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SNP Schlawien
LawyersTax Advisors

Restructuring, recapitalisation, insolvency

Financial crisis or insolvency is not an everyday experience in the life of an entrepreneur, hence the need for competent and prompt support by experienced specialists. Before the crisis turns into a serious threat to your company, thus further reducing the options for action, SNP Schlawien and their consultants offer you comprehensive legal advice in the difficult situation of a crisis or insolvency, i.e. in the fields of reorganization, restructuring or insolvency law.

Our specialists for reorganization, restructuring and insolvency have specific and long-standing experience in the field of insolvency law. Owing to their interdisciplinary way of working with lawyers of related specialist areas, our teams also cover issues interlacing with company law, real estate law, banking law, labor law and procedural law.

Since many years, we have been providing comprehensive and cross-sector advice to our medium-sized company clients on insolvency law issues in the functions of both consultants and counsels. Our high juristic level and our pragmatic economic sense enable us to recommend qualified and specific action leading to a solution of the problem. In this connection, each individual proposal for solution is guided by the central principle of achieving the economically most reasonable result - and this as pragmatically and promptly as possible.



Our areas of expertise

Contract drafting as a preventive measure and in times of crisis of your business partners

Customers and business partners can become insolvent. Therefore, each enterprise is threatened with bad debt, constraints of the business relations, as well as risks of avoidance. In most cases, it is possible to accomplish a high degree of security for the client already in advance by way of preventive drafting of insolvency-proof contracts. We devise loan securities for you such as reservations of title, assignments, liens, assignments as security, guarantees, letters of comfort and tenant servitudes. When it comes to maintaining the supply relationships with your business partner in times of crisis, we help you minimize the risks and bad debt and avoid disadvantages for you.

Investments in companies in crisis

We assist investors and lenders of capital in both securing and retiring from an investment, including, but not limited to acquisitions, investments by way of purchasing non-performing loans, in times of crisis of the company, or the transformation of debt into equity (debt-equity swap). In the event of acquisition of companies or parts of companies out of a critical situation or of insolvency proceedings, we conduct the negotiations for you and provide you with advice and support regarding the drafting, signing and implementation of contracts.

Defense against claims of the insolvency administrator

Frequently, in the course of insolvency proceedings, administrators claim back payments from business partners in times of crisis, although the payment transactions may date back for many years. We help you defend against possible avoidance claims by the administrator in which the latter seeks to claim back what was once received.

The management and the supervisory bodies, too, find them themselves increasingly exposed to claims by insolvency administrators for liability and damages. Shareholders associated with a company that got into crisis or became insolvent therefore run the risk that possible claims are asserted by administrators, creditors or third parties, e.g. under provided shareholder loans. We have been advising and representing our clients for many years in a competent and reliable manner in the extrajudicial and judicial defense against such claims.

From the lodging of claims to the insolvency plan

We represent you as creditor in the context of the insolvency of a company and assert claims and security rights on your behalf. To this end, we maintain correspondence with the insolvency administrator or the debtor-in-possession manager and enforce claims for surrender of the property. In complex insolvency proceedings, we represent you in securing and enforcing your financial and legal positions in meetings of creditors or in creditors' committees and in connection with insolvency plans.

Measures implying labor law

Economic changes and restructuring measures may require drastic labor-law measures, too. We support you in taking these intricate steps and provide advice to you on contract adjustments, the preparation of dismissals, as well as negotiations with the works council on the reconciliation of interests. We represent you in dismissal protection proceedings, the reorganization of working conditions or the negotiation of severance indemnities. In the event of acquisition of companies or parts thereof out of insolvency, we also provide advice to you in connection with the takeover of employees and the legal integration in your company.

Real estate in times of crisis

SNP Schlawien ranks among the major German law firms dealing with real estate law. A team of real estate law and insolvency law specialists provides advice to you on building projects in times of crisis or the insolvency of parties involved in the building project and secures and enforces claims in the insolvency process. In the event of acquisition of real estate out of insolvency, we negotiate for you with the insolvency administrators on an equal footing and assess or prepare the contracts you need in this respect. We provide advice to real estate managements or owners, respectively, in times of crisis and negotiate with lending banks. In case of insolvency of real estate managements, we support you from the filing of the application to the completion of the proceedings. Moreover, we represent shareholders or owners in personal liability issues in the event of the acceptance of transfers of loans, guarantees or debt.

Reorganization in times of crisis

At the first signs of a serious crisis, we are available to you already at this early stage: Together with our network of management consultants and reorganization specialists, we analyze the range of possible solution processes. Together with you and with the consultants you retained before, if applicable, we develop the first reorganization steps up to the concrete reorganization measures. We meet and discuss with your shareholders, lenders and business partners on your behalf or together with you, and we draw up the required expert opinions.


Insolvency proceedings

If the point of insolvency has been reached, we advise companies or the members of the board of directors and supervisory bodies, respectively, on all required steps and on the avoidance of civil law and criminal law liability risks.


Corporate insolvency

If insolvency cannot be averted anymore, we advise you on determining the duty to file for insolvency, file the required insolvency application for you, and assist you from the first discussions with the insolvency administrator through the entire proceedings up to their completion. We assess debt relief or reorganization options or "save what can be saved", respectively. In case of complex protective umbrella or insolvency plan scenarios, we collaborate with specialized and experienced insolvency administrator firms and prepare the required steps with you.


Discharge of residual debt

In the event of personal insolvency of an entrepreneur or freelancer, we can contribute many years of experience to the confidential and discreet preparation and conduct of extrajudicial settlements or insolvency proceedings with discharge of residual debt. We conduct preliminary negotiations with creditors and prepare possible settlements and abatements. If agreements by mutual consent are not possible anymore, we assist you in the insolvency proceedings and recommend - if possible - the early discharge of residual debt by way of personal insolvency proceedings.

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