Insolvency administrator’s liability (in the case of rescue attempts)

Having already dealt with the liability of the restructuring consultant  (here, in German) or the managing director (in DIP-procedures, here) in previous posts, a recent landmark ruling by the German Federal Court of Justice (“Bundesgerichtshof“, “BGH“) gives me the opportunity to shed some light on the liability risks of the insolvency administrator, with a focus on the area of corporate restructuring (accordingly, I will not address the liability of a provisional administrator or liability in the event of non-fulfilment of mass debts under § 61 InsO).

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Internal Investigations – basics of investigation

One of my last posts on Internal Investigations (here, in German) ended with the following remark:

“Before commissioning [investigators], […] the objective of the investigation and the tactics of the approach should be defined and a suitable project team should be appointed to ensure that the objective is achieved in a cost-efficient manner.”

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Corporate finance: promissory note loans

In my loose sequence on possibilities of corporate financing, after Sale and Lease Back (here), this time I will turn to the so-called Schuldscheindarlehen (promissory note loan), which has resurfaced from oblivion again since the last financial crisis. Particularly in the current corona crisis, some companies are apparently “sucking up” liquidity with the help of this instrument: Bosch, for example, took out loans with a volume of 2 billion euros by June 2020 by placing a promissory note loan (here), and as recently as April 2020, automotive supplier Schaeffler issued promissory notes with a volume of 350 million euros (here).

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The German economy in May 2020 – bottomed out yet?

Throughout the last month, the bad news kept indeed (cf. here) constantly flowing in like waves on a beach. Given the easing of the lockdown and the first tentative steps to reopen the economy at the end of May the question is whether the German economy already bottomed out. To get a grip on that, let’s look into the German economy in some more detail:

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Here it comes: The Criminal Law for Enterprises

In response to the burgeoning economic crisis following Corona, which is likely to “wash a number of economic crimes to the surface”, the German Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection (BMJV) published the draft Bill of an “Act to Strengthen Integrity in the Economy” on 22 April 2020 after a coordination process with interested bodies (cf. already here).

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The German “COVInsAG” – in practice

After a rather short discussion on the various measures necessary to counter the economic effects of the corona virus pandemic (cf. for further information here (in German)), the legislator enacted a flood of bills on 25 March (“(German) Corona Consequences Mitigation Act”; “Corona-Folgen-Abmilderungsgesetz“). In a brief overview – focussing on the insolvency-specific regulations of the “COVInsAG” contained therein – I will try to evaluate the first experiences with the suspension of the obligation to file for insolvency.

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