Dr. Sebastian Stütze
Biography
Overview
Sebastian is a partner in the Employments, Compensation and Benefits Practice of White & Case. He advises national and international companies on all aspects of labor and employment law.
Sebastian is particularly specialized in all labor and employment law related aspects of strategic and private equity M&A, with his advice ranging from classic due diligence and transaction advice over the drafting of senior management employment contracts and management incentive programs to the structuring and execution of post-closing restructurings, including negotiations with works councils and trade unions and the restructuring of pension schemes. Sebastian advocates companies in labor court proceedings through all judicial instances, often in the context of disputes with senior managers, post-closing restructurings and compliance investigations.
Following his studies with a focus on labor and employment law Sebastian was a research assistant and lecturer at the Labor Law Institute of the University of Goettingen. Sebastian is a frequent lecturer on employment law for HR managers and law students and regularly publishes about employment law themes.
Experience
Advised ABN AMRO Bank N.V. (ABN AMRO) on its acquisition of Hauck Aufhäuser Lampe Privatbank AG (Hauck Aufhäuser Lampe) from Fosun International Limited, which is subject to regulatory approvals.
Advised the international private equity investor Battery Ventures (Battery) on the acquisition of steute Technologies GmbH & Co. KG (steute), a developer and manufacturer of switches, sensors and other products for medical and industrial applications.
Advised Tier Mobility on the sale of nextbike to Star Capital. The sale was preceded by a spin-off of nextbike that was driven by differences in business and operating models.
Advised Battery Ventures-backed Proemion Holding GmbH, a global provider of advanced data and analytics technology for mobile industrial equipment, on the acquisition of TrendMiner NV, an industrial analytics company of Software AG.
Advised commercial and industrial decentralized energy solutions provider ENVIRIA Energy Holding GmbH (ENVIRIA) on a capital commitment of over US$200 million from BlackRock through its Global Renewable Power Fund IV. ENVIRIA offers solar solutions for companies in the commercial and industrial space with a projected development pipeline of over 2,000 projects across Germany and a projected generation capacity of 2.3GW.
Advised the Prax Group, an independent global energy conglomerate, on its agreement to acquire a 37.5 percent interest in PCK Raffinerie GmbH (PCK) and its associated logistics assets from Shell Deutschland GmbH.
Advised a Prax Group, a multinational, independent energy group on its acquisition of OIL! Tankstellen GmbH, a petrol station operator with subsidiaries and activities in Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Denmark, from Mabanaft GmbH & Co. KG, an energy company belonging to the Marquard & Bahls Group.
Advising Pollen Street Capital (PSC) on the acquisition and integration of niiio finance groupAG (niiio), fundsaccess AG (fundaccess), FundHero SA (FundHero), FinTecc (FinTecc) and MiFID-Recorder GmbH (MiFID-Recorder).
Advice of Nordic Capital in the investment in Bilthouse, Nestlé in the takeover of Ankerkraut, and EON in the establishment of a joint venture with Igneo (all 2022).
Advice of Faurecia in the takeover of HELLA, Synthos in the takeover of Trinseo, and Ardian in the investment in YT Industries (all 2021).
Establishment and revision of various virtual participation programs (2021/2022).
On-site advice concerning the roll-out and running of a global compliance investigation system of a major OEM (2019/2020).
Advice in the restructuring, sale and shutdown of companies in different industries, particularly in the automotive industry, including negotiations with works councils and unions and litigation (e.g., Henschel, Kemmerich, Schaidt, Whitesell, PIAD, SMK).
Information on gender pay gap pursuant to "Transparency in Wage Structures Act" no indication for discrimination because of gender – Note to Regional Labor Court of Hannover, judgment of August 1, 2019 – 5 Sa 196/19, EWiR, p. 217 et seqq., 2020 (Auskunft über Vergütungsunterschiede zwischen den Geschlechtern nach dem Entgelttransparenzgesetz kein Indiz für Diskriminierung wegen des Geschlechts – Anmerkung zu LAG Hannover, Urteil vom 01.08.2019 – 5 Sa 196/19)
Fight or Flight? Required labor law reactions with an insufficient estate, ZInsO, p. 368 et seqq., 2019 („Fight or Flight”? Arbeitsrechtlicher Handlungsbedarf bei Masseunzulänglichkeit) (co-author with Hendrik Röger)
Social selection required when selecting employees for winding-up work because of company shut-down in insolvency proceedings – Note to Regional Labor Court Berlin-Brandenburg, judgment of December 13, 2018 – 5 Sa 1257/18 (“Air Berlin”), EWiR, p. 315 et seqq., 2019 (co-author with Hendrik Röger) (Sozialauswahl erforderlich bei Auswahl von Arbeitnehmern für insolvenzspezifische Abwicklungstätigkeiten wegen Betriebsstilllegung – Anmerkung zu LAG Berlin-Brandenburg, Urteil vom 13.12.2018 – 5 Sa 1257/18)
Chapter "Termination of Employments in Insolvency Proceedings" and chapter "Mass Dismissals in Insolvency Proceedings" in Hendrik Röger, Insolvency Employment Law, 2018 (Kapitel „Kündigung des Arbeitsverhältnisses in der Insolvenz" und Kapitel „Massenentlassungen in der Insolvenz" in Hendrik Röger, Insolvenzarbeitsrecht, 1. Aufl. 2018)
Employee's Remuneration Claim against "Strong" Preliminary Insolvency Administrator as Liabilities of the Insolvency Estate – Note to Federal Labor Court, judgement of July 27, 2017 – 6 AZR 801/16, EWiR, 23 et seqq., 2018 (co-author with Béla Knof) Vergütungsanspruch des Arbeitnehmers gegen den starken vorläufigen Insolvenzverwalter als Masseverbindlichkeit – Anmerkung zu BAG, Urteil vom 27.07.2017 – 6 AZR 801/16)
Chapter „Employment Law", p. 193-341 in: Daniel Gräwe, Business Law – Manual for Master Degree Students, 2017 (Kapitel "Arbeitsrecht" in: Daniel Gräwe, Wirtschaftsrecht – Lehrbuch für Master-Studiengänge)
Temporary Work: Time to Reform after the Reform? Selected Questions From Legal Practice, DB, 3071 et seqq., 2017 (co-author with Andreas Kössel) (Leiharbeit: Nach der Reform ist vor der Reform? Ausgewählte Fragen aus der Praxis)
