Hengeler Mueller continues to be particularly active on the corporate side and assists with IPOs, listings and capital increases; in the latter segment, the team recently also acted for banking syndicates. These instructions often entail cross-border aspects, especially to the US. In addition to cooperating with partner firms, the group also acts across practices within the firm and benefits in particular from the corporate team's expertise, as well as from the firm's restructuring, banking and banking supervisory capabilities. This interdisciplinary approach also reflects on team level: Reinhold Ernst, Wolfgang Groß and Dirk Busch are among the key contacts for corporate-related capital markets matters, while Alexander Rang also advises on banking supervisory issues.

Linklaters is renowned for advising the issuer side, but recently also increasingly assisted banks with matters pertaining to subscription capital increases, share block trades and IPOs. In addition to traditional IPOs, carve-outs and spin-off transactions, the group most recently also oversaw various SPAC IPOs.  The practice covers the entire DACH region and the Nordic countries, while clients also benefit from its fully integrated US practice; these cross-border capabilities also mirror practice head Marco Carbonare's skills, who is qualified under German, English and US law. Alongside his expertise in capital market transactions, he is also experienced in advising on corporate and M&A instructions, while Alexander Schlee acts at the interface between DCM and ECM. The close interaction between these respective teams forms the practice's backbone.

Under the leadership of Knut Sauer, Allen & Overy LLP's EMC team has been able to further intensify its cooperation with the corporate practice; clients can therefore not only rely on the group's assistance with IPOs, rights offerings, capital increases, stock exchange listings and share-linked transactions, but also with related corporate issues. The client portfolio thus shows a concentration of issuer-side advice, but also entails banks and investors. In addition to its cross-practice capabilities, cross-location coordination – especially with the offices in Luxembourg, Amsterdam and London – is an essential feature of the group's advice. The close cooperation with Germany-based, US-licensed lawyers equips the team well for US-related instructions.

Consisting of German and US lawyers, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP's multi-jurisdictional team is well equipped to advise on US-related instructions – which most recently included a US De-SPAC merger transaction –, but also routinely assists with capital market transactions in the DACH region. The group's advice offering to both issuers and underwriters includes assistance with IPOs, secondary offerings, capital increases, share-linked transactions and various related corporate law issues. Stephan Hutter heads the practice and, in addition to capital markets law, is also experienced in overseeing cross-border corporate and M&A matters.

With the arrival of Stephan Hennrich from Hengeler Mueller in May 2020, Ashurst LLP not only strengthened its traditional capital markets arm, but also its competencies at the interface to M&A, for which practice head Matthias von Oppen is also known. The group advises banks and issuers – especially from the e-mobility, real estate, technology and healthcare sectors – on IPOs, capital increases (especially prospectus-free capital increases with subscription rights) and secondary offerings as well as issuers on ongoing post-admission obligations, such as changes resulting from the new market abuse regulation.

While also acting for banks in issuance-related matters, CMS is particularly often instructed by issuers to advise on various capital market transactions; in addition to IPOs on the German stock exchange, NASDAQ and Euronext, these include capital increases, public takeovers and stock dividends. The team is further experienced in advising on segment changes and capital markets-related compliance. The required interdisciplinary skills are reflected in the two practice heads' specialisations: Andreas Zanner is adept at capital markets, corporate and takeover law while Philipp Melzer focuses on ECM, DCM as well as structured financial products.

Gleiss Lutz' advice is based on a close interaction between capital market and corporate law practices, which is particularly sought after by issuers. Under the leadership of Stephan Aubel, the team advises on share-linked transactions, capital increases, share dividends and IPOs, including related M&A and restructuring issues. For share placements with US investors according to Rule 144A, the group cooperates with partner firms.

Noerr‘s capital markets focus differs according to the location of its teams: the Frankfurt office advises issuers, investors and issuing banks on classic capital market transactions, such as IPOs and capital increases, as well as related DCM and corporate issues, while the Munich team focuses on assisting companies with ongoing stock corporation and capital market law issues, such as post-admission obligations and general meetings, as well as with corporate-related matters such as public takeovers and restructuring. The Hamburg practice, alongside general corporate issues and public takeovers, recently increasingly focused on stock issues. At the beginning of 2022, Julian Schulze De La Cruz took over the practice's co-lead from Gerald Reger and now heads the team together with Holger Alfes; all three are well-versed in capital markets as well as in corporate and M&A matters.