Not too long ago, the notion of a distressed investor doing business in Germany was considered absurd. The German economy – often described as ‘Deutschland AG’ – was perceived by international investors as a close-knit network of German corporates and banks that neither appeared in need of, nor welcomed, foreign capital.
It was easy for German corporates to get cheap financing: a call to the Hausbank or the local Sparkasse and money was provided smoothly at standard interest rates no matter what, not too many questions asked. It was a self-contained, but nevertheless powerful and stable organism, which outside investors found difficult, if not impossible, to penetrate.
