Ireland’s commercial court played a pivotal role in October 2007 in the completion of the A5.7bn (£4.1bn) merger between German-listed banks DePfa Bank and Hypo Real Estate Holding in the most valuable corporate merger ever completed in Ireland.
Both DePfa and Hypo are worldwide banks with their origins in Germany, but DePfa is incorporated in Ireland. It could, therefore, structure the merger as a scheme of arrangement with its own shareholders under section 201 of the Companies Act 1963 (similar to UK Companies Act 1985, section 425). This is what brought the merger before an Irish court.
