The Bremen Zech Group and the Bremerhaven Heinrich Rönner Group have combined their efforts to acquire the long-established Lloyd Werft shipyard in Bremerhaven and were successful in doing so. After the Zech Group, advised by GÖRG Partnerschaft von Rechtsanwälten mbB, entered the process only 14 days ago, both entrepreneurs submitted a joint binding offer at the beginning of last week, which was accepted and notarised late on Friday evening. This means that the "Lower Weser solution", preferred by politicians and the business community, has prevailed over an offer from a competitor in the United Arab Emirates, which was apparently preferred for a long time by the selling insolvency administrator. The high speed of the transaction was made possible not least by the fact that the binding offer was immediately backed up by a concrete draft contract that balanced the interests of both parties.
In structuring the offer, GÖRG relied - in contrast to what the Heinrich Rönner Group had initially envisaged in its individual offer - on a share deal subject to the condition that the insolvency petition for Lloyd Werft be withdrawn and the protective measures ordered in the still pending insolvency proceedings be lifted. The insolvency application was based on a mere threat of insolvency, which could be eliminated by implementing the acquisition concept. There are no grounds for insolvency. This meant that the contract negotiations could be conducted with the provisional insolvency administrator of the insolvent MV-Holding as the parent company of Lloyd Werft, Dr. Christoph Morgen, and independently of the ongoing insolvency opening proceedings of Lloyd Werft itself.
Advisors Zech Gruppe und Bremerhavener Heinrich Rönner – Gruppe
GÖRG Rechtsanwälte/Insolvenzverwalter GbR
Prof. Dr. Gerrit Hölzle (Partner, Insolvency/Restructuring, Bremen/Hamburg)
Dirk Lahmann (Counsel, Restructuring/M&A, Bremen)
Nicole Raberg (Associate, Real Estate/ Restructuring, Bremen)
Advisors Lloyd Werft
Brinkmann & Partner
Dr. Christoph Morgen (Provisional Insolvency Administrator, Hamburg)
BRL
Dr. Stefan Denkhaus (Advisor, Hamburg)
Dr. Friedrich Kraft v. Kaltenborn-Stachau (Advisor, Hamburg)
About Lloyd Werft
Lloyd Werft is a traditional Bremerhaven shipbuilding and repair yard founded in 1857, which has been in difficulties for several times due to the insolvency of its parent company, MV Werften in Wismar.
