Öffentliche Übernahmen von Publikumsgesellschaften: Möglichkeiten und Schranken des Einsatzes von Mitteln der zivilrechtlichen Rechtsdurchsetzung

Civil claims may be raised in the context of public tender offer proceedings. From a timing perspective, however, civil proceedings and public tender offer proceedings can hardly be synchronized. Whereas a public tender offer proceeding is driven by short deadlines and fast decision-making, civil proceedings may last several years. Based on two practical examples, the present article explores the coordination possibilities between these two proceedings. The first example relates to the possibility for an offeror to request the conduct of a due diligence of the target company based on inspection rights under corporate law; in this respect, the defense possibilities of the target company’s board of directors will also be analyzed. The second example illustrates how the offeror may enforce its right to have any voting and share transfer restrictions removed from the articles of association of the target company so as to ensure the completion of the public tender offer transaction; here…