Germany’s planned Stabilization and Restructuring Framework (Stabilisierungs- und Restrukturierungsrahmen) is essentially an independent, out-of-court tool to implement a restructuring process by means of a restructuring plan in order to avert insolvency proceedings. The debtor and supporting creditors can rely on certain procedural assistance in order to implement and enforce a restructuring plan with their majority despite resistance on the part of individual stakeholders.

Thomas Edison famously said that “opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” Consistent with Edison’s musings, companies in an acquisition mode often overlook opportunities that arise in the bankruptcy arena because they lack knowledge of the system and think bankruptcy is an unruly beast dressed in extra-large overalls.