Noerr advises Condor on rescue during Covid-19 crisis

Condor Flugdienst GmbH (Condor) is again being rescued with state aid during the Covid-19 crisis. Following the first rescue that had become necessary last autumn after the collapse of the Thomas Cook Group, Condor is now again being advised by a Noerr team led by Thomas Hoffmann, co-head of Noerr’s Restructuring & Insolvency practice, and the firm’s Dresden-based insolvency specialist Marlies Raschke.

German development bank KfW is granting Condor a second, state-guaranteed rescue loan totalling €550 million, which will also be used to refinance the first rescue loan provided in early October 2019.

Following the collapse of the Thomas Cook Group at the end of September 2019, Condor prevented recourse by creditors of the Thomas Cook Group by applying for court-controlled ‘protective shield proceedings’ (Schutzschirmverfahren). KfW already granted a state-guaranteed loan at that time to cover the need for additional liquidity due to those proceedings as well as seasonal requirements. Condor would have been able at the end of March to leave the court-controlled reorganisation proceedings following its takeover by Polska Grupa Lotnicza (PGL) and also to fully repay the first KfW loan handed out in October 2019. In early March, the creditors had already approved the reorganisation plan presented to them, and the Frankfurt am Main Regional Court had rejected all complaints. However, PGL as the parent company of Polish airline LOT likewise encountered difficulties due to the Covid-19 crisis and backed out of the takeover. With this second state-guaranteed rescue loan Condor can, nevertheless, leave the ‘protective shield proceedings’ slightly later than planned.

The Noerr team had already advised Condor during the Thomas Cook reorganisation efforts and, after these had failed, on initiating ‘protective shield proceedings’, on the granting of the first rescue loan, on the investor process and on conducting the insolvency plan proceedings.

Advisors to Condor Flugdienst GmbH: Noerr LLP

Dr Thomas Hoffmann (Berlin/Frankfurt), Marlies Raschke (Dresden, both insolvency law and joint team lead), Andreas Naujoks, Dr Torsten Wehrhahn (both financing, Frankfurt), Dr Kolja Dörrscheidt (Litigation, Frankfurt), Sarah Blazek, Helge Heinrich (both State aid law, Munich), Dr Torsten Kraul (IT, Berlin), Emma Lenze (UK contract law, Munich), Dr Tobias Dolde (IP, Alicante), Dr Hans-Christoph Schimmelpfennig, Dr Benjamin Jahn (both employment law, all Munich), Dr Holger Schmitz, Dr Martin Geipel (both Berlin, pollution control law)

Associates: Dr Andrea Braun (insolvency law, Frankfurt), Eike Hofmann (insolvency law, Dresden), Dr Kenny Koa (insolvency law, Berlin), Dr Dorian Legel (financing, Frankfurt), Dr Daniel Dommermuth, Dr Michael Wilhelm Weber (both employment law, Munich)