Entry Standard Celebrates Its 5-Year Anniversary: Heuking Kühn Lüer Wojtek Assisted with First IPO in 2005

On October 26, 2005, Deutsche Börse launched the Entry Standard. Heuking Kühn Lüer Wojtek was significantly involved in the process: The law firm's IPO specialists assisted with the very first listing of the Entry Standard and helped DESIGN Bau AG to complete a successful initial public offering.

Moreover, the firm's lawyers assisted Deutsche Börse in the run-up with the conceptual design of the new stock market segment, allowing for trading in the new segment to be opened on the day that saw its fifth anniversary on October 26, 2010.

It presented a particular challenge that, with the approval of the DESIGN Bau prospectus, the responsible division of the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) was involved in in an initial public offering for the first time.

Since then, lawyers of Heuking Kühn Lüer Wojtek advised and implemented 10% of a total of 80 IPO's, which according to a study of the German Institute for Share Promotion (Deutsches Aktieninstitut) took place in this period. Some of the then stock exchange newcomers have in the meantime used the Entry Standard as a springboard into the higher Prime Standard. Heuking Kühn Lüer Wojtek also assisted with a quarter of these segment changes. Only recently, the law firm advised Tonkens Agrar AG on its IPO and assisted with S.A.G. Solarstrom AG's change to the General Standard.

Legal counsel on IPO's: Dr. Mirko Sickinger, LL.M., Dr. Thorsten Kuthe (both Köln), Dr. Katja Plückelmann, Dr. Götz G. Karrer (both Düsseldorf)