People

Dr Werner Meier

Co-Head of Finance and Restructuring

Werner Meier is our Co-Head of Finance and Restructuring. He has more than 30 years of experience in German and European debt and corporate restructurings, syndicated loans, high yield bonds, securitisations and other structured finance transactions as well as M&A transactions involving private equity and strategic investors.

What we say about Werner

Werner is a member of Legal 500 EMEA’s Hall of Fame, which “highlights individuals who have received constant praise by their clients for continued excellence” and “who are at the pinnacle of the profession”. Legal 500 also quoted clients calling him “technically very strong“ and appreciating his “extremely quick feedback without any loss in quality“. According to Chambers, Werner is “greatly admired by clients, who say: ‘He is highly experienced and really fights for what the client wants’”. “State of the art, very professional and highly motivated“ is how Werner was described by a client quoted in IFLR1000. JUVE  called him an “esteemed restructuring expert“ with an “outstanding reputation“. Global Turnaround called him “one of Germany’s leading restructuring lawyers for private equity and hedge funds and banks“. Expert Guides lists him as a “Leading Practitioner“ for both Banking & Finance and Insolvency & Restructuring in both Germany and the UK, and calls him “one of the leading Banking & Finance and Insolvency & Restructuring lawyers worldwide.“ Werner has also won numerous awards for the transactions that he advised on.

In 1992 Werner was admitted to practice in both Germany and in New York. He holds a German Ph.D. in law (Dr. iur., with honours) and obtained an LL.M. degree (with honours) from Columbia University Law School and Columbia University Business School as well as a graduate degree (Diplom-Kaufmann, with honours) from University of Bielefeld Business School. He completed his German legal education and practical training (with honours) at University of Bielefeld Law School. Werner received a fellowship from Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung für die Freiheit and an award from the Parker School of International and Foreign Law at Columbia University. His native language is German, and he is fluent in English and proficient in French and Spanish. He is a member of TMA Germany and INSOL International.

Prior to joining McCarthy Denning, Werner worked as a German and European department head at major international law firms, including Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, Simmons & Simmons and King & Spalding, in Frankfurt, New York and London.

Highlights

• advised The Hellenic Republic in its €206bn sovereign debt restructuring, the largest restructuring transaction in history
• advised Henkel in connection with a €1.5bn revolving credit facility with a $300m swingline, the first “green loan” in Germany and the first of its kind Europe-wide
• advised bondholders in the multi-billion € HSH Nordbank privatisation
• advised bondholders in the multi-billion € AirBerlin/Niki insolvency
• advised Henkel in connection with a $3.6bn financing of the acquisition of The Sun Products Corporation
• advised a major international investment bank in connection with the debt and corporate restructuring of A.T.U. Group
• advised 17 international financial investors (banks and hedge funds) as creditors under senior and subordinated bonds and Schuldschein loans in connection with the resolution of Austrian Hypo Alpe Adria Group, involving debt in the aggregate amount of more than €18bn
• advised Och-Ziff Capital, York Capital, Farmstead Capital, Perry Capital, Wingspan Investment Management, and Caspian Capital in connection with the €4.2bn debt and corporate restructuring of IVG Group
• advised Texas Pacific Group (TPG), SilverPoint, Strategic Value Partners, Triton and Perry Capital in connection with the CHF 2.5bn debt and corporate restructuring of Swiss industrial OC Oerlikon
• advised Rusal in connection with the restructuring of secured credit facilities in the aggregate amount of $16.8bn
• advised BlueBay, Deka Bank, Dresdner Bank, GMAC, IKB, BNP Paribas, NIBC and two leading international banks (the steering committee of senior lenders) in connection with the debt and corporate restructuring of Kiekert Group; also advised a leading international bank, BlueBay, NIBC and SilverPoint as shareholders/lenders in connection with a second-round restructuring and a subsequent sale of the group.