Debtor-in-possession management – self-administered recovery.

Debtor-in-possession management offers debtors the ability to take action independently and rescue their own company during insolvency proceedings. There are essentially two versions of this self-administration process, as laid out in the German Insolvency Statute (Insolvenzordnung; InsO):

I. Debtor-in-possession management pursuant to Section § 270a InsO

• The company keeps trading independently under the control of the debtor. The debtor takes on the function of (preliminary) insolvency administrator in their own right under the supervision of a (preliminary) administrator. The goal here is to take advantage of the knowledge possessed by company management and maintain contact with suppliers and customers to ensure that the company can continue to operate with positive results in the long term.

II. Pre-packaged insolvency pursuant to InsO Section § 270b

• As with debtor-in-possession management under Section 270a, the business keeps trading under the debtor’s control. However, pre-pack applications can only be made when threatened by imminent insolvency as per Section 18. Under debtor-in-possession management pursuant to Section 270b, an insolvency plan needs to be created. This aims to retain the legal entity and will provide an opportunity to benefit from operational and financial restructuring.

In debtor-in-possession management situations, various tasks will need to be completed as the company keeps trading. FalkenSteg will offer you its assistance with a range of different approaches to insolvency, whether under debtor-in-possession management pursuant to InsO Section 270a or during a pre-pack pursuant to Section 270b.

We will be happy to support you both with drawing up the insolvency filing and with creating the certification for the request as part of pre-pack proceedings under InsO Section 270b.

We can also help you to understand the complex requirements under insolvency law and factor the resulting implications into your daily business processes; for instance, as part of your ordering and approval processes or to help you identify essential expenses.

In addition, we will be happy to assume responsibility for communicating with all the relevant stakeholders, such as suppliers, customers, administrators and the insolvency court about insolvency-related matters.

As part of the pre-packaged-insolvency proceedings pursuant to InsO Section 270b, we will continue to advise you on preparing the insolvency plan and deciding on the composition of the groups of creditors, as they enjoy immensely important status when it comes to voting on approving the insolvency plan.