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A&O Shearman advises SAP on strategic AI acquisitions of Dremio and Prior Labs

A&O Shearman advises SAP on strategic AI acquisitions of Dremio and Prior Labs
Published Date
May 11 2026
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A&O Shearman is advising long-standing client SAP SE (NYSE: SAP), a global leader in enterprise application software and business artificial intelligence, on two strategic acquisitions designed to strengthen SAP's enterprise AI and data infrastructure capabilities: Dremio, a data lakehouse platform built to accelerate agentic AI, and Prior Labs, the pioneer in tabular foundation models (TFMs).  

The Dremio acquisition will complement the SAP Business Data Cloud and SAP HANA Cloud offerings to ensure seamless data integration across SAP and non-SAP data. The combination is intended to reduce data fragmentation, and support real-time analytical and AI workloads on a single open platform.

Through the Prior Labs acquisition, SAP intends to operate Prior Labs as an independent entity and has committed to investing more than EUR1 billion over the next four years to establish it as a leading AI research lab for structured data. Following the transaction, SAP will have a unique opportunity to build an industry-leading AI research lab and establish a new category in TFMs. Unlike large language models (LLMs), TFMs are purpose-built for handling tables, numbers, and statistics, and can accurately predict business outcomes based on such data.

Both transactions are expected to close in the third quarter of 2026, subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals.

Together, the Dremio and Prior Labs transactions highlight A&O Shearman’s ability to deliver seamless cross-border counsel on cutting edge AI related matters. Bringing together lawyers across the U.S., Germany, and other jurisdictions, A&O Shearman advised SAP with a fully integrated team spanning M&A, technology, AI, data, and regulatory disciplines.

“These transactions reflect the increasingly global and interconnected nature of AI investments. Dremio and Prior Labs each bring differentiated capabilities that support SAP's long-term strategy. The matters also showcase the strength of our integrated global offering and our ability to execute seamlessly across jurisdictions on complex, technology-driven transactions.”

The A&O Shearman team who advised on the acquisition of Dremio was led by Silicon Valley-based M&A partners Jesse Debban and Robert Bucella. The team also included partners Doreen Lilienfeld, Daren Orzechowski, Keren Livneh, Alex Touma, Catharina Glugla, Anna Rudawski, Paula Anderson, Catherine Hein, Dominic Long, Christopher Best, Jessica Delbaum, Larry Crouch, and JB Betker.

The A&O Shearman team who advised on the acquisition of Prior Labs was led by Munich-based M&A partner Dr. Alexander Veith, with support from counsel Dr. Stefan Witte. The team also included partners Catharina Glugla, Dr. Jens Matthes, Dr. Udo Olgemöller, Florian Lechner, Dr. Börries Ahrens, and Dr. Philipp Steinhaeuser, and counsel Eda Zhuleku.  

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