Montagu acquires majority stake in DQS, DIN remains invested 

act legal Germany has advised DQS Holding GmbH ("DQS") and its selling shareholders as lead sell-side counsel in connection with Montagu’s acquisition of a majority stake in DQS Holding GmbH from a consortium of shareholders, including UL Solutions, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Qualität (DGQ), DIN Deutsches Institut für Normung e. V. (“DIN”), VDMA, SPECTARIS, Hauptverband der Deutschen Bauindustrie and ZVEI e. V.. DIN will remain a significant shareholder alongside Montagu going forward. Founded in 1985, DQS has grown into a global leader in management systems certification and business assurance services, supporting more than 20,000 clients across 60+ countries with a team of 3,000 auditors. The company helps organisations navigate compliance requirements across management systems certification as well as digital trust, ESG, medical devices and AI governance. DQS operates in a fragmented, resilient and sizeable multi-billion-euro global certification and business assurance market, which is expected to see steady growth driven by increasing regulatory requirements, rising quality and ESG standards, growing demand for digital trust certifications and increasing compliance complexity in sectors such as medical devices. The company is well positioned to capture the expected tailwinds from artificial intelligence (AI), particularly in digital trust and AI-related certification and business assurance services. With Montagu’s backing and long-term capital, DQS is well positioned to accelerate its international expansion and further develop its technology-driven services in the fastest-growing segments of the global certification market. The transaction remains subject to regulatory approval.