German Leveraged Finance in 2011 – Bouncing Back But Not As You Might Expect

For the first time since the beginning of the global financial crisis, the prospects for the leveraged finance market in Germany, Europe’s largest economy, are positive again. The German economy with the Mittelstand as backbone for German industry, including primarily midsized, privately held companies in traditionally strong German industry sectors such as automotive, chemical, engineering and manufacturing, seems ideal for the small to mid-cap M&A segment, while loans for LBOs will be structured differently going forward in light of lessons learned during the credit crunch and collapse of interbank lending. This article examines market developments and transaction structures both pre- and post-credit crunch and outlines what to expect in 2011.