Answers for first-time buyers

In principle yes. There is no statutory access restriction — individuals, entities, foreign investors. In practice the administrator will check credit, financing evidence and continuation concept. Without those elements no deal will materialise.

In succession, the owner sells a still-active, non-insolvent business — usually due to retirement. In insolvency, the entity is legally in an insolvency proceeding and sold via the administrator or, in Eigenverwaltung, by the debtor under supervision. Negotiation style, pricing and legal structure differ fundamentally.

In regular insolvency almost always the assets (asset deal): brand, inventory, contracts, potentially staff. The insolvent entity remains with its liabilities. Share deals (share acquisition) are exceptions, usually via an insolvency plan.

From first contact to closing typically 8–20 weeks. Very fast deals (operational emergency): 4–6 weeks. Complex corporate cases or real estate: 6–9 months. Substantially faster than normal M&A (6–12 months), but under higher time pressure.

The legally binding primary source is insolvenzbekanntmachungen.de (§ 9 InsO). In practice buyers use aggregated portals like Übernahme-Radar or other providers, because the official portal offers no meaningful filters, no enrichment and no alerts.

In Germany 50–150 cases per business day, depending on the cycle. Of those, 30–60 % corporations (GmbH, UG, AG), the rest individuals and small trades. For buyers, only corporations with a registered structure are practically relevant.

The Federal Gazette (bundesanzeiger.de) is the primary source for annual accounts of all disclosure-required corporations. The last accounts reveal revenue, EBIT, balance-sheet total and headcount. Lag: 6–15 months after balance-sheet date.

The auditor's note that material uncertainties exist regarding the continuation of business activity. For buyers an extremely valuable early signal — it typically appears 6–24 months before insolvency. Buyers who systematically scan for these notes are months ahead in the deal process.

In regular insolvency the administrator takes disposal rights and monetises the estate. In Eigenverwaltung management stays in office under supervisor oversight. Buyers usually prefer Eigenverwaltung — direct line to management, shorter timelines, more creative structures possible.

The phase between insolvency filing and opening decision during which Eigenverwaltung is already ordered under § 270a InsO. Usually combined with the protective shield procedure (§ 270b InsO). Duration: up to 3 months. Deals are legally possible but must be conditional on opening.

A special form of preliminary Eigenverwaltung under § 270b InsO. The debtor gets up to 3 months, under a preliminary supervisor, to draft a restructuring plan (insolvency plan). Enforcement is suspended. For buyers more relevant as an investor deal within the later insolvency plan.

StaRUG (Stabilisation and Restructuring Act) is an out-of-court restructuring procedure without formal insolvency. The procedure is generally not public, making it hard for buyers to access — deals typically come via direct contact or restructuring advisors, not aggregated insolvency portals.

A restructuring instrument under § 217 et seq. InsO. The plan governs debt restructuring, monetisation and — where relevant — going-concern continuation. It can include debt cuts, debt-equity swaps and share transfers to investors. The classic path for share deals out of insolvency. Requires creditor majorities and court confirmation — 6–12 months of runway realistic.

In a clean asset deal: no. Legacy liabilities stay with the insolvent entity. Exceptions: § 613a BGB (business transfer for employment), § 25 HGB (business-name continuation — avoidable via liability exclusion in the register), environmental legacy. In a share deal: yes, you take on everything.

In a business transfer, employment relationships transfer automatically to the acquirer — including all rights (salary, commitments, holiday). Employees retain all claims against the new employer. Objection possible, but only within a deadline. If you need staff, it's positive. If not, structure very carefully.

Generally subject to VAT (19 %). Exception: transfer of business as a going concern per § 1 (1a) UStG — if a „living business” is transferred as a whole (continuation intent, transfer of essential business assets), the transaction is non-taxable. Must be settled with the tax advisor before signing.

In regular insolvency: the administrator, who legally represents the estate. In Eigenverwaltung: the debtor (company) with supervisor consent and, where applicable, creditors' committee consent. In insolvency-plan deals: the company after plan confirmation. Important for signing authority and challenge rights.

Not in the week of the opening decision (the administrator is overloaded), but in weeks 2–6 after. During security measures, earlier first contact is sensible for positioning. Detailed guide: Contacting the administrator.

There is no fixed market price. Asset deals range from symbolic EUR 1 (small webshops without inventory) to several million for machinery. Rule of thumb for online shops: 0.3–0.8× LTM revenue, depending on brand strength and inventory. More important than the absolute price: identify realisable assets and set the right assumptions.

No official notice carries trading status as its own field — you have to infer it from signals: an active bridge loan against the estate (Massekredit), a still-active company website, open job listings and a reporting hearing (§ 156 InsO) that hasn't happened yet all point to an ongoing business. Mass layoffs, an inactive website, or notice wording that says „wind-down” rather than „continuation” point to a shutdown. Detailed checklist: Recognising continuation vs. shutdown.

Yes, usually. After positive administrator feedback the firm sends its standard NDA. These are usually uncontroversial. If you need to share sensitive information (with your tax advisor, lawyer), that must be permitted in the NDA — standard NDAs cover this.

Standard is 100 % cash at closing. The administrator wants money for creditors — not in three years. Earn-outs, seller loans or instalments are very rare and usually unsuitable for insolvency. An escrow for trailing claims (typically 10–15 % of the price for 6–12 months) is possible but exceptional.

The administrator typically runs a structured bidding process, often with a deadline for written offers. Components: bid price + payment security + timing + continuation concept. The administrator is statutorily bound to the best realisation — the highest price doesn't always win if executability is uncertain.

We aggregate all German insolvency announcements (§ 9 InsO), commercial-register extracts, Federal Gazette accounts and brand research into a structured dossier per case. Users define a buyer profile in natural language; our platform finds matching cases and notifies on new hits.

Yes. All company dossiers are publicly viewable, no login, permanently and with no credit card. With a free account you follow cases and get updates on them. The administrator handling a case with contact details, the personalised match score (buyer-profile matching) and the full profile for buyers come with Pro.

The official portal is legally binding but hard to use in practice: no filters by state/sector/size, no enrichment with commercial register/Federal Gazette, no alerts. Serious buyers need a curated view — hence aggregated providers like us and others in the market.

All company dossiers are free to browse, no account needed; a free sign-in lets you follow cases. The administrator's contact, match score, alerts and full profiles are part of Pro, from €150/month — with 14-day money back on the first payment. Details on the pricing page.

One page per insolvency case, for buyers: who the call to the administrator is worth it for, a check list against the EU procurement and research registers, questions for the first call, paths after the purchase, market and comparable cases — every statement with its source. Members generate it with one click in a few minutes (Pro: 100 a month); every member reads an existing full profile without using quota. See an example.

Not for the public dossiers, and not for the free sign-in. Pro is paid at checkout; within 14 days of the first payment you can get it back in full with one click in your settings.

Three things: (1) Buyer-profile matching — every dossier scored 0–100 vs. your NL profile, no other provider does this. (2) AI Deal Playbook per case (fit, administrator outreach, first email, risks, 90-day plan). (3) Bilingual DE/EN — fully bilingual, whereas pure data tools are mostly German-only. Our pricing typically undercuts comparable data tools. Feature comparison on the pricing page.

The § 9 InsO scraper runs every 2 hours against insolvenzbekanntmachungen.de, followed by parallel AI enrichment (commercial register, Federal Gazette, brands, website, news) — typically 2–5 minutes per case. Net: new cases with a full dossier show up in the dashboard within ~2 hours of the official publication.

Data storage exclusively in the EU (our own infrastructure at Hetzner, Germany). No data sales, no sharing with third parties except technical subprocessors (Hetzner, Resend, Anthropic for AI Playbook — all under DPA). Buyer profiles are org-scoped; nobody outside your organisation can see them. Account deletion → immediate, complete deletion of all data. Details in the Privacy Policy.