Fox Williams acted for German automotive parts manufacturer febi bilstein on its acquisition of Automotive Distributors Ltd (“ADL”), the UK company behind the Blue Print brand of aftermarket parts.

Ferdinand Bilstein GmbH + Co. KG, the parent company of the bilstein group, completed the purchase on 4 January 2011 and became the sole owner of ADL, including its subsidiaries in Spain and Italy and all rights to the company’s Blue Print brand.

ADL is a leading supplier to the European aftermarket of Japanese and Korean parts and a major importer from the Far East. The company launched the Blue Print brand in 1994 since when Blue Print has become one of the most recognisable brands in the aftermarket, synonymous with high product quality and catalogue accuracy. As part of the bilstein group, ADL will focus on developing Blue Print as an international specialist brand of parts for Japanese, Korean and American vehicles.

febi bilstein’s Managing Director, Karsten Schüßler-Bilstein, commented: “We are delighted to welcome ADL into the bilstein group. This acquisition will strengthen the group’s offering to customers internationally, and between us febi and ADL have the expertise, information and manufacturing links to provide the parts aftermarket worldwide with a truly complete, independent solution for all makes and models of vehicle. ADL will fit perfectly into the febi family, since they share our commitment to total quality, information accuracy and pro-active product management. They also bring core competencies in research, logistics and marketing that will only strengthen the group. The future implications for both the enhancement of the febi brand, as the solution for European vehicles and trucks, and the internationalisation of the Blue Print brand as the bilstein group’s solution for Asian and American applications, are very exciting”.

Fox Williams Corporate Partner, Nick Sayers, commented: “We were delighted to work with febi on this transaction, which strengthens febi’s position within the international automotive parts sector”.

Nick Sayers (Partner) led the transaction and was assisted on corporate matters by Howard Taylor (Senior Associate) and Eniga de Montfort (Associate), partner Mark Watson and associate Romella Manning-Brown from the firm’s employment department, Emma Bailey and Jaspal Pachu advised on the tax issues and senior associate Rebecca Watkins from the firm’s real estate department. CooperBurnett advised the sellers.

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