Gabriele Fontane joined Oppenhoff in 2018. Prior to this, she was a founding partner of Otto Mittag Fontane, a law firm specialised in advising on M&A and private equity transactions, which was set up in 2009 by a spin-off of Thümmel, Schütze & Partner’s Frankfurt office. Gabriele Fontane practiced at Thümmel, Schütze & Partner for 14 years, including 11 years as a partner of the firm. She studied law at the Johann Wolfgang von Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main and started her career in 1993 as a foreign associate at Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle in New York.
Experience
Gabriele Fontane has been advising on M&A and private equity transactions since 1994.
She has proven expertise in management participation schemes and provides advice in this area to both managers offered a participation by financial investors as well as private equity houses. She additionally provides legal support to enterprises and family-run companies considering the sale of their enterprise. In this area, she also specialises in re-investments by sellers (so-called owner’s buy out) and family members.
She regularly advises family offices, private investors and business angels on investments in start-ups and venture capital funded enterprises.
Gabriele Fontane has been a lecturer on private equity on the M&A course at the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management since 2006. Since 2021, she has been a member of the supervisory board of the listed company hGears AG.
Gabriele Fontane is regularly named in the legal directories JUVE Handbuch, Legal 500 Deutschland and Best Lawyers as a frequently recommended lawyer in the areas M&A, private equity and venture capital.
Education
Dr. Gabriele Fontane
PartnerAttorney
Languages
German, English
Bockenheimer Landstraße 2-4
60306 Frankfurt am Main
T +49 69 707968 172
M +49 162 2703 858
Books and Legal Commentaries
Documentary Credit Law throughout the World [Documentary Credit Law throughout the World]
ICC Publication dated 2001, No. 633 (in collaboration with Prof. Dr. Rolf A. Schütze)
Articles and Essays
Zur Erfüllung von Aufklärungspflichten des Verkäufers durch Offenlegung von Informationen in einem Datenraum [The fulfilment of a seller’s clarification obligations by disclosing information in a data room]
DER BETRIEB dated 30 October 2023, Issue 44, pp. 2554-2555 (in collaboration with Dr. Günter Seulen)
Rückenwind für Käufer bei Fusionen und Übernahmen [Tailwind for buyers in mergers and takeovers]
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung dated 05 October 2022
Managementbeteiligung, nein danke? [Management participation, no thanks?]
BVK-Kurier dated 07 June 2022 (in collaboration with Jan Kaminski)
Die Familie an Bord holen [Getting the family on board]
FINANCE, special supplement dated March/April 2020
Neue Entwicklungen bei der Verkäuferhaftung bei M&A-Transaktionen [New developments in the seller’s liability in M&A transactions]
JUVE-Handbuch Wirtschaftskanzleien dated 2017/2018
Chancen beim Unternehmensverkauf - Private Equity kann helfen [Opportunities during a company sale – private equity can help]
Unternehmeredition.de dated 5 July 2016
Was den Private Equity-Markt 2016 aus rechtlicher Sicht bewegen wird [A legal perspective of what will affect the private equity market in 2016]
VentureCapital Magazin dated 7 December 2015
Vom Kapitalgeber zum strategischen Partner [From investor to strategic partner]
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Supplement: Financing for medium-sized businesses, dated 29 September 2015
PE - Attraktive Gestaltungen für Unternehmerfamilien [PE – attractive structures for entrepreneurial families]
PLATOW Recht dated 12 November 2014
Private Equity: Rückbeteiligung als Chance für Verkäufer [Private equity: reinvestment as an opportunity for sellers]
FINANCE Online
Wie die Zusammenarbeit auf Zeit gelingt [How temporary cooperations can succeed]
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Supplement “Finanzierung für den Mittelstand” (Financing for medium-sized businesses) dated 14 November 2012 (in collaboration with Dr. Hans-Jochen Otto)
Mittelstandsfinanzierung – Wo Private Equity helfen kann [Financing medium-sized businesses – where private equity can help]
PLATOW Online (in collaboration with Dr. Hans-Jochen Otto)
Wer hat das Sagen? - Equity Line- und Backstop-Vereinbarungen [Who’s calling the tune? – Equity line and backstop agreements]
FINANCE, Special Supplement dated 10 February 2010 (in collaboration with Dr. Thomas M. Hofacker)
Cash Pooling könnte wieder leichter werden [Cash pooling could become easier again]
Jahrbuch Unternehmensfinanzierung dated 2008, 98
Risikobegrenzung oder Gefahrenquelle? – Kenntnisklauseln in Unternehmenskaufverträgen [Risk minimisation or source of risk? – Provisions on knowledge in company sale and purchase agreements]
Venture Capital Magazin, Special Supplement dated 14 May 2004
23 June 2023, Frankfurt School of Finance and Management: Management participation - Lecture within the scope of the M&A postgraduate course