Hengeler Mueller advises Nederlandse Spoorwegen on the acquisitions of Abellio Rail Mitteldeutschland and WestfalenBahn out of insolvency

Nederlandse Spoorwegen (Dutch Railways) is acquiring via an indirect subsidiary the shares in Abellio Rail Mitteldeutschland GmbH and WestfalenBahn GmbH out of insolvency proceedings. The two entities operate regional railway networks primarily in central and northwestern Germany. The management of each entity had filed for self-administration insolvency proceedings in June 2021.

Prior to their insolvency, Nederlandse Spoorwegen had already indirectly held the shares in both entities as part of its wider German rail transport activities pooled under the brand name Abellio. Nederlandse Spoorwegen selected as its restructuring solution to re-integrate both entities into its group. In connection with each transaction, an insolvency plan was implemented and complex negotiations on future cooperation took place with the relevant public transport authorities and other stakeholders.

Hengeler Mueller advised Nederlandse Spoorwegen on the transactions. The team included partners Daniel Weiß (Insolvency/Restructuring, Frankfurt) and Jan Bonhage (Public Law, Berlin), senior associate Markus Reps (both Frankfurt) as well as associates Jasper Bothe (Berlin) (both Insolvency/Restructuring) and Anton Petrov (Public Law, Berlin).