BMW and Mercedes-Benz sell FreeNow to Lyft: the advisors

DLA Piper has advised BMW Group and Mercedes-Benz Group on the sale of their jointly operated mobility platform FreeNow to US ride-hailing service Lyft.

FreeNow will continue its business operations and aims for further growth. The transaction is expected to be completed in the second half of 2025, subject to the fulfillment of customary closing conditions.

Lyft was founded in 2012 as one of the first ridesharing communities in the US and is now present in both the United States and Canada. Lyft offers car ride services, bicycles, and scooters through a single app.

FreeNow is a leading multi-mobility app focusing on the taxi business, available in nine European countries and over 150 cities, including Dublin, London, Athens, Berlin, Barcelona, Madrid, and Hamburg. FreeNow users can access various mobility services through one app, including taxis, private ride services, carsharing, eScooters, eBikes, and eMopeds.

The DLA Piper team was led by Dr. Christoph Dachner (Munich, PICTURED LEFT), Dr. Benjamin Parameswaran (Hamburg, PICTURED RIGHT), and Dr. Tim Arndt (New York, all Corporate M&A).

The team also included partners Dr. Björn Enders (Tax), Dr. Burkhard Führmeyer (IP), Semin O (Antitrust Law, all Frankfurt) and Jérôme Halphen (Employment Law, Paris), counsel Dr. Thilo Streit (Regulatory, Cologne) and Dr. Enno Ahlenstiel (Antitrust Law), senior associates Rainer Hartmann (Tax) and Marisa Machacek (IP, all Frankfurt), as well as associates Lea Reifers (Hamburg, part of the core team) and Dr. Lukas Reitebuch (Munich, both Corporate M&A).

The in-house team at Mercedes-Benz was led by Michael Rebholz (Legal Counsel, Legal M&A), and the BMW Group team consisted of Dr. Matthias Wahl (Senior Legal Counsel), Sascha Ostermann (Legal Counsel), Dr. Torsten Dilly, Silvia Meier, and Stephan Kaufmann (all IP).