Noerr advised J.C. Flowers on Hamburg Commercial Bank’s switch to deposit guarantee scheme of private banks

A Noerr team led by Volker Land and Jens H. Kunz advised US investor J.C. Flowers & Co. on Hamburg Commercial Bank’s (HCOB) switch to the deposit guarantee scheme of the Association of German Banks (BdB) as of 1 January 2022. The switch ends a three-year transitional period during which HCOB, as a former federal state bank, was still a member of the institutional guarantee scheme of the German Savings Banks and Giro Association (DSGV).

The switch to the deposit guarantee scheme of private banks marks the end of HCOB’s successful privatisation. In 2018, funds advised by J.C. Flowers had taken over former HSH Nordbank and today’s HCOB, each as independent investors alongside Cerberus Capital Management and other investors. In this context, the German Savings Banks and Giro Association (DSGV) and the Association of German Banks (BdB) had agreed on the bank’s switch to the deposit guarantee scheme of private banks after a three-year transition period and the fulfilment of certain conditions.

J.C. Flowers was assisted in this transaction by a Noerr team led by Volker Land and Jens H. Kunz. Teams led by Volker Land, co-head of the firm’s Hamburg office and a specialist in banking M&A had already advised J.C. Flowers on the takeover of HSH Nordbank as well as on the negotiations at the time on the bank’s switch to the deposit guarantee scheme of private banks and the extension of the transitional membership in the institutional guarantee scheme of the German Savings Banks and Giro Association.

Advisors to J.C. Flowers & Co.: Noerr

Dr Volker Land (Corporate/M&A, Hamburg) and Dr Jens H. Kunz (Banking Supervision, Frankfurt, joint team lead, Banking Supervision), Dr Alexander Neumann (Banking Supervision), Dr Sarah Götze (Litigation), Vanessa Wüsthoff (Corporate/M&A, all Hamburg), Klaudyna Lichnowska (Banking Supervision, Frankfurt)