Germany

Cleary Gottlieb has a longstanding commitment to its German practice.

With a combined total of around 45 lawyers in our German offices and additional German or German-speaking lawyers in our Brussels office, we provide our clients with fully integrated German, pan-European and global legal advice in a broad range of key practice areas. These include:

Mergers and Acquisitions

Our German M&A team advises clients on public and private M&A matters, restructurings of corporate groups (including going-private transactions, delistings, mergers, spin-offs and demergers of corporate divisions), as well as private equity investments and buy-outs, joint ventures and outsourcing agreements. We also provide integrated and comprehensive advice on all tax, labor, IP and regulatory matters related to M&A transactions.

In addition to our substantial, multidisciplinary experience in cross-border and domestic transactions, we are able to draw on our highly integrated global infrastructure to offer advice on U.S. and other foreign-law aspects of M&A transactions in Germany.

Capital Markets

Our integrated Frankfurt capital markets team of German and U.S. attorneys advises issuers and underwriters on the full spectrum of equity, equity-linked and debt products, including German, EU and U.S. capital markets-related regulatory advice. Our experience includes some of the largest and most complex equity and debt offerings in Germany and internationally.

Antitrust

Our Cologne antitrust team is an integral part of our top-ranked global competition practice, and advises on worldwide developments in competition law and on all aspects of EU and German competition law. We have extensive experience on proceedings related to merger control, abuse of dominant position and cartel arrangements, including civil and criminal antitrust litigation and State aid. We also advise on cooperation, licensing and distribution agreements.

Tax

Our German tax lawyers work closely with our colleagues in the finance and corporate practices, and with lawyers in other offices, to provide our multinational clients with premier tax advice, focusing on the German and other international tax aspects of cross-border acquisitions and joint ventures, complex international securities offerings, derivatives and other financial products. We also advise on matters of German international tax law (Double Taxation Treaties, German CFC Rules, EU tax law), employee incentive programs, personal assets and estate management issues.

Litigation and Arbitration

An integral part of the firm’s European and international practice, our German-based team is able to draw on far-reaching experience in domestic and cross-border dispute resolution and dispute avoidance.

We represent clients before national courts, domestic and international judicial authorities and arbitral tribunals, regulatory authorities, and mediation bodies on a broad range of matters, including major antitrust, post-M&A, capital markets, construction/infrastructure, energy, general commercial, intellectual property, public international law and regulatory enforcement matters, often involving sovereign states and entities. We also advise clients on domestic and cross-border investigations and compliance-related matters, often with an antitrust, bank regulatory or corporate governance background.

Banking and Finance

Our Frankfurt office regularly advises on banking matters and financing transactions, including leveraged and acquisition financing and other types of financings. Our German team is fully integrated into our worldwide restructuring and insolvency practice and has extensive experience representing companies, banks and investors in complex restructurings.