German team advises LCN Capital Partners on acquisition of FORVIA technology center

Global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright has advised real estate investor LCN Capital Partners on the purchase of the FORVIA Technology and Customer Center in the Hannover Science and Technology Park.

New York-based LCN Capital Partners (LCN) was founded in 2011 by Edward V. LaPuma and Bryan York Colwell, and manages over $6.5 billion in assets across eight funds. The real estate investor has offices in Amsterdam, Cologne, London, Luxembourg and Palm Beach. LCN operates in the primary market for sale-leaseback and build-to-suit transactions, where real estate acquisitions and leases are arranged directly with owners and end users of mission-critical real estate. 

The seller of the technology center is the Hannover-based BAUM Group of companies, which is an investor and project developer in the real estate sector, primarily in northern Germany, and designed and built the now DGNB-certified technology and customer center. 

FORVIA is the seventh largest automotive supplier in the world and employs over 150,000 people in more than 40 countries. The automotive technology group was formed by the merger of Faurecia and HELLA, in January 2022, and FORVIA has signed a 20-year lease for the new technology and customer center.

The Norton Rose Fulbright team was led by Munich partners Dr. Maren Stölting and Dr. Philipp Grzimek (Corporate/M&A). They were assisted, in Munich, by partner Dr. Andrea Spellerberg (Banking and Finance), counsel Dr. Britta Jilge (Real Estate), and associates Matthias Kemnitzer (Real Estate), Marianne Milovanov, Max Oscar Zeisler (Corporate) and Sebastian Jeschke (Financing). The Partners Claire Guilbert and Stéphane Braun also advised from the Luxembourg office. 

The BAUM group of companies was advised on the transaction by Andreas Brinkmann and Julia Blaue of Brinkmann Weinkauf, Hannover.