Advising German Companies in Ireland
Over 300 German companies from a broad range of sectors including financial services, technology, engineering, manufacturing and life sciences have chosen Ireland as a place to do business. These companies have recognised the benefits of Ireland as a pro-business location with a highly developed regulatory, economic and labour infrastructure as well as a proactive approach to foreign direct investment based on having a vibrant open economy and stable political environment. The attractiveness of Ireland’s position as a committed member of the European Union and the Eurozone has come into sharp focus as a result of Brexit.
Our expertise is spread across more than 30 practice groups, including Finance and Capital Markets, Corporate, International Business, Mergers and Acquisitions, Technology and Innovation, Digital Services, Intellectual Property, Insolvency and Corporate Restructuring, EU and Competition, Asset Management and Investment Funds, Employment, Pensions and Benefits, Commercial Real Estate, Litigation and Dispute Resolution, Healthcare, Insurance, Tax, Private Client, Energy and Infrastructure, FinTech and Life Sciences. We work collaboratively across all areas, reinforcing a client first ethos among our people, and our broad and interconnected spread of industry and sectoral expertise allows us to provide the full range of legal advice and services to our clients.
Matheson’s Germany Group is multi-disciplinary, drawing on the expertise of all relevant practice areas with a focus on serving the legal and tax needs of German companies doing business in and through Ireland. Matheson has a long history of advising German companies on Irish legal and tax matters. Members of the group regularly travel to Germany to meet with our clients and local legal counsel with whom with work closely on common client matters.
Our recent expertise in advising German companies includes:
- Advising various German companies on restructuring and reorganisation projects to deal with the likely impacts of Brexit, including the migration of business functions from the UK to Ireland.
- Advising a German bank on the creation of the first digital platform for the issuance of commercial paper.
- Advising various German banks in respect of their asset-backed commercial paper programmes.
- Advising on the Irish law aspects of a number of German auto lease and trade receivable securitisations.
- Advising German banks on the enforceability of netting and collateral arrangements with Irish counterparties.
- Advising a number of German banks on the project financing of wind arms in Ireland.
- Advising a German car manufacturer in relation to electric vehicle charging regulations.
- Advising a German multinational investment bank and financial services company in relation to the refinancing of a loan in connection with a prime location city centre development (€261 million).
- Advising a German multinational investment bank and financial services company on the acquisition of a city centre property (€44 million).
- Advised a German investment company on its acquisition and financing of a city centre office block (in excess of €100 million).
- Advising an international investment bank on the Irish aspects of the implementation of a simultaneous cross-border merger of banks in Ireland, Luxembourg and Germany and conversion into a new European Company (Societas Europaea) headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany.
- Advising a German transport vehicle manufacturer in connection with legal proceedings relating to product safety.
- Advising a US tech client in connection with the successful defence of a challenge before the German courts to its decision to move its German European Works Council from German law to Irish law post Brexit.
Matheson is an active member of the German-Irish Chamber of Commerce and serves as a patron of the European Chamber of Ireland of which the German-Irish Chamber of Commerce is a member.