Düsseldorf—Global law firm Dentons has provided comprehensive antitrust advice to CARIAD, the software division of the Volkswagen Group, in relation to its acquisition of the automotive business of Intenta GmbH. The transaction is expected to close by the end of 2022 and is still subject to approval by the antitrust authorities.

With the acquisition, CARIAD is expanding its competencies in the development of autonomous driving vehicles. Intenta’s automotive division employs more than 100 experts in the field of sensor data fusion, an important technical prerequisite for the high safety requirements of assisted and automated driving. With this know-how, CARIAD will accelerate the development of assisted and automated driving functions. CARIAD develops these functions up to automated driving level 4 for all car brands of the Volkswagen Group.

Founded in 2020 under the name Car.Software Organization, CARIAD employs around 4,500 engineers and developers worldwide to build a unified software platform for all brands of the Volkswagen Group, including a unified and scalable architecture, operating system, and automotive cloud.

Dr. Florian Wiesner (Düsseldorf) led the international Dentons team on the deal.  He has extensive experience in advising on antitrust and merger control transactions in the field of future-oriented technologies, particularly in the automotive sector. Most recently, he and his team advised the shareholders of Ionity (Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Ford, Porsche and Hyundai) on BlackRock's entry into the fast charging station operator Ionity, as well as Porsche on the establishment of joint ventures with the Dutch trading company Pon in the area of e-bikes.

Advisors to VW/CARIAD:

Dentons

Düsseldorf/Berlin: Dr. Florian Wiesner (Partner, Lead), Dr. Arne Karsten (Senior Associate, both Düsseldorf), Dr. Lisa-Charlotte Krause (Associate, Berlin)

Morocco: Mehdi Megzari (Partner), Fatine El Mechrati (Associate)

Saudi Arabia/Kuwait: Nick Simpson (Partner), Simon Topping (Senior Legal Consultant)

Egypt: Michael Lacey (Partner), Ahmed Rashed (Associate), all names listed from the Competition and Antitrust Practice Group

Volkswagen (inhouse): Nils Lemberg (Antitrust)

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