DLA Piper advises Lufthansa Group as main creditor in ZIM Flugsitz insolvency proceedings

DLA Piper has successfully advised the Lufthansa Group with its entities Deutsche Lufthansa AG, Lufthansa Technik AG and SWISS as main client and main creditor in the insolvency proceedings of ZIM Flugsitz GmbH.

All Creditors have unanimously approved the insolvency plan for ZIM Flugsitz GmbH during a meeting held on 15 December 2020 and ZIM Flugsitz GmbH exited the insolvency proceedings. The restructuring process for the aircraft seat manufacturer has thus been completed and business operations can continue. All jobs at the company’s main site in Markdorf have been saved, while, as announced in September, the production site in Schwerin has been downsized. ZIM has a workforce of about 150 employees in Germany, 130 of whom work in Markdorf.

The company introduced ground breaking reorganization measures and further developments during the debtor-in-possession insolvency proceedings. ZIM Flugsitz GmbH had been subject to debtor-in-possession insolvency proceedings from July 2020 until January 2021. The company already started in the summer to implement an efficiency programme, including considerable cost-cutting measures, at the main site in Markdorf in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg. Moreover, processes have been optimised in Markdorf with the aim of boosting efficiency.

“We are very pleased to have provided the Lufthansa Group a good starting position for its further cooperation with ZIM Flugsitz GmbH in this difficult economic environment,” said Dr. Benjamin Parameswaran and Sebastian Decker, Co-Client Relationship Partner of the Lufthansa Group.

The DLA Piper team was led by partner Mike Danielewsky and counsel Florian Bruder and comprised of senior associate Dr. Martin Kaltwasser, associate Maximilian Dieler as well as transaction lawyer Daniel Odenthal (all Restructuring, Frankfurt).