Berryman advises on China sale
The corporate team at Midlands law firm Berryman has advised the Purico Group on the sale of one of its China-based operations. The Purico Group, founded and owned by Nottingham-based entrepreneur Nat Puri, sold the subsidiary for €22.5m.
The sold company, Shandong Puri Filter and Paper Products (SPF), is based in north-eastern China. It produces transportation filtration media and has a plant in Binzhou, where it employs 170 people.
It has been bought by Finnish business Ahlstrom Corporation of Helsinki, which has offices and production facilities in more than 20 countries on six continents.
Under its new owners, SPF will be part of Ahlstrom’s Filtration Business Area, which accounts for one-fifth of the group’s net sales.
Berryman’s team was led by partner Patrick Billyeald. He said: “This transaction marks Berryman’s first deal involving a China company. This brought with it a number of specific challenges, notably understanding Chinese regulatory requirements, as well as their customs, practices and cultural differences.
"Whilst China has a Western-based legal system, it is still in relative infancy so processes don’t always work in the same way as in the UK.”
City law firm Speechly Bircham acted for Ahlstrom Corporation on the acquisition.
Ahlstrom’s advisers in China were law firm Fangda Partners and KPMG Advisory (China).
