Sacha Lürken

Partner Restructuring
Kirkland & Ellis International LLP

Munich +49 89 2030 6114

Sacha Lürken

Overview

Very commercial and solution-orientated. - Chambers

Sacha Lürken is a restructuring partner in the Munich office of Kirkland & Ellis International LLP.

Sacha advises financial investors and corporates in domestic and cross-border transactions on investments and divestments in all instruments of the capital structure, distressed M&A and corporate and financial restructurings. He is also an experienced corporate litigation lawyer, including advice on D&O liability and national and international arbitration.

Sacha is listed as a frequently recommended lawyer in the category restructuring and insolvency (Tier 1) in the 2019/2020 edition of JUVE Handbuch Wirtschaftskanzleien. IFLR1000 recognizes Sacha in its 2020 Financial and Corporate Guide as a highly regarded lawyer for restructuring and insolvency. He is also ranked in the 2020 edition of Chambers Europe for restructuring/insolvency in Germany.

Watch: Current Developments in the German Restructuring Market

Ad hoc group of European senior unsecured noteholders issued by Hertz Holdings Netherlands B.V. and guaranteed by Hertz Corporation (2020)

Ad hoc group of lenders on the successful recapitalization of BARTEC Group (2019)

Global Investment Manager on offer to creditors to acquire P&R bankruptcy claims (2019)

Ad hoc convertible bondholder committee on the restructuring of Steinhoff (2018)

Member of creditors' committees and advice to the largest secured creditor of the SolarWorld group (2017); largest lender in out-of-court restructuring (2014)

Ad hoc group of lenders to BARTEC on financial restructuring (2016)

Secured lenders of Scholz group on financial restructuring (2016)

Ad hoc committee of senior noteholders of HETA Asset Resolution AG (2015)

Financial investor in investor bid for PROKON insolvency plan (2015)

German retail group NKD in relation to its asset based lending facility (2014)

PE investor on public tender offers for distressed German open-ended liquidating real estate funds (2014)

Various bondholders in relation to Banco Espírito Santo  (2014)

Ad hoc committee of SynLoan I lenders in insolvency proceedings of IVG Immobilien AG (2014)

Junior lenders on the reorganization of Klöckner Pentaplast (2012)

Ad hoc committee of holders of convertible bonds due 2012 issued by Q-Cells (2011)

Sunrise Senior Living, Inc. on the financial restructuring and divestment of its German operations (2010)

Mezzanine Steering Committee of the Orion Cable/TeleColumbus group (2009)

Ad hoc bondholders’ committee of ESCADA (2009)

Creditors of Lehman Brothers Bankhaus AG (2008)

Insolvency administrator in the disposal of ATS to UNIWHEELS Group (2007)

Ad hoc bondholders' committee of Schefenacker (2006)

Moor Park Capital Partners in the acquisition of the real estate portfolio of Max Bahr Holzhandlung GmbH & Co. KG along with Praktiker which acquired the operational DIY business (2006)

Joint Administrators of Collins & Aikman Europe: administration and sale of German Collins & Aikman business (2005)

Treofan group: additional facilities and financial restructuring (2005)

Clifford Chance, Frankfurt am Main, London and Munich

More

Thought Leadership

Publications

Sacha Lürken regularly publishes articles and commentaries on legislation and court decisions. A full list of publications can be downloaded here.

Select publications include:

  • Chapter on bond restructurings in: Theiselmann (ed.), Praxishandbuch des Restrukturierungsrechts, 4th ed. 2020 (co-author with Dr. Marlene Ruf)

  • New procedures to prevent creditor hold-outs, in: Börsen-Zeitung, 20 June 2020 

  • Proposals for amendments to insolvency laws due to coronavirus crisis, in: Börsen-Zeitung, 14 March 2020

  • Chapter on Distressed Investments in: Jesch/Striegel/Boxberger (ed.), Rechtshandbuch Private Equity (Handbook on Private Equity Law), 2nd ed. 2020 (co-author with Dr. Sebastian Egger and Daniel Hiemer)

  • Chapter on Germany in: INSOL International - Bank Resolution - Key Issues and Local Perspectives (editor: Simon Brodie), 2019

  • Interpretation of the term "Financial Institution" in the transfer provisions of credit agreements, in: Wertpapier-Mitteilungen (WM) 22/2019, p. 999 (co-author with Dr. Alexander M.H. Längsfeld)

  • Hard Choices: Restructuring and Insolvency Dealmakers Face Uncertainty Ahead of Possible ‘Hard Brexit’, in: International Corporate Rescue 6/2018, p. 311 (co-author with Kate Stephenson)

  • Action Plan on the Reduction of Non-Performing Loans, in: NJW-aktuell 36/2018, p. 19

  • Restructuring of 'Schuldschein' loans, in: NJW-aktuell 8/2018, p.17

  • Schuldschein loans pose challenges in restructurings, in: Börsen-Zeitung, 10 February 2018

  • Chapter on out of court bond restructurings in: Hopt/Seibt (ed.), Debt Securities Law (Schuldverschreibungsrecht), 2017 (co-author with Dr. Leo Plank)

  • Chapters on overview of distressed trading and legal structuring of direct lending deals in Germany (co-author with Wolfgang Nardi and Oded Schein) and developments in the European legal framework for restructuring in: Investing in Distressed Debt in Europe (TMA Handbook for Practitioners 2016)

  • Chapter on the Bond Restructuring Act in: Servatius (ed.), ZIP Practitioners’ Book on Corporate Litigation (2016)

  • Not so dead yet – a fresh push from Brussels for an out-of-court restructuring procedure in: Neue Zeitschrift für Insolvenz- und Sanierungsrecht (NZI) 2015, p. 3 (republished in English in International Insolvency Law Review (IILR) 2015, p. 224)

  • Restructuring of New York Law governed bonds, in: Börsen-Zeitung, 18 October 2014 (co-author with Jan Dettbarn)

  • One year later: Germany's corporate insolvency law reform, in: Financier Worldwide Magazine, May 2013

  • Restrukturierung von High Yield Bonds nach Schuldverschreibungsgesetz und US-Recht (High Yield Bond Restructuring under the German Bondholders’ Rights Act and US law) in: Corporate Finance Law (CFL) 2011, p. 352 et seq. (co-author with Carl Pickerill)

  • Cross-border restructuring: Using English Schemes of Arrangement to restructure European vintage LBOs, in: Financier Worldwide, August 2011, p. 57–58 (co-author with Dr. Leo Plank)

  • Germany Plans to Strengthen Creditor Control and Company Restructurings in Insolvency, in: Financier Worldwide, February 2011, p. 33–34 (co-author with Dr. Leo Plank)

  • Germans to get pre-packs, cram-down of shareholders, DIP and choice of administrators, in: Global Turnaround, August 2010, p. 6

  • German parliament passes fundamental corporate law reform, in: Global Turnaround, July 2008, p. 10

  • German law reform could halt migration, in: Global Turnaround, July 2007, p. 7

  • New restrictions for attachment orders against foreign business partners, in: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 1 Sept 2004, p. 21

Press Coverage

BRRD: Challenges to Europe’s resolution ambitions, Global Restructuring Review, 31 January 2018

Kirkland & Ellis scores key role on restructuring of scandal-hit Steinhoff, Legal Week, 12 January 2018

SolarWorld is first big debt/equity swap under new German bond law, Global Turnaround, March 2014

Freshfields, US duo advise on €4.2bn debt restructure for Germany's IVG, The Lawyer, 28 May 2013

Debt-for-equity-swap – Nein danke!, Standard & Poor's LCD analysis, 2 February 2009

How German manufacturer ATS survived a split insolvency, Global Turnaround, April 2008, p. 8

German Insolvency: Present Challenges and Potential Solutions, Financier Worldwide, March 2008

Collins & Aikman sale close, Global Turnaround, April 2006, p. 8

Credentials

Admissions & Qualifications

  • 2002Germany

Languages

  • German
  • English

Education

  • Higher Regional Court of MunichSecond State Examination2001
  • Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität MünchenFirst State Examination1999