Fresh start for long-established Olpe enterprise

Press Release 25 November 2009

Oppenhoff & Partner has advised the newly founded MGI-Imhäuser GmbH and its shareholders on the acquisition of the tube production and tube processing divisions from the insolvency estate of Metallwerke Gustav Imhäuser GmbH & Co. KG in Olpe.

Metallwerke Gustav Imhäuser, a long-established Olpe enterprise that has been run by the Im-häuser family for generations, most recently by Paul Imhäuser as the sole shareholder and general manager, was forced to file for insolvency at the end of June 2009 on grounds of illiquidity.

Following the opening of insolvency proceedings on 1 October 2009, the insolvency administrator has now been able to sell the tubing division with pertaining real estate, with the consent of the creditors’ committee and creditors’ meeting, and therewith retain a substantial number of jobs. Ac-quirer of the tubing division is the new MGI-Imhäuser GmbH, a substantial holding in which is held, besides by members of the Imhäuser family, by the Siegen-based Ross/Henrich family of entrepre-neurs. The company’s managing director is Paul Imhäuser, and he is assisted on the management by Stephan Henrich. The foundry, a further division of the metal works, is being continued by the insolvency administrator, however, and a buyer is still being sought.

An Oppenhoff & Partner team led by Dr. Christoph Poertzgen (insolvency law/corporate law) and Peter Hützen (labour law) extensively advised the new company MGI-Imhäuser GmbH on the ac-quisition of the tubing division. Further team members were Stephan Müller and Holger Hofmann (both public law/regulatory) as well as Wolfram Vogel (tax law).

A further advisor of Paul Imhäuser was Bernd Frielingsdorf (HFB Steuerberatung). Also involved: Andreas Pantlen (Wellensiek Rechtsanwälte) as the insolvency administrator of Gustav Imhäuser Metallwerke.

About Oppenhoff & Partner

Oppenhoff & Partner is an independent law firm located in Cologne. It sees itself as a top-ranking legal adviser of enterprises and entrepreneurs, offering a broad range of advice on commercial and tax law. With more than 55 lawyers, it focuses on the provision of advice to regional, national and international major and medium-sized enterprises. Oppenhoff & Partner’s clients include Ford, Hannover Rück, Johnson & Johnson, M. DuMont Schauberg, RWE, United Airlines, Vattenfall and the Zurich Group.