For further information about our Corporate practice Dr Andreas Merkner is at your disposal at any time.
Advising on corporate law is a core competence of ours. Our corporate law practice is at the leading edge of the market and covers the entire spectrum of advice. Our clients in corporate law include DAX and MDAX listed stock corporations as well as medium-sized companies and family-run partnerships.
We provide legal advice to companies, their management, and supervisory boards as well as shareholders on all relevant issues and in all "life phases" of the company. Our clients trust us, for example, with the establishment and further development of their corporate and group law structures and governance. We accompany shareholder meetings of medium-sized companies as well as general meetings of stock exchange listed companies.
In addition, we counsel companies in the preparation and implementation of corporate actions as well as structural measures under stock corporation and conversion law. In addition, companies as well as corporate boards and their members mandate us in liability, employment, and supervisory matters.
We offer our clients expert advice on the structuring as well as the negotiation and drafting of contracts in national and international M&A transactions and joint ventures.
We provide comprehensive support for transactions ranging from the acquisition of shareholdings in Germany to complex cross-border structures and advise on all corporate and antitrust issues as well as on the control of foreign direct investments (FDI). With our "best-in-class" network, we also cover all other legal areas relevant for a transaction, both nationally and internationally.
In the area of public takeover law, we assist our clients in voluntary takeovers, mandatory offers or in obtaining exemptions from offers. Supervisory boards and management boards consult us when their company becomes the target of a takeover or in order to avoid such a situation.
For the establishment of joint ventures, we develop and negotiate structures for our clients that are designed to facilitate constructive cooperation.
We offer our clients advice on all capital market law issues.
A particular focus is on insider law, ad hoc publicity, managers' transactions, and transparency of shareholdings. In addition to ongoing compliance advice under capital markets law and advice in connection with regular and sustainability reporting, our activities also include, in particular, advice in special situations, e.g. in connection with M&A transactions or internal investigations, as well as representing our clients in administrative fine proceedings against BaFin and in civil proceedings under the German Capital Investor Model Case Act (KapMuG).
We regularly accompany current legislative projects on a national and European level as well as other developments in capital markets law, including academically in the form of lectures and publications.
Furthermore, we advise our clients on all issues of public takeover law as well as on the structuring and implementation of share buybacks.
We render advice to companies, their corporate boards and stakeholders on all issues relating to corporate restructurings. This includes complex restructurings of companies and groups of companies as well as the support of carve-outs, for example in preparation of M&A transactions.
Our advisory services in the Corporate area also extend to the enforcement of our clients' claims or their defence. In addition to general corporate litigation, this also includes capital market litigation (including ESG litigation e.g. due to ESG activism or "greenwashing") and commercial litigation.
For further details, please refer to the Litigation section.
Our activities in the field of corporate law also extend to compliance matters. Among other things, we provide advice on setting up and supporting a comprehensive compliance management system. In addition, we will also act on your behalf when the need arises, e.g. following the detection of compliance violations.
For further details, please refer to the Compliance section.