Nicholas R. Palenker
Rechtsanwalt (Lawyer), Senior Associate
Dr Nicholas Palenker is a member of our Restructuring & Insolvency and our Private Equity practice groups. He specialises in complex restructurings, transactions in special situations, insolvency law and corporate law. He is the author of various publications, in particular on distressed debt investments and the German Act on the Stabilisation and Restructuring Framework for Businesses (StaRUG).
Projects
- VARTA AG
Advising a consortium of banks on the financial restructuring, incl. StaRUG-proceedings ("German Scheme") - Spark Networks SE
Advising the main creditor in a takeover by way of a StaRUG proceeding ("German Scheme") - StaRUG
Advising companies and creditors on the preparation and implementation of pre-insolvency restructuring schemes under the German Act on the Stabilisation and Restructuring Framework for Businesses (StaRUG) - Wirecard
Advising the insolvency administrator over the assets of Wirecard AG and its subsidiaries in the ongoing insolvency proceedings and in various sales processes - Loan-to-own
Advising a financial investor on the defence of a loan-to-own strategy - Credit Bidding
Advising a family office on the implementation of a credit bidding transaction - LVM
Advising LVM on the restructuring of Augsburger Aktienbank AG, esp. on the sale of the securities platform business to ebase Germany and the leasing business to Peac Germany - Hertha
Advising Hertha BSC GmbH & Co. KGaA in connection with the investment of Tennor Holding and the entry of 777 Partners - STEAG
Advising the guarantee lenders on the restructuring of the STEAG Group - Recylex
Advising the banking consortium in the insolvency of the German Recylex Group - Advising a securities institution in an administrative court dispute
- Hertha
Advising Hertha BSC e.V. on the first fully digital general meeting of a major German club based on the COVID-19 legislation
Distinctions
- Recognized by FAZ as "TOP Lawyer" for Insolvency and Restructuring Law 2025
- Recognized by Handelsblatt / Best Lawyers as "One to Watch" in Restructuring & Insolvency 2025
- Nominated for the Rising Star AGIS award 2024 of the German Lawyers’ Association (DAV)
My insights
Career
Legal studies at the Humboldt-University Berlin
Research fellow at the Humboldt-University at the chair of Prof. Dr. Christoph G. Paulus, LL.M. (Berkeley)
Doctorate at the Humboldt-University with a subject regarding restructuring and capital markets law (awarded with the Uhlenbruck-Award of the German Association of Insolvency Administrators)
Visiting scholar at the University of California, Berkeley, USA
Admitted to the Berlin Chamber of Lawyers
With Noerr since 2020
Memberships
- NextGen Leadership Program of the International Insolvency Institute (III) – Class VII (New York)
- American-German Young Leaders Conference of the American Council on Germany (2023)
- TMA Turnaround Management Association NextGen
- Insolvency Law and Restructuring Working Group of the German Lawyers’ Association (DAV)
Lectures
- 16. NIVD-Jahrestagung: StaRUG als Übernahmeinstrument
- Berlin/Brandenburger Arbeitskreis für Insolvenzrecht: „Sparking StaRUG“ – Einblicke in die kontroverse Übernahme der Spark Networks SE durch ein Berliner Restrukturierungsverfahren
- Arbeitskreis Insolvenzwesen Köln: Loan-to-own
Publications
- Ein Vierteljahrhundert Gesellschaftsorgane in der Eigenverwaltung – Lehren für die vorinsolvenzliche Restrukturierung? (with Prof. Dr. Christian C.-W. Pleister), in: Von der Zerschlagungs- zur Sanierungsordnung - Festschrift aus Anlass des 25-jährigen Bestehens der Insolvenzordnung (Ed. Gerrit Hölzle, Christoph Thole), 2024, C. H. Beck
- Kommentierung zu öffentlichen Restrukturierungssachen (§§ 84-87), Gläubigerbeirat (§ 93) und Frühwarnsystemen (§ 101), in: Seibt/Westpfahl (Hrsg.), StaRUG, 1. Aufl. 2023, Verlag Dr. Otto Schmidt
- Mit Krediten bieten – Credit Bidding: Überlegungen zum Selbsteintritt der Gläubiger gem. § 168 Abs. 3 InsO (with Prof. Dr. Christoph G. Paulus), in: WM 2020, pp. 1181–1188
- Ist das Akteneinsichtsgesuch eines Distressed-Debt-Investors illegitim, rechtsmissbräuchlich, verfahrensfremd oder schlicht erfolgreich?, in: ZIP 2020, pp. 1109–1114
- Anmerkung zu BGH, Beschluss vom 07.05.2020 – IX ZB 56/19, (Keine Versagung der Einsicht in die Insolvenzakte für Insolvenzgläubiger wegen des Verdachts des beabsichtigten Rechtsmissbrauchs), in: ZIP 2020, p. 1139
- Gläubigerbeteiligung in Zeiten von COVID-19 – Ein Plädoyer und Konzept für die Durchführung virtueller Gläubigerversammlungen nach geltendem Recht (with Prof. Dr. Christian C.-W. Pleister), in: ZRI 2020, pp. 245–255
- Loan-to-own – Schuldenbasierte Übernahmen in Zeiten moderner Restrukturierungen und mangelnder Gläubigertransparenz, Nomos, 2019 (awarded with the Uhlenbruck-Award of the German Association of Insolvency Administrators; discussed in: Existenz Magazin February 2020)
- Zwischen klarem Fingerzeig und Blick in die Glaskugel (with Wolfgang Zenker), in: INDat Report 9/2019, pp. 68–76
- Palenker – Loan-to-own (Short Summary), in: INDat 2020 – Handbuch der Restrukturierung, Sanierung und Insolvenz, p. 12
- Die Kohl-Tonbänder (with Robin Matzke), in: JURA 2017, pp. 951–962
- Interdisziplinärer »Wahnsinn« (with Adrian Lingens), in: INDat Report 7/2015, pp. 36–39
Well
informed
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