09. May 2025

ARQIS provided comprehensive legal advice to Sumitomo Electric Industries on the transfer of pension obligations from Sinterwerke Herne to Funding Solutions Deutschland through a share deal. Funding Solutions Deutschland FSD GmbH acquires all shares in Sinterwerke Herne GmbH and will operate as a so-called pension company under the name Funding Solutions Sinterwerke Herne Pensions GmbH. The pension company will manage and fulfill pension obligations of Sinterwerke Herne. All pension liabilities are secured by a contractual trust arrangement (CTA) managed by Helaba Pension Trust e.V..

Sinterwerke Herne GmbH manufactured sintered components for the automotive and power tool industries. The company was acquired by Japan's Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd. in 2019.

Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd., headquartered in Osaka, Japan, was founded in 1897. The company is a global leading manufacturer of electrical wires and fiber optic cables. SEI supplies customers, e.g. in the automotive, information, electronics and energy sectors. Listed on the Prime Market (5802) of the Tokyo Stock Exchange and part of the Nikkei 225 and TOPIX, the company achieved a total turnover of US$ 29 billion in 2023 with over 290,000 employees worldwide.

Funding Solutions Deutschland has been active as provider of pension fund transactions since 2018. Currently FSD manages ten pensioner firms with a total volume of over €330 million. Companies from a wide range of sectors, including the industry, the service sector, the regulated banking industry and the pharmaceutical sector, rely on FSD's concept and expertise.

An ARQIS team headed by partners Eberhard Hafermalz and Tobias Neufeld advised Sumitomo Electric Industries on all legal aspects of this complex transaction. ARQIS is one of the market leaders for pension buy-outs. In transactions of this type, pension obligations are either transferred to separately established pension companies through a spin-off or the former operating entity, after all assets and liabilities except for the pension obligations have been removed, is transferred to a pensions provider in a share deal. This structure allows a de-risking of pension obligations – a practice common in Anglo-Saxon countries, while the pension buy-out market in Germany is comparatively young but rapidly growing.

Advisor to Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd.
ARQIS (Dusseldorf): Partners: Eberhard Hafermalz (Lead, Japan Desk), Tobias Neufeld (Lead, Pensions), Johannes Landry (Insolvency Law), Lisa-Marie Niklas (HR.Law), Counsel: Dr. Yohei Nagata-Vogelsang (Japan Desk), Dennis Reisich (Tax, Munich), Associate: Kiyomi Zimmer (Japan Desk), Legal Specialists: Miho Kuramochi (Japan Desk), Tim Kottmann (Pensions), Roxana Spieß (HR.Law)