian.