Capital Markets, Private Equity & Finance

Specialists in Capital Markets Law and Financing

ZENK’s capital markets and finance division is made up of lawyers from various interdisciplinary fields of law. It advises clients on all matters relating to financing and financial products.

Clients consist primarily of:

  • Banks
  • Financial services institutions
  • Capital-seeking enterprises

The legal advice provided by the division is not limited to the traditional bounds of capital markets law; rather, ZENK’s specialists provide comprehensive information on all aspects of corporate financing. They can also provide expert advice on state aid and other forms of subsidy.

Private Equity & Finance

Private capital can be a good alternative to financing via the traditional means of house banks or the public capital market. The financial crisis has shown just how important a role this can play – particularly in the case of:

  • Transactions related to corporate succession
  • Management buy-outs
  • Management buy-ins
  • Temporary liquidity bottlenecks
  • Investments

A key concern in private financing is that the focus is not on short-term profit making, but on establishing a long-term, reliable partnership. This makes it all the more important to establish a fair, legal financing basis for all parties involved. We provide comprehensive advice in the area of capital investments and corporate financing on the capital market.

The focal points of our advice in the banking & treasury field include:

  • Corporate financing by shareholders
  • Structuring of external financing
  • Legal issues relating to mezzanine financings
  • Issues under company law pertaining to the internal financing of company groups (e.g. cash pooling)
  • All types of financing structures and project financing, including PPP (public-private-partnership) models

State Aid Law and Structural Funds

The financing of tangible asset investments via public limited partnerships and other similar structures (so-called “alternative investment funds”) was, for many years, an important component of corporate financing in the real estate, media and logistics sectors. At the same time, these “private placements” were a popular, low-cost financing vehicle for wealthy private individuals and family offices.

After the financial crisis, however, the regulation of this market was greatly expanded, with the result that opportunities to take advantage of it – especially where planned investment volumes are low – are now very limited. It is now only possible to create cost-efficient, flexible financing structures in certain areas (“crowd financing”, bonds, etc.) – and then only with very specifically structured investment vehicles.

With more than twenty years of experience in alternative forms of financing, we are familiar with the associated day-to-day legal issues. As such, we not only provide you with legally watertight contracts, but can also serve as a sparring partner and as a poised, reliable guide for the design of an alternative financing concept – both in day-to-day business and through times of crisis.

Investment Law

Diversification is a basic regulatory rule and means minimizing risks in order to achieve long-term profits. “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket,” one could also say, and that’s where we’re going: Our advisory competence is the legal and tax structuring of closed-end real estate investment assets, for which an independent market has firmly established itself in recent years, as well as the clarification of sales-specific questions. Our clients include (capital) management companies, asset managers, consultants and service providers, distributors of fund products as well as professional and institutional investors. We offer you a legally compliant conception of closed public AIF, special AIF and real estate special funds and advise you in particular on the preparation of sales prospectuses and sales documentation. During the term, we support you in the management of the fund and advise you on all related regulatory issues.