The Legal 500

Within Antitrust, Linklaters LLP is a second tier firm,

At Linklaters LLP, Wolfgang Deselaers and Carsten Grave do ‘solid work’ while Bernd Meyring is ‘pragmatic and result orientated’. Daniela Seeliger’s ‘clients like her a lot’ as she is ‘very hands on.’ New clients include Daimler and Metro, and the practice continues to represent household names such as RWE and Deutsche Post. It has worked intensively on four cartel cases over the last 12 months (for example, the banana cartel case for Del Monte). Currently it is advising on 11 State aid cases including advising IKB Deutsche Industriebank. It represented RBS against Lufthansa in a key dominance case before the Düsseldorf Court of Appeal, and has been involved in high-profile competition litigation matters.

Within Banking and finance Bank lending, Linklaters LLP is a first tier firm,

Linklaters LLP has been ‘very active’ in the market, with Eva Reudelhuber ‘well known’ while Marc Trinkaus ‘gets the deal done’. Carl-Peter Feick heads this seven-partner practice, able to cover German, English and New York law out of its Frankfurt office. On a large syndicated deal, it worked with its London, Brussels and New York offices in advising Citibank and Goldman Sachs on the financing for Continental’s takeover of Siemens VDO. Another significant deal was its advice to the financing syndicate on the acquisition of 25.01% of the shares in Evonik Industries by the private equity firm CVC Capital Partners.

Within Banking and finance Project finance, Linklaters LLP is a second tier firm,

At Linklaters LLP Eva Reudelhuber is ‘very professional when addressing issues’. The team has been involved in some large project financings, and has started to provide legal advice on the financing of international projects outside Germany. The cross-border teamwork of the firm’s global project finance group is demonstrated by its advice to the Royal Bank of Scotland on the refinancing of the IP Maestrale 648MW portfolio of wind farms in Italy and Germany. The financing, underpinned by a complex tax structure, involved six jurisdictions.

Within Capital markets, Linklaters LLP is a second tier firm,

At Linklaters LLP Herbert Harrer has ‘good technical knowledge and commercial sense’ for equity capital markets work; Christoph Friedrich Vaupel is ‘experienced and knowledgeable’; and Fabian Ehlers keeps a ‘good grip on the major issues’. The team is advising IKB Deutsche Industriebank on a rights offering of up to €1.5bn. Peter Waltz, for debt capital markets work, is an ‘excellent deal manager’ and ‘knowledgeable about the latest developments in the market’. The practice represented Deutsche Börse on the issue and structure of a hybrid bond with a volume of €550m, the first German public hybrid bond transaction with a binding replacement capital covenant.

Within Corporate and M&A Large deals, Linklaters LLP is a first tier firm,

Linklaters LLP has a ‘very professional team’ with the move from Cologne to Düsseldorf a good move as the Düsseldorf office ‘is working very well’. The team recently won a large number of renowned clients such as Daimler and METRO, and represents 12 DAX30 companies. A busy year on the transactional front is exemplified by its advice to Citibank on the sale of Citi’s German consumer bank to Crédit Mutuel. Hans-Ulrich Wilsing is the new head of the corporate department replacing Götz Eilmann, who is taking a sabbatical. Christopher Bremme is ‘very knowledgeable’, Wolfgang Sturm ‘can find solutions which fit the purpose’ and Ralph Wollburg is an ‘icon in the market’. Wolfgang Krauel ‘represents his clients well while bringing the deal forward’ and Hans-Joachim Holzapfel is ‘excellent’. Thomas Nießen takes ‘control during negotiations’.

Within Dispute resolution, Linklaters LLP is a second tier firm,

Linklaters LLP has restructured its practice, with Frankfurt now focusing on advising clients on procedural and arbitration law. The team concentrates on areas such as stock market law, warranty and product liability law, energy law, and the protection of intellectual property rights. Klaus Saffenreuther is a ‘very thorough and excellent litigator’. Rupert Bellinghausen is another prominent figure while Alexandros Chatzinerantzis is a recently elected partner who specialises in the energy sector and regulatory law. In its comprehensive representation of IKB, the team is handling more than 100 investor actions filed before various chambers of the Düsseldorf Regional Court.

Within Employment, tier 4

Linklaters LLP saw numerous losses, mainly due to the firm’s new focus on a limited number of core areas of law. Head of the practice, and the team’s only partner, is Michael Tepass in Frankfurt. Consequently, the firm advises mainly on M&A and transaction-related labour law. The most important standalone instruction was the advice to Siemens Group on the integration of the diagnostics business. Furthermore, the team advised Klöckner & Co on its conversion into a European Company.

Within Information technology and outsourcing , Linklaters LLP is a third tier firm,

The Linklaters LLP TMT team lost big asset Stefan Lütje, who after the restructuring of the firm opted for moving to Olswang in May 2008, taking the whole media team with him. New head of practice Christian Hey focuses on big deals only, with a joint M&A and TMT team advising Equens Deutschland on the establishment of a joint venture in the payment and card-processing business. The team advised a logistics company on a global outsourcing project.

Within Insolvency and restructuring Restructuring , Linklaters LLP is a third tier firm,

At Linklaters LLP, the ‘very active’ Sven Schelo was appointed partner in May 2008, and is noted as ‘able to do the job’. However, its visibility in the market is still lacking somewhat. The practice advised on the restructuring and refinancing of IKB and the IKB Group. An international bank sought advice on the restructuring of two distressed special investment vehicles. The team also advised Sun Capital Partners on the takeover of Neckermann, and Kingsbridge Capital on the recapitalization of Kunert.

Within Investment funds, Linklaters LLP is a second tier firm,

Clients of Linklaters LLP say that one of the ‘leading lawyers in this field’, Alexander Vogt, heads a ‘team that is clearly very well versed and knowledgeable about structuring issues across Europe, especially those pertaining to German investors’, with an excellent reputation for real estate fund structuring and closed-end funds. The ‘practical’ managing associate, Markus Wollenhaupt, is a rising star in this department. The dynamic practice is forging new relationships with clients such as Commerzbank and Deka, and has advised Hines in creating its extensive European funds platform, targeting in excess of €4.4bn of aggregate committed equity.

Within Private equity, Linklaters LLP is a third tier firm,

At Linklaters LLP Rainer Traugott has ‘excellent technical skills with sufficient understanding of the other side’s perspective to get the deal done’ and the ‘very professional’ Ulrich Wolff ‘finds solutions’.The team operates on less of a stand-alone basis than other in Germany and works closely with its corporate and finance teams in addition to its colleagues throughout its international network. It is also working in the mid-cap segment and continues to foster relationships with major private equity houses, such as CVC and Dubai International Capital. On a multi-jurisdictional matter the practice advised Sun Capital Partners on its acquisition of the majority of the shares in neckermann.de.

Within Public sector, Linklaters LLP is a second tier firm,

The Berlin team at Linklaters LLP focuses on energy-related matters. Head of practice Kai Pritzsche advised EEX on co-operation with French energy exchange Powernext; and Electrabel on a number of privatisations of public utilities. Jan Endler advised WestLB on the bidding process for the acquisition of the State of Berlin’s share in Landesbank Berlin Hodling. A consortium including Bilfinger Berger instructed the team on German Federal Motorway A1, in accordance with the ‘A-Model’, and the practice has been involved in the privatisation of the Hamburg port and the German truck toll project.

Within Real estate and construction Real estate , Linklaters LLP is a third tier firm,

Linklaters LLP’s team is mainly active in financing and is comparably small in terms of numbers of partners. However, Jens Bock is praised as a ‘superb’ and well-known figure in Berlin, as isWolfram Pätzold, who receives recommendations across the market. New practice head Roland Fabian is an ‘excellent tax lawyer’, who has ‘outstanding intuition for potential issues’. Fabian heads a ‘dedicated team’ that ‘wants to get the deal done’. HANSAINVEST, Babcock & Brown, and UBS are clients, the latter instructing the team on the Frankfurt Opernturm project. National Bank of Dubai was also advised on the development for a European Commercial Real Estate Fund. ‘This firm is our first choice regarding complex transactions’, says one client.

Within Structured finance and securitisation, Linklaters LLP is a second tier firm,

Linklaters LLP’sKurt Dittrich has ‘performed very strongly’, with clients noting that he is an ‘expert’ on true sale securitisation programmes and understands ‘even subtle differences in various structures’.Laurenz Uhl is recommended as being ‘very proactive.’ The team advises on a large number of true sale and synthetic securitisations in different asset classes, advising RBS and Société Générale Corporate & Investment Banking (as lead managers) on the securitisation of a portfolio of unsecured consumer loans, amounting to €1.16bn, for Postbank, the first true sale securitisation of a portfolio of unsecured consumer loans in Germany. On the structured finance side, it advised HSBC Trinkaus & Burkhardt on the establishment of its warrant, certificate programme and structured note programme.

Within Tax, Linklaters LLP is a first tier firm,

Linklaters LLP’s German tax practice has a focus on corporate tax and finance tax law, while also covering other aspects of tax law from financial structures and transactional work to transfer pricing and tax litigation. In a complex transaction, it advised Citibank on the sale of its German retail banking business to Crédit Mutuel, and advised IKB Bank on its restructuring, capital increase and sale to Lone Star. Oliver Rosenberg is ‘outstanding and his work is always fast and right’. Jens Blumenberg and Andreas Schaflitzl are ‘very responsive and concise’, and Karl Schäfer is ‘excellent’.However, the departures of Martin Krause and Florian Schultz were a ‘significant loss’ and it remains to be seen how that will impact on the practice.

Within Telecoms