Federal government not allowed to stop purchase of medical technology company
The Federal Ministry of Economics should not have prohibited the takeover of the German ventilator manufacturer Heyer Medical AG by a Chinese company. This was decided by the Berlin Administrative Court, as announced on Thursday. The reasons given by the court included hearing errors and missed deadlines.
Heyer Medical AG in Bad Ems, Rhineland-Palatinate, went bankrupt in 2018. The Aeonmed Group in Beijing then wanted to take over the company, which the Federal Ministry of Economics stopped in April 2022. This step was also taken in view of the coronavirus pandemic for reasons of public order and security in the Federal Republic of Germany, it was said at the time. There would otherwise have been "serious risks" to these "protected assets" in the event of a takeover.
The Chinese company had filed a lawsuit against this. An appeal can be lodged against the ruling of the Berlin Administrative Court on Wednesday.
The Berlin Administrative Court overruled the Federal Ministry of Economics' judgments regarding Heyer Medical AG's takeover, citing errors and missed deadlines. Despite these issues, the government originally opposed the Chinese company's purchase of the German ventilator manufacturer due to concerns about medicine-related security.
Source: www.dpa.com
