In the dispute over the insolvency plan of the publishing house Suhrkamp and the plan’s envisaged transformation of the publishing house into a stock corporation, the Berlin District Court dismissed an immediate appeal by minority shareholder, the Swiss company Medienholding AG. In accordance with section 253(4) German Insolvency Act, the court granted Suhrkamp Verlag’s motion in full on 20 October 2014.
The insolvency plan, which was already accepted by the creditors on 22 October 2013, is thus final and binding. The insolvency proceedings can be promptly set aside and the change of form from a limited partnership to a stock corporation implemented.
The Berlin District Court’s ruling marks the conclusion of a number of previous decisions on the legality of the insolvency plan: The German Federal Court of Justice (FCJ) had set aside previous decisions of the Berlin District Court and remitted the Medienholding’s appeal against the insolvency plan to the Berlin District Court for a rehearing.
In this connection the FCJ had clarified several contentious and practice-related legal questions. In particular the FCJ (the highest civil court) decided – in line with Gleiss Lutz’s arguments – that district court decisions rendered in accordance with section 253(4) German Insolvency Code which give priority to the debtor’s interest in implementation, as in the present case, cannot be contested by means of an appeal on a point of law. Thus, as intended by the Act for the Further Facilitation of the Restructuring of Companies (ESUG), the possibilities of individual parties to impede the implementation of an insolvency plan are appropriately restricted, and insolvency plans, as a means of reorganisation, are strengthened.
Suhrkamp Verlag was advised by the following Gleiss Lutz team: Dr. Andreas Spahlinger (lead, partner, insolvency/litigation, Stuttgart), Dr. Jörn Wöbke (lead, partner, corporate/litigation, Hamburg), Dr. Matthias Tresselt (insolvency/litigation, Stuttgart), Dr. Daniel Heck (corporate/litigation, Hamburg), Matthias Müller (corporate/insolvency, Stuttgart), Dr. Burghard Hildebrandt (partner), Dr. Eva Koch (both public law, Düsseldorf) and Prof. Dr. Wulf Goette (of counsel, corporate, Stuttgart).
Gleiss Lutz advised Suhrkamp Verlag in 2013 on the preparation and filing of its insolvency application as well as in “protective shield proceedings” (Schutzschirmverfahren), and provided support in the subsequent insolvency plan proceedings in self/administration.
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