Sonja Ruttmann

Sonja Ruttmann is a partner in the Munich office of Gibson Dunn. She is a member of its Mergers and Acquisitions, Business Restructuring and Reorganization, Private Equity and Capital Markets Practice Groups.

Sonja specializes in private and public M&A, corporate law and private equity and has advised on many complex domestic and international cross-border mergers and acquisitions including formation and dissolution of joint ventures and carve-out scenarios as well as private equity and venture capital transactions. She represents clients, public and private, in auctions, asset and share deals as well as mergers across a broad range of sectors, including in particular in the fields of automotive (including autonomous driving), technology and engineering, capital markets, energy and infrastructure, as well as digital security and cybersecurity.

She further advises in stock corporation and capital markets laws. Her work includes the advice of management and supervisory boards, also with regard to corporate governance issues. Another focus of her work is advising on foreign trade issues and investment control laws where she has advised various German, American and Chinese clients and guided them through the administrative process.

Chambers Global and Chambers Germany 2025 recognized Sonja for Corporate/M&A – High-end Capability. The Legal 500 Deutschland and The Legal 500 EMEA 2025 recommended her in the categories Corporate, M&A, Private Equity and Foreign Trade Law. In 2024, Sonja was recognized by WirtschaftsWoche as one of the Top Lawyers in M&A in Germany. The JUVE Handbook 2024/2025 recognized her as “frequently recommended” in the categories Corporate, M&A and Private Equity.

Her experience includes advising:

• Bosch, inter alia in connection with
  • the disposal of its worldwide automotive steering and transmission pump business to Fidelium Partners
  • the acquisition of BSH from Siemens (€3B) and the dissolution of the corresponding joint venture
  • the acquisition of ZF steering business from ZF and the dissolution of the corresponding joint venture
  • the disposal of the global wind turbines and large gears by Bosch Rexroth to ZF
  • the formation of the international joint venture in the field of autonomous driving with Mitsubishi, u-blox und Geo++
  • the disposal of its worldwide “Around the Wheel” business to Stargate Capital
• Giesecke+Devrient on various transactions, inter alia on its acquisition of the payment and identity solutions business of Valid USA 
• Dr. Barbara Sturm, a German molecular cosmetics brand, on its sale to Puig, a global premium beauty brand
• Stryder Corp., dba Handshake, in its acquisition of TalentSpace GmbH, developer of a virtual recruiting events platform
• Muehlhan AG on the sale of its European and U.S. business to One Equity Partners
• NetApp, a global, cloud-led, data-centric software company, in its acquisition of Instaclustr, a US/Australia/German SaaS open source software company
• Platinum Equity Advisors on its US$5.25B acquisition of Solenis from BASF SE and Clayton, Dubilier & Rice
• Astorg on the acquisition of hg medical from Nord Holding
• Stone Canyon Industries and its subsidiary BWAY on the US$2.3B acquisition of Mauser Group, a leading industrial packaging company, from Clayton, Dubilier & Rice.
• Stem, Inc. on its acquisition of Also Energy Holdings (including advice related to investment control)
• Dresser Utility Solutions on its acquisition of Itron’s Global Gas Regulator and European C&I Gas Metering Business.

Sonja is a member of Gibson Dunn’s Diversity Committee. She was recently seconded to the firm’s New York office. Prior to joining Gibson Dunn, Sonja worked at another major international law firm in Munich and gained in house experience on her secondment to the legal department of one of the world’s leading global engineering and technology firms.

Sonja is  co-author of Hölters/Weber “Kommentar zum Aktiengesetz”, 5th edition 2024, and of Breyer/Najdecki “Beck’sches Formularbuch GmbH-Recht”, 2nd edition 2024, on the chapters about the supervisory board in a limited liability company and on joint ventures. She regularly publishes articles in M&A magazines and client alerts on investment control and corporate law aspects.

Sonja studied law at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and has been admitted as a German lawyer (Rechtsanwältin) since 2010. A native German speaker, she is fluent in English and speaks French as well as Spanish.

Capabilities

• Mergers and Acquisitions
• Artificial Intelligence
• Business Restructuring and Reorganization
• Capital Markets
• Energy and Infrastructure
• FDA and Health Care
• International Trade Advisory and Enforcement
• Power and Renewables
• Private Equity
• Technology Transactions
• White Collar Defense and Investigations

Credentials

Education:

• Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich - 2005 Law Degree

Admissions:

• Germany - Rechtsanwältin