Our Case Studies

GEWA 5 to 1, a project company established for the construction of the Gewa Tower, had to file for insolvency during the construction of the structural shell. When completed, the 107- metre-high tower was to be the third highest residential block in Germany. The company had issued an SME bond to finance the project. After considerable negotiation with various investors, the PLUTA insolvency law experts were able to find a solution for the Gewa Tower. The CG Group, with operations throughout Germany, has acquired the tower near Stuttgart. Instead of the originally planned owner-occupied flats, compact rental apartments are now being created on a floor space of approx. 10,500 square metres. This is not only a good solution for the tight rental market, but also for the bondholders, who will receive a higher-than-average recovery rate.

The insolvency proceedings for the real estate project company Ritter & Kyburz GbR were the talk of the Kempten region in southern Germany. The property is known as the “Big Hole” there since the construction project had come to a standstill for several years after the excavation work had been completed and parts of the underground garage had been built. The underground garage has since been completed. The PLUTA team was able to sell the property with a plot measuring 2,031 square metres. The buyer is a bidder consortium from southern Germany that prevailed in the two-stage bidding process and won the tender as the highest bidder. The property is situated in a prime location in Kempten. Student apartments will be built there. With more than 6,000 students, Kempten is an ideal place for such a project.

The retail investor Treveria had to file an application for insolvency for 36 German companies. The purpose of these companies was to own and manage the properties held. The real estate portfolio mainly consisted of large retail properties. The PLUTA experts were able to successfully conclude the sale of the Treveria Silo-C real estate portfolio in 2017. At the beginning of the proceedings, the PLUTA team made the right decision to sell the retail centres and stores successively, rather than the portfolio as a whole. This meant that the team was able to achieve considerably higher proceeds in the interests of the creditors.

Zalis was asked to provide a senior restructuring executive to manage a French property company that was in receivership and owned a recently constructed pharmaceutical laboratory.  The shareholders of the property company had been put into receivership following a U.K. High Court Order, and Zalis was asked to intervene by the court-appointed receivers of these shareholders.

The assignment was to manage the ongoing day-to-day activities of the company with a view to maximising the realisation of its assets for the creditors of its shareholders. Zalis took the company into voluntary liquidation with the agreement of its receivers, who were appointed liquidators, and oversaw the sale of the assets and the settlement of the remaining liabilities, against the background of ongoing conflictual and contested court proceedings in the U.K. between the shareholders of the company and their creditors.

Zalis also conducted a forensic investigation into the historical cash flows of the company, as the U.K. High Court Order had been issued as a result of evidence presented to the court of the fraudulent obtention and use of funds by the company and its shareholders.

Mr. Stephan Ammann, an attorney at PLUTA Rechtsanwalts GmbH, was involved in the proceedings for the assets of a real estate company with 2,400 residential and commercial properties. Now, almost two years after the opening of insolvency proceedings of BGP Immo-West S.à.r.l. & Co. KG, Stephan Ammann has succeeded in selling all the properties. The properties are located in seven cities in North Rhine-Westphalia and four cities in North Germany, including Duisburg, Essen, Bremen and Bremerhaven. Most of the real estate portfolio was acquired by the various fund companies belonging to the US American Ares Management L.P. In ten further individual transactions, Stephan Amman sold 674 residential units. The fact that the complete real estate portfolio was successfully sold in under two years shows that an insolvency may be the better option when it comes to making decisions in the interest of the creditors. The key to success in selling real estate portfolios of this size is a close cooperation with powerful and financially sound banks. In these proceedings, the mutual interest in achieving an optimal sale made a decisive contribution to a successful outcome since it ensured flexible portfolio management resulting in the lowest costs and the highest selling price possible.

We were appointed Receiver by the court for the companies and related properties on a court motion brought by a number of the property mortgagees in North America.

We took possession and control of the properties and underlying businesses and continued operations in the businesses that were currently in operation to preserve as much value as possible. Included in the continued operations were four retirement homes, five commercial properties, two private schools and daycares, two multi-unit apartment buildings, a golf course and a number of properties under development and/or were vacant buildings and land. Once all the assets were stabilized, a court-approved sales process, agreeable by all the relevant mortgagees, was undertaken to sell the assets and/or properties.

Globally, the receivership encompasses 12 legal entities which owned 24 properties. The Court Order provided for ring fencing among all the real properties and businesses resulting in a separate estate and operating and liquidating strategy for each property.

At time of writing the receivership is ongoing, however we have sold but one of the properties and the mortgagees and secured lenders have been repaid in full.

We were appointed chief restructuring officer (CRO) for PUIG Development Group. PUIG was a south Florida real estate company, primarily involved in condo conversion projects. We were retained as CRO prior to chapter 11 filing and essentially took over all decision making for the company.

PUIG owned or controlled approximately 25 LLC’s with a significant number of bank and mezzanine lenders.

When we became involved, there was in excess of $300 million of debt and 27 active projects. Our role included reducing overheads, preparing a plan of reorganization, facilitating relations and exchange of information between banks, owners

and investors, and ultimately implementing and executing a plan or reorganization and liquidation for the company.