Regional news: Germany

In a ruling local lawyers say will give creditors more leverage, the German Federal Supreme Court recently restricted an insolvency administrator's right to realise intangible assets held by secured creditors as collateral for the benefit of an insolvent estate – but is it indicative of a general move away from officeholder-friendly judgments?

31 March 2023

The UK is showing more signs of distress compared to other parts of Europe and is the only major European economy still expected to enter a recession this year, Weil Gotshal & Manges’ latest Distress Index figures confirm, as they suggest distress has eased in most other key European countries.

30 March 2023

German department store chain Peek & Cloppenburg is seeking insolvency protection in Düsseldorf to “accelerate” a pre-existing restructuring process it launched in the face of covid-19 and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

23 March 2023

A two-week trial is under way in London to consider the validity of the Galapagos group’s heavily contested 2019 restructuring, which left its private equity shareholder in place and high yield noteholders with nothing – and a German insolvency administrator has already asked the court not to make any findings of fact because they could result in inconsistent rulings across Europe.

10 March 2023

A noteholder of German real estate group Adler has lodged a complaint in a Frankfurt regional court, challenging the group’s substitution of an English subsidiary as note issuer to pursue an English restructuring plan.

09 March 2023

Mr Justice Mann has issued his reasons for deciding to let German real estate group Adler convene six UK plan meetings while postponing certain key issues to the sanction stage – including a point about “artificiality” of voting classes that the judge confessed he did not really understand.

27 February 2023

German real estate group Adler has persuaded an English judge to let it hold plan meetings for six creditor classes next month, leaving complaints over the substitution of the notes’ issuer for a UK subsidiary to the sanction stage – but a bondholder has already stated it will “imminently” pursue similar complaints in a German court.

24 February 2023

German real estate group Adler has amended a lock-up agreement it entered last November to encourage more senior unsecured creditors to commit nearly €1 billion in fresh funding, ahead of a convening hearing for its English restructuring plan.

20 February 2023

Clifford Chance’s German restructuring group leader Cristina Weidner has joined Kirkland & Ellis to lead its practice in the region, bringing with her experience working on some of the largest cross-border restructurings in Europe over the last 15 years.

16 February 2023

Allen & Overy and Akin Gump have hired in Europe, Gibson Dunn has recruited a Jones Day partner in New York and Teneo has secured two London-based managing directors from Interpath.

03 February 2023