Review Article
Company Restructuring Pursuant to German Insolvency Law
Harald Hess*Specialist in employment law, Specialist in insolvency law,Sworn auditor, Honorary Professor at the Ludwig-Maximilian University Munich, Germany
- *Corresponding Author:
- Dr. Harald Hess
Specialist in employment law
Specialist in insolvency law Sworn auditor
Honorary Professor at the Ludwig-Maximilian University Munich, Germany
Tel: 49-6131-2850-17
E-mail: mainz@hess-rechtsanwaelte.de
Received Date: November 11, 2013; Accepted Date: January 20, 2014; Published Date: January 23, 2014
Citation: Hess H (2014) Company Restructuring Pursuant to German Insolvency Law. J Civil Legal Sci 3:111. doi:10.4172/2169-0170.1000111
Copyright: © 2014 Hess H. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Coming into force on 1 March 2012, the German Act on the Further Facilitation of the Restructuring of Companies (Gesetz zur weiteren Erleichterung der Sanierung von Unternehmen), in particular in conjunction with the insolvency plan and through what is known as self-administration, serves to align German insolvency law more closely with the restructuring proceedings of Chapter 11 of the US Bankruptcy Code. Insolvency law is no longer primarily about the liquidation of the debtor or insolvent company; instead, the legislature has, through the reform’s main agenda, the insolvency plan procedure (Articles 217 ff. InsO) and selfadministration (Articles 270 ff. InsO), placed the main emphasis on the debtor company in the restructuring process, and has made it possible to effectively organise insolvencies on the basis of creditor autonomy. In addition to the restructuring of the company, it also allows for what is known as the transferred reorganisation of the debtor’s assets, and also liquidation. A subsequent step will involve defining regulations to deal with the issues associated with group insolvency, and considering whether a projected income procedure comparable with the “scheme of arrangement” should be developed. Below, we will examine the changes made to insolvency law to date, and show how boosting creditor autonomy, similar to Chapter 11, makes it possible for the debtor company to be released from its obligations and enable it to make a fresh start.