IFLR 1000
The Guide to the World's Leading Financial Law Firms

Gleiss Lutz's EU competition practice is spread between Stuttgart (the bulk of its merger team), Brussels (where the main state aid experts sit), Munich, Frankfurt and Düsseldorf. The firm has an especially strong track record with German clients, which has involved it in some of the highest profile state aid cases resulting from the financial crisis.

The firm also has an alliance with Herbert Smith and Stibbe, which is able to work jointly on certain cases.

According to one client, Gleiss Lutz was "very proactive and result orientated". Ulrich Soltész is recommended by one client who says: "He can see the legal case as well as the academic legal problem; he was very thorough in a much specialised complex area of law."

Both the Austrian and German governments have recently turned to Gleiss Lutz on state aid cases.

In recent work, the firm acted for Infineon Technologies in a Commission investigation into DRAM chips, resulting in on of the first settlements under the new settlement procedures, and also helped the company get clearance on the $1.1 billion sale of its wireless solutions business.

In on-going work, the firm was advising Duravit in an appeal against fines resulting from investigations into the bathroom fittings business, and Commerzbank on state aid matters regarding an €11 billion capital increase.

In three separate cases the firm was also mandated by German news agencies ddp and DAPD, WestLB and Deutsche Solar on state aid matters.

In October 2010 Jörn Wöbke joined Gleiss Lutz's equity capital market partnership by virtue of the German independent's merger with boutique firm Rittsieg.

Practice head Stephan Aubel helped the stuttering German IPO market get into gear in January 2011 by pushing through German bike manufacturer Derby Cycles' €85 million IPO. Aubel was also on hand to assist two companies in need of funds: advising shipping and real estate investment company HCI Capital on a refinancing, which involved a €32 million capital increase in August 2010 followed by an additional €11 million in spring 2011; and acting for photovoltaic manufacturer Solon on its €20 million capital increase.

There are queries about the capabilities of Gleiss Lutz's debt practice and competitors question whether it has a particular focus in this area.

Helge Kortz heads the department with Stephan Aubel. The former advised Morgan Stanley Senior Funding on the issuance of €500 million senior notes by NXP while latter has been active for RCM Beteiligungs on the issue of 90,000 convertible bonds for the nominal amount of €9 million.

One of the firm's key regular clients, Celesio, has continued to keep the firm busy, mandating the team on the issuance of a €500 million Eurobond with a final maturity in 2017 and a convertible bond with a total issue value of €350 million.

Market perception is that Gleiss Lutz, as with the other players in the market, also suffered from the dearth of new money deals. Partner Helge Kortz in particular has a strong name refinancing and restructuring and in one exemplary case advised on a comprehensive refinancing resulting in a significant sale of shares to the Mahle Group.

Gleiss Lutz's M&A practice significantly expanded through the firm's merger with boutique Rittstieg in October 2010. The firm now has two offices and six additional corporate partners in Hamburg.

Competitors respect Gleiss and see the firm as deserving of its place in the second tier: "Gleiss is a fine German firm and has a good market share," says one.

On the sell side, Gleiss has been active for long-standing client Infineon on the sale of its mobile communication chip business, Wireless Solutions, to Intel Corporation for $1.4 billion. Signed in August 2010, the worldwide carve-out was conducted in parallel with several potential buyers. Ralf Morshäuser, who had already advised Infineon on the sale of its Wireline business to Golden Gate Capital in 2009, closed the deal in January 2011.

A deal highlight for the firm came in December 2010. EDF, Europe's biggest power generator, agreed to sell its 45% stake in German utility Energie Baden-Wuerttemberg (EnBW) for €4.7 billion to the German state. Martin Schockenhoff led a team from the firm's Frankfurt office advising the buyers on this deal and the subsequent takeover bid for EnBW.

ACS's takeover of Hochtief could have global ramifications and Gerhard Wegen and Christian Cascante played their part in the notorious bid, advising Australian construction company Leighton, a subsidiary of Hochtieff, on the implications of the deal.

Another notable piece of work saw Jan Bauer advise retailer Bortelli on the planned acquisition of insolvent German organisation Karlstadt.

Market opinion is undecided on Gleiss Lutz. Some feel the firm deserves its place but others say it lacks visibility in comparison to the other firms in the second tier.

The firm's corporate team has significantly expanded since its merger with Rittstieg welcoming the boutique's name partner Andreas Rittstieg and partners Patrick Mossler, Jörn Wöbke and Rüdiger Zell to the practice.

One thing the market does agree on is that the firm's most important relationship is with client Blackstone. The firm have been active for the asset management firm on restructuring the existing financing for The Hilton Hotel Group with was acquired by Blackstone in 2007 for around $26 billion with the firm's advice. It was the largest acquisition of a hotel chain to date anywhere in the world. Partners Helge Kortz and Jan Bauer enabled the chain to reduce the existing financing by $4 billion by means of an early repatriation and conversion of parts of the mezzanine tranches into equity in 2010.

Another notable deal saw Bauer advise Ripplewood and RHJ International on the restructuring of the Honsel Group in autumn of 2010 and subsequently on its insolvency.

The market perception of Gleiss Lutz's restructuring practice is entirely positive. "They have a very good practice," says one competitor. "They are very active with Spahringer and Gopfert."

Head of department Andreas Spahlinger lead a team advising Luxembourg based investment firm Medfort on acquiring the PrimaCom Group from its insolvency administrator. The deal required a simultaneous preparation of an alternative purchase of PrimaCom Management, through the utilisation of liens for shares, and the restructuring and refinancing of PrimaCom.

An extensive transaction saw Spahlinger and partner Burkard Göpfert advising on the restructuring of the German Nortel in UK administration proceedings and the sale of various divisions by way of a total of six transactions at an overall value of in excess $2 billion. The transaction closed in spring 2011.