Impact investments
Our experts, mission- and impact-driven, advise companies and investors on how to structure and implement venture capital and private equity investments. They focus, among other things, on defining the sustainability goals to be achieved with the investment, on incorporating them in the company documents and the investment agreement as well as ensuring their being complied with through comprehensive information and monitoring rights for the investor. Based on years of experience we are the ideal partner when it comes to drawing up ESG investment guidelines. We help impact investors who, mission-led and based on varying levels of shareholding and influential power, want to work towards the transformation of a company, by offering our special know-how in the field of ESG shareholder activism.
M&A
Company law has, for more than five decades, been the core competence of our firm. Based on this core competence we have early on developed methods for a comprehensive ESG due diligence system used to establish whether the target meets the defined sustainability criteria or whether, at the very least, it has the resources to implement them in the wake of the acquisition.
Does the company comply with the current requirements concerning sustainability reporting or the statement on company management? What about management practices? Are there committees that deal with matters of sustainability? Are processes in place that foster diversity and support a policy of gender equality concerning access to management positions? Human rights, above all compliance with the requirements to be met by supply chains in line with the German Act on Corporate Due Diligence Obligations in Supply Chains (Lieferkettensorgfaltspflichtengesetz) are other central aspects that must be looked at.
We assist our clients by ensuring that all measures considered necessary are complied with. This may, for example, take the form of incentives for the management, the creation of panels dealing with ESG matters or the establishment of an impact committee at the parent company that advises the target after the closing date on how to implement ESG goals.
Sustainable Finance
As far as banks, capital management companies and financial service providers are concerned, the regulatory framework concerning the reduction of climate and environmental damage is subject to permanent adjustments and developments. The regulatory requirements range from comprehensive reporting duties and a label for green financial products to new EU benchmarks and obligations of the investment adviser during the consultation process in line with the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II).
These regulations aim to increasingly redirect capital flows towards sustainable investments and increase the transparency of financial products. We help our clients in the finance sector to understand and implement the regulatory requirements. It is not about trying to catch up with the regulatory development but staying on the ball and never losing sight of the client’s own ESG goals.
Another core part of our work is providing advice associated with the implementation of novel financial products that are geared towards ESG goals such as, for example, green and blue bonds. Based on our expertise in sustainable finance we can also offer our clients effective support when it comes to complex financing projects involving listed and non-listed companies.
Social entrepreneurism
Even in countries with a functioning welfare state such as Germany social entrepreneurism plays an important role and helps to appropriately address the social problems of a society. We develop creative company structures that provide legal protection for and ensure the fiscal viability of social investments. This may take place within traditional company structures including joint venture, hybrid, and tandem systems or on the basis of non-profit forms of corporations (non-profit private limited companies or non-profit public companies).
Our expertise is greatly appreciated. We did, for instance, inform the OECD during expert meetings about the core aspects of social entrepreneurism in German law.
Since many social entrepreneurs use foundations to pool their engagements we have, early on, specialised in providing foundations with structuring and comprehensive accompanying as well as tax-optimised advice.
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