German team advises management of Amor Group on financial restructuring in successful StaRUG proceedings

Global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright has advised the management of Amor Group on successful restructuring proceedings under the German Corporate Stabilization and Restructuring Act (StaRUG) together with Brinkmann & Partner. The proceedings and the restructuring plan for the two group companies AMOR GmbH and AmoGi AcquiCo GmbH were confirmed by the responsible local court – restructuring court – Frankfurt am Main and became legally binding on October 25, 2024.

Amor Group, headquartered in Hanau, Germany is one of Europe's most successful vertically integrated jewelry system providers in the entry-level and mid-range price segment. Founded in 1978, the jewelry wholesaler and retailer now employes around 750 people. The group is represented in 27 countries worldwide in the brick-and-mortar retail and e-commerce sectors. In recent years, Amor, like many companies in the consumer goods industry, has faced significant challenges. This necessitated a financial restructuring and recapitalization of the Amor Group.

The Amor Group had made early efforts to implement a financial restructuring, including an investor process. Since an agreement with all financial creditors could not be reached, the Amor Group had to file for StaRUG proceedings at the Frankfurt am Main District Court – Restructuring Court – for two of its group companies on August 14. On September 25, 2024, both restructuring plans were accepted by the required majorities of those affected by the plan at the discussion and voting meeting.

The restructuring plans provide for a substantial debt waiver and a significant equity contribution by the investor Robus Capital Management, which will also take over both companies as an investor under the restructuring plans. With the successful conclusion of the two StaRUG proceedings, the continued existence of the two companies and the Amor Group has been restored and secured in the long term.

The management of Amor Group was advised by a German Norton Rose Fulbright team led by Daniel Arends (Counsel, Restructuring & Insolvency, Hamburg). The team further consisted of Bernhard Fielder (partner, Banking/Finance, Frankfurt), Anna-Maria Baorda (Associate, Frankfurt) and Lorenz Scholtis (Associate, Frankfurt) (both Restructuring & Insolvency). On the side of Brinkmann & Partner advice was given by Christoph Enkler and Dr Jan Markus Plathner.

Arends moved from Brinkmann & Partner to the continuously growing restructuring and insolvency law team at Norton Rose Fulbright headed by partner Dr. Sylwia Maria Bea-Pulverich in spring of this year.