Gleiss Lutz is advising Europoles GmbH & Co. KG (Europoles), Europe’s leading manufacturer of poles, towers, columns and supporting systems, on its plans to restructure under its own administration. Thanks to the conclusion of standstill and restructuring agreements with the financing partners and Europoles’ majority partner, VTC Industriebeteiligungen GmbH & Co KG, the firm was making good progress with its out-of-court restructuring measures. Liquidity problems arose at short notice, however, and it ultimately proved impossible to avert the impending insolvency.
On 10 October 2018 Europoles, which is based in Neumarkt in the Oberpfalz region, therefore filed a petition with Nuremberg Local Court for insolvency under self-administration, thereby taking advantage of the opportunity for sustainable restructuring allowing it to reestablish itself as a competitive player in the market. That same day the Local Court issued an order for provisional self-administration pursuant to section 270a German Insolvency Code and appointed Dr. Harald Schwartz of Schwarz Insolveny Administrators as the provisional insolvency trustee. The Court also appointed two restructuring experts from anchor Rechtsanwälte, Alexander Reus and Vincenz von Braun, to act as managing directors in an advisory capacity alongside Europoles’ existing management.
Europoles operates several production facilities in Germany and Switzerland, as well as works in Poland and Oman, and business will continue as usual across all its sites. Funds have been earmarked to pay the salaries of the approx. 1,200-strong workforce for the months of October, November and December.
Europoles is being advised by Gleiss Lutz led by Dr. Matthias Tresselt (partner, corporate/restructuring, Stuttgart). His team includes Sonja Miletzki (Berlin), Friedrich Schlott (Stuttgart) and Joachim Glöckler (Stuttgart, all corporate/restructuring). Dr. Andreas Spahlinger and Dr. Kai Birke were also part of the team that advised Europoles on its refinancing in 2015. Gleiss Lutz began acting for Europoles in 2014 and has since assisted with the out-of-court restructuring and refinancing.
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