Image of Stefan Witte

Dr Stefan Witte

Counsel

Stefan advises and represents corporate clients, funds, investors as well as listed companies on all kinds of national & cross-border transactions, with a special focus on Tech and Growth M&A as well as Venture Capital. His experience ranges from seed round investments in start-ups to major growth equity investments, private equity M&A transactions and multi-seller exits.
Stefan was recognized as “Best Lawyers – Ones to watch” for 2024 and 2025 for Corporate Law and Mergers and Acquisitions Law by business daily Handelsblatt in cooperation with US publishing house Best Lawyers® in Germany.

Expertise

Industries

Experience

Representative matters

Various venture capital financing rounds, e.g.,

  • DeFi Labs (“Violet”) on the seed and series A financing rounds lead by BlueYard, and FinTech Collective, Ethereal and Balderton respectively. 
  • Kopernikus Automotive on the series A and series A extension financing rounds lead by Continental.
  • US family offices on their shareholdings in Celonis SE, inter alia on the series D extension financing round lead by Qatar Investment Authority. 

Investments, entries and related acquisitions:

  • Naspers on its investment in Delivery Hero.
  • Kühne Holding on its investment in Flix SE, by which Kühne Holding acquired a 35% stake in Flix together with EQT.
  • Partners Group on its investment in green flexibility.
  • Deutsche GigaNetz inter alia on the entry of DWS.
  • Founders of ComX on the entry of FLEX Capital.
  • TravelPerk on its acquisition of Yokoy.
  • Groupe Positive on the acquisition of mailingwork GmbH.
  • BPE on several transactions, in particular including (i) the acquisition of the Full-Service-Digital-Provider MSM as an Owners Buy-out, (ii) the acquisition of the DeutschAkademie Group via Management Buy-in and (iii) the acquisition of the tech-focused digital agency OPEN as an Owners Buy-out.
  • MSM.digital (nowadays 1SP Agency) on the acquisition of the promotion agency PRofiFLITZER GmbH as well as the influencer agency Insight.
  • Studio 100 N.V. on its acquisition of a majority stake in m4e AG.
  • Cerberus on its acquisition of HSH Nordbank.
  • B&C Group on its acquisition of a majority stake in Schur Flexibles.
  • Founders of m+m Gebäudetechnik on the entry of SüdBG, a subsidiary of LBBW.

Various other exits and related transactions, e.g.,

  • Founders of AMANA Consulting GmbH on the exit to LucaNet AG, a portfolio company of HgCaptial.
  • Project A on the management buy-out of kfzteile24 from EQT.
  • SinnerSchrader Aktiengesellschaft on the merger squeeze-out by Accenture Digital Holdings.

Various other joint ventures and related transactions, .e.g., 

  • DTCP on a joint venture transaction with Porsche Automobil Holding SE and the establishment of a Luxembourg fund structure.
  • Iberdrola on the entry of the Japanese electric company Kansai into Iberdrola’s Windanker offshore wind project.
  • Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA) on the investment of COSCO Shipping Ports Limited (CSPL) in HHLA Container Terminal Tollerort (CTT).
  • Keleya on its Merger with Kinderheldin.
  • ECO Group on the participation in JM Nature (“Ben & Anna”). 

Published Work

  • Stefan Witte (2015), “Leiharbeit beim Betriebsübergang”, Hamburg, Nomos, Doctoral Thesis
  • Author, in: Bank/Ullrich/Schaper, Beck’sches Venture Capital Handbuch (expected October 2024), Berlin/Hamburg/Köln, C.H.BECK

Awards

  • Recognized as “Best Lawyers – Ones to watch” for 2024 and 2025 for Corporate Law and Mergers and Acquisitions Law by business daily Handelsblatt in cooperation with US publishing house Best Lawyers® in Germany

Qualifications

Admissions

Germany, 2015 (Admitted as German Rechtsanwalt)

Academic

Second German Law Degree, Higher Regional Court of Hamburg, Germany, 2015

Dr. iur., Bucerius Law School, Hamburg, Germany, 2015 

First German Law Degree, Bucerius Law School, Hamburg, Germany, 2011

Languages

English, German
Disclaimer
A&O Shearman was formed on May 1, 2024 by the combination of Shearman & Sterling LLP and Allen & Overy LLP and their respective affiliates (the legacy firms). Any matters referred to above may include matters undertaken by one or more of the legacy firms rather than A&O Shearman.