Spain

The Spanish economy is the eighth largest worldwide and the fifth largest in Europe. In 2007 it grew by 3.8 percent, for the third consecutive year outpacing all G7 members and all major EU economies. Main trading partners of Spain are the EU countries, in particular France and Germany.

Spain is an attractive target for German investors; bilateral trade relations between the two countries represent approximately 8 percent of the Spanish GDP. In recent years, the volume of Spanish direct investment in other countries – especially Germany – has been increasing as well.

These considerations have caused BEITEN BURKHARDT to establish a competent coordination center for commercial law, tailored to the needs of Spanish, Latin American, and German clients: the SPANISH DESK

BEITEN BURKHARDT’s SPANISH DESK

1. What is the SPANISH DESK?
BEITEN BURKHARDT has decided to concentrate its comprehensive expertise in German and Spanish/Latin American commercial law in a dedicated competence center located in Frankfurt and Dusseldorf – the SPANISH DESK. The center will offer coordination services, as well as advice on all aspects of commercial law, to companies from Spain/Latin America and Germany.

BEITEN BURKHARDT is an active participant in a far-reaching network of cooperation partners in Spain and South America. The network is kept alive through meetings of the German-Spanish Lawyer’s Association, as well as frequent cooperation in cross–border transactions. As an independent law firm, BEITEN BURKHARDT is in a position to choose its cooperation partners freely, rather than being limited to a fixed network of associated law firms.

The assistance provided by the SPANISH DESK is not restricted to legal advice only:
Should Spanish-German or German-Spanish translations be required, BEITEN BURKHARDT has sufficient in-house translation capacities at its disposal so that no costs for external translators will accrue.

2. Who can contact the SPANISH DESK?
Target clients of the SPANISH DESK are Spanish/Latin American companies which are doing business in the German Market (or intend to do so), as well as German companies seeking advice on the legal aspects (under German law) of cross-border transactions with Spanish/Latin American partners. Moreover, the SPANISH DESK will manage the cooperation with the Spanish law firms on clients´ behalf.

3. Which legal fields are covered by the SPANISH DESK?
Our lawyers at the SPANISH DESK provide legal advice to Spanish or Latin American companies in Germany. They advise on both legal and tax matters, using Spanish as transaction language if desired. Main areas of specialization are corporate law, with particular emphasis on aspects relevant to mergers & acquisitions and restructuring efforts, as well as corporate finance and real estate transactions. Whenever necessary, our SPANISH DESK lawyers can call upon the comprehensive commercial expertise of their BEITEN BURKHARDT colleagues from other fields (such as banking law, labour law, IP/IT/Media, public and procurement law) in our five German and eight international offices.

4. Does the SPANISH DESK also advise on Spanish/Latin American Law?
As a general rule, the SPANISH DESK will advise on German legal issues only. However, due to our close cooperation with competent colleagues at Spanish/Latin American law firms we are also able to give advice on all questions regarding Spanish/Latin American law. One of our SPANISH DESK lawyers is a member of the Spanish bar.

5. Who are your contacts at the SPANISH DESK?
The SPANISH DESK is directed and managed by Dr. Günther M. Bredow, an Equity Partner at BEITEN BURKHARDT’s Frankfurt office. Mr. Bredow specializes in corporate finance and has accompanied clients through numerous major transactions, in particular portfolio and ABS transactions, IPOs, and M&A transactions. He is the author of various publications on mergers & acquisitions as well as on corporate law and capital market law. Among others, Günther M. Bredow studied at the University of Salamanca and he is fluent in German, English and Spanish. The JUVE handbook mentions Günther M. Bredow as frequently recommended lawyer for M&A and corporate law.

Thomas Seipel is a lawyer and tax consultant at our Dusseldorf office. He specializes in the areas of corporate and real estate law. Thomas Seipel is fluent in German, English and Spanish.

Ferdinand von Schönfeldt is a lawyer at our Frankfurt office, specializing in corporate and energy law. In the course of his academic studies he spent one year at the Catholic University of Chile. Mr. von Schönfeldt is fluent in German, English and Spanish.

Florian Deck is a lawyer with bar admissions in Germany and Spain, as well as a Publicly Appointed Translator for Spanish. He has received a Master’s degree in European Law from the University of Valencia, Spain, and works at our Frankfurt office. Florian Deck is fluent in German, Spanish, English and French.

If you have any questions concerning the SPANISH DESK, please feel free to contact our Frankfurt office:

Dr. Günther M. Bredow, LL.M
lawyer, Attorney-at-Law (N.Y.)
Tel.: +49 69 756095-125
Email

or one of the persons listed on the bottom right of this page.