Bond Restructuring & Bondholder Representation in Germany.

Exclusively the creditor side.
I represent bondholders and ad hoc committees of bondholders in bond restructurings as well as reorganisation and insolvency proceedings — exclusively on the creditor side. In bond matters, I never represent issuers or debtors. This is not a limitation of my practice. It is a decision for clarity: no conflicts of interest, no strategic compromises.

Bond Law & SchVG → Restructuring →

In bond situations: we exclusively represent bondholders, i.e. bond creditors. Never issuers. Never bond debtors. No conflicts of interest — by design.

This exclusivity applies to bond matters. I represent companies and shareholders in other contexts — such as bank loans, restructuring and shareholder disputes.

PART I

Bond Law

Collective representation of bondholders.

Two routes, one goal: enforcing the collective interests of bondholders effectively — as statutory Joint representative for Bondholders under Section 5 SchVG, or as adviser and counsel to a bondholder committee.

1 — Joint Representative for Bondholders under Section 5 SchVG

The German Bond Act (Schuldverschreibungsgesetz, SchVG) allows bondholders to elect a Joint Representative for Bondholders (Gemeinsamer Vertreter) who acts on behalf of all bondholders vis-à-vis the issuer. This is a statutory office, not merely a private grouping: once appointed by majority resolution, the Joint Representative binds all bondholders — a stronger legal position than an ad hoc committee under Anglo-American practice, which is a voluntary, contractual body.

As elected Joint Representative for Bondholders under Section 5 SchVG, I negotiate with the issuer on behalf of all bondholders, convene bondholder meetings, and enforce collective resolutions.

Company	Role	Court & case no.
Pentracor GmbH	Joint Representative	AG Neuruppin, 15 IN 16723 (ongoing)
Schlote Holding GmbH	Joint Representative	AG Hildesheim, 55 IN/25 (ongoing)
Huber Automotive AG	Joint Representative	AG Göppingen, 3 IN 302/25 (ongoing)
Mologen AG	Joint Representative	AG Charlottenburg, 36m IN 7431/19 (concluded)
Getgoods.de AG	Joint Representative	AG Frankfurt/O., 3 IN 563/13 (concluded)
Solen AG	Creditors committee	AG Meppen, 9 IN 74/13 (concluded)

Bondholders and institutional creditors from France, Belgium, the UK, Poland, Austria, Switzerland and Greece have retained me — among them institutional investors, family offices, state insurers and a Swiss legal-expenses insurer whom I represented in German insolvency proceedings.

2 — Bondholder Committee (ad hoc committee)

Bondholder Committee (ad hoc committee): a temporary, contractual grouping of bondholders — not a statutory office but a voluntary body formed when an issuer faces financial distress. I advise and represent such committees — from formation and internal decision-making through to negotiations with the issuer, its advisers and other creditor groups.

Sovereign debt: this expertise extends beyond corporate bonds. I also advise and represent institutional creditors in sovereign debt matters, including in connection with Argentina and Greece. I have lectured on this topic for the Banking and Capital Markets Law Group of the German Bar Association (DAV) (Athens, May 2019).

Out-of-court mandates: In addition to court proceedings, I have acted as Joint Representative or adviser out of court, including for SoWiTec GmbH and Planethic Group AG.

PART II

Restructuring

Restructuring — from the creditor and investor perspective.

I conduct restructuring mandates exclusively on the creditor and investor side. I advise and represent institutional investors, bondholders, creditor groups and shareholders in dealings with financially distressed companies — not the distressed company itself.

This fundamentally distinguishes my practice from firms and platforms that advise both debtors and creditors.

Selected mandate · Cross-border restructuring

Steinhoff N.V. — Representing shareholders in the Dutch WHOA proceedings

As counsel to the shareholders, I represented the shareholder side and organised the majority within the shareholder class in one of Europe's largest cross-border restructurings — the WHOA proceedings of the Dutch company Steinhoff International Holdings N.V., with over EUR 10 billion in financial liabilities. I opposed the restructuring plan advanced by the company and its financial creditors before the Amsterdam Enterprise Court.

Lead coordination of a US valuation team and a Dutch law firm · Appearance before the Amsterdam Enterprise Court · Documented in the SdK Steinhoff newsletters (sdk.org)

Informal restructuring negotiations (out-of-court)
Insolvency plan proceedings under Sections 217 et seq. InsO
Debtor-in-possession proceedings under Sections 270 et seq. InsO
StaRUG proceedings
Membership of creditors committees (Sec. 67 InsO)
Prospectus liability — claims of harmed bondholders over defective offering prospectuses
Prospectus liability — claims of harmed bondholders over defective offering prospectuses

A particular strength lies in the intersection of capital markets law and restructuring: in the Wirecard KapMuG model case (BayObLG, 101 Kap 1/22), I serve as lead counsel for the model claimant.

A further mandate shows how closely capital markets law and restructuring can intertwine: in the court-supervised StaRUG reorganisation of a high-tech company — involving one of the largest US hedge funds — I represented the works council on the treatment of employees’ claims under virtual stock option programmes (VSOPs). These claims are capital-markets in nature but had to be resolved within the StaRUG proceeding and collective labour law — a constellation at the intersection of three areas of law.

What is StaRUG?

StaRUG (Unternehmensstabilisierungs- und -restrukturierungsgesetz) is Germany’s preventive restructuring framework, introduced in 2021 to implement the EU Directive on preventive restructuring frameworks. It allows financially distressed companies to restructure their debt without entering formal insolvency proceedings — with a court-supervised plan that can bind dissenting creditor classes.

For international bondholders, StaRUG is critical: a German issuer can use it to restructure bond terms — including reducing principal or extending maturities — without the consent of all bondholders, if the required majority approves. Asserting creditor rights within it requires specialist expertise in both StaRUG and the SchVG.

French pension fund

Bond restructuring · Creditor representation against German issuer

Belgian state insurance company

Capital markets · Prospectus liability · Damages

British asset manager

Insolvency proceedings · Creditors committee · Recovery strategy

Polish institutional investor

Bond law · Cross-border restructuring

Austrian fund

KapMuG collective proceedings · Damages claim

Swiss asset manager

Complex investor proceedings · SdK network mandate

Greek family office

KapMuG proceedings · Damages claim against issuer

International mandates

Institutional clients from seven countries.

Bondholders, funds and institutional investors from France, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Poland, Austria, Switzerland and Greece rely on LIEBSCHER's expertise in asserting their creditor and investor rights against German issuers.

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