A Gleiss Lutz team has provided comprehensive advice to Hypo Real Estate Holding GmbH (“HRE”) and represented the company in settling the two most complex damages actions pending against the company.
During the 2008 financial crisis, shareholders filed damages claims against HRE before Munich I Regional Court for alleged breaches of information requirements relating to capital markets. Some 300 lawsuits were suspended on account of a test case investors initiated at the end of 2010 and still not fully concluded.
The settlement now reached concerns the test plaintiff’s two individual lawsuits involving claims totalling more than EUR 900 million euros plus interest. The plaintiff, a German lawyer, had claims from institutional investors from various countries assigned to him in order to assert them in a form of combined class action. Last year, HRE reactivated the lawsuits suspended due to the test case in order to have specific objections clarified. The present settlement has now enabled the lawsuits to be brought to an early close in return for just under EUR 190 million.
Gleiss Lutz is providing comprehensive advice to HRE not only in all these lawsuits but also in the disputes with the former management board members.
HRE was advised by the following team of Gleiss Lutz lawyers:
Investors’ lawsuits: team led by Prof. Eric Wagner (partner) and Dr. René M. Kremer (counsel).
Management board’s lawsuits: team led by Prof. Christian Arnold, Dr. Rainer Loges and Dr. Luidger Röckrath (all partners).
HRE’s in-house counsel: Dr. Peter Schad, Harald Pospischil.
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