Update Capital Markets 013: Delisting of German Companies – Impact of a new Ruling by the German Federal Court of Justice

Landmark Ruling of the II. Civil Chamber of the German Federal Court of Justice: Delisting of German listed Companies now substantially easier. In a recent ruling the II. Civil Chamber of the German Federal Court of Justice (BGH) expressly overturned its prior judgement dating from 2002 in the Macrotron case which only allowed a delisting of a German listed company if the shareholders’ meeting had voted in favor of such delisting and if the company or its major shareholder made an offer to the minority shareholders to buy them out. As a consequence, also the cumbersome and lengthy legal proceedings to court-determine the adequacy of the offer price which so far normally followed a delisting and often resulted in an increase in the offer price by the court, will have to vanish.

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