Deutsches Recht: Blick zurück 2016

Unternehmens- und Gesellschaftsrecht

Year in Review - German Law in 2016

Corporate and Commercial

Amendment to the Stock Corporation Act: The Amendment to the Stock Corporation Act 2016 (Aktien-rechtsnovelle 2016) introduced, among other things, the option to issue preference shares without subsequent payment, an extended conversion right for convertible bonds, a limitation of the issue of bearer shares for non-listed companies and new provisions on the due dates of dividend payments.

Legal background

Under German criminal law, it is illegal for the management not to fulfil tax obligations when due, whereas under German insolvency law a company must treat all creditors equally when the company is illiquid. By paying taxes after the company becomes illiquid, the management would violate this obligation and prefer the state.

Key points

The ‘qualified subordination’ tool is a useful device for a German company that may be balance-sheet insolvent.

Background

German insolvency law requires the directors of a company to file for insolvency when the company is over-indebted pursuant to sec. 19 German Insolvency Code (‘InsO’). The failure to comply with this obligation is a criminal offence, and can also trigger directors’ liabilities under German corporate law.

‘Qualified Subordination’

Banking & Finance
Aktuelle Informationen des
Geschäftsbereichs Banking & Finance
News from the Banking & Finance practice
Dezember / December 2014

In retrospect, 2012 likely will be remembered as another year of manifold challenges in the Eurozone and of slow consolidation rather than one of fundamental reform or renaissance. However, the policy of Mr. Draghi, the chairman of the European Central Bank, appears to have stabilized the markets and the Euro since last summer, Germany's economy is prospering and the stock markets are almost back to pre-2008 levels. Nonetheless, there are fundamental doubts that the measures taken have a lasting effect and will fundamentally reform the economies in the Eurozone.

Restructurings have become an integral part of the reality of the German debt and equity markets.

While the members of the Eurozone are still struggling to find an adequate answer to the sovereign debt crisis and the stock markets are on a roller-coaster ride, the German economy is still doing remarkably well and continues to attract foreign investors from all over the world, notably China.

On 26 January 2011 the European Commission declared the so-called Restructuring Clause (Sanierungsklausel) (Sec. 8c (1a) of the German Corporate Income Tax Act (CTA)) as inconsistent with EU funding guidelines. The decision of the European Commission is criticized by national experts and stresses the German economy with a hardly tolerable uncertainty as regards tax issues in restructurings.  

The EU Decision

The EU Commission has held on January 26, 2011 that the so called restructuring privilege offered by German corporate tax law, which allows corporations in a distressed financial situation to continue to set off tax loss carry forwards against future profits even if their shareholder structure has substantially changed, is incompatible with EU State Aid provisions.

The recipients, which have applied the restructuring privilege, are now threatened with the reclaim of the tax benefits.