[Berlin, ] GÖRG Partnerschaft von Rechtsanwälten mbB has advised Düsseldorfer Hypothekenbank AG (DHB) on the sale of the bank to Aareal Bank AG, Wiesbaden, by an investment company of the Deposit Protection Fund of the Association of German Banks (Einlagensicherungsfonds des Bundesverband deutscher Banken e.V.). The sale is still subject to official approval.
In the past, DHB had specialised in commercial real estate financing and public finance. In recent years, the strategic focus has already been on the orderly dismantling of the capital market and public finance portfolios.
In any case, DHB's sole shareholder since 2015 has been an investment company of the Einlagensicherungsfonds des Bundesverband deutscher Banken e.V. (Deposit Protection Fund of the Association of German Banks), after the sale of the bank to a financial investor in 2014 had finally failed. The reason for this was the announcement by HETA Asset Resolution, a successor unit of the crisis-ridden Hypo Alpe Adria AG, Klagenfurt, in March 2015 that it would no longer be permitted to make payments on the issued financial instruments acquired from DHB, among others, due to a moratorium imposed by the financial supervisory authorities. Due to the then necessary significant impairment of the HETA exposure, the Bank (temporarily) lost all of its equity. In the course of the dispute between DHB and various other creditor banks with the participation of the Einlagensicherungsfonds des Bundesverband deutscher Banken e.V. and under the management of Dexia Hypothekenbank Deutschland AG in the so-called Par-Investorenpool, a settlement was reached in 2016 with the involved Austrian state authorities, the State of Carinthia and the Federal Ministry of Finance in Vienna, which largely reversed the previously required value adjustments and ensured the further orderly dismantling of the bank. At the time, GÖRG had also provided legal advice on this creditor merger and the enforcement of claims totalling more than EUR 1.6 billion.
Advisors Düsseldorfer Hypothekenbank AG
GÖRG Partnerschaft von Rechtsanwälten mbB
Dr. Roland Hoffmann-Theinert, Partner, M&A/Banking, Berlin
Dr. Adalbert Rödding, Partner, M&A/Tax, Cologne
Dr. Christian Bürger, Partner, Antitrust, Cologne
Dr. Michael Zenker, Associated Partner, Corporate, Cologne
Dr. Jochen Thieme, Associate, Banking, Berlin
