The British publication International Financial Law Review (IFLR) awarded the title of “Restructuring Deal of the Year” to the financial restructuring of the Apcoa Group. Gleiss Lutz advised former Apcoa shareholder Eurazeo in the deal. The IFLR European Awards 2015 was held on 16 April in London. Gleiss Lutz was also involved in the restructuring of IVG Immobilien AG, another nomination for Restructuring Deal of the Year.
After approximately two years of negotiations with the creditors, the restructuring of Apcoa’s financial debt was amicably implemented in December 2014. IFLR stressed that “Apcoa became the first debtor to change the governing law of its facilities to gain the UK nexus needed to make use of a scheme of arrangement”. As a result, Apcoa’s debt was reduced by more than 440 million euros. According to IFLR, the measure “created a new way for foreign companies to access UK schemes”.
Gleiss Lutz provided extensive advice to private equity investor Eurazeo in recent years on its investment in Apcoa. The successful restructuring involved a Gleiss Lutz team of lawyers from various practice areas including restructuring, corporate/M&A, banking and finance, tax and litigation. The firm also coordinated the legal advising in four additional jurisdictions. As part of the deal Eurazeo transferred its shares in the APCOA Group to the lenders.
Gleiss Lutz’s renowned restructuring practice is regularly involved in key restructuring and insolvency cases in Germany. For example, during the recent restructuring of Suhrkamp Verlag, in protective shield proceedings and subsequent insolvency (plan) proceedings the firm implemented - for the first time - a change of legal form transforming the company from a limited partnership into a stock corporation. Moreover, it also recently provided advice in connection with the restructurings of Solarworld, Pfleiderer, IVG and centrotherm.
Eurazeo was advised by the following team of Gleiss Lutz lawyers, led by Dr. Jan Bauer (partner, corporate/M&A, Frankfurt), Dr. Matthias Tresselt (partner, restructuring, Stuttgart) and Dr. Helge Kortz (partner, banking and finance, Frankfurt): Dr. Andreas Spahlinger (partner, restructuring, Stuttgart), Dr. Maximilian von Rom (partner, banking and finance, Frankfurt), Dr. Stefan Mayer (partner, tax, Frankfurt), Dr. Achim Dannecker (partner, tax, Stuttgart), Dr. Eric Wagner (partner, dispute resolution, Stuttgart) and Dr. Cornelia Topf (partner, corporate/M&A, Frankfurt) as well as Teresa Baldwin (banking and finance, Frankfurt), Matthias J. Müller (corporate/dispute resolution, Stuttgart), Melanie Nadler (tax, Frankfurt), Dr. Rüdiger Schmidt-Bendun and Jan Philipp Mohr (both corporate/M&A, Frankfurt).
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