Gabriele Apfelbacher is a partner based in the Frankfurt office.
Ms. Apfelbacher’s practice focuses on securities, banking and corporate matters, in particular international securities offerings, public M&A transactions, capital markets regulation and corporate governance issues. Ms. Apfelbacher has published several articles on capital markets and corporate and takeover matters and she has lectured on topics, such as "Implementation of the Market Abuse Directive in Germany", "Practical Experience with the German Takeover Law and Necessary Reforms Resulting from the EU Takeover Directive", "Developments in the U.S. and European Corporate Governance" and "Hostile Takeovers from the Bidder’s Perspective". Ms. Apfelbacher is also a co-author of "German Takeover Law – A Commentary", published by C.H. Beck in 2002. Ms. Apfelbacher is recommended in several banking, capital markets and corporate/M&A categories by various lawyer directories, such as
JUVE, the leading publication on German law firms,
Chambers Global and
PLC Global Counsel Equity Capital Markets Handbook.
Ms. Apfelbacher advises on public M&A transactions, and regularly represents issuers and investment banks in equity and equity linked-offerings. Recently, Ms. Apfelbacher advised Postbank on their capital increase as well as on the German aspects of Qimonda’s convertible bond, the first U.S. dollar-denominated, SEC-registered convertible bond issued by a German stock corporation. She also led the Cleary Gottlieb-Teams advising the underwriters on the IPO of centrotherm photovoltaics and of SMA Solar Technology. She also represented STRABAG SE in its IPO on the official market of the Vienna Stock Exchange, the then largest IPO on the Vienna Stock Exchange. Furthermore, Ms. Apfelbacher advised on two convertible bond offerings of TUI as well as on TUI’s capital increase including a rights offering. In 2005, she represented HypoVereinsbank in its business combination with the Italian bank UniCredit, one of the largest European cross-border M&A transactions in the banking sector. In 2004, she advised HypoVereinsbank on its capital increase, including a rights offering in Germany, Austria and Switzerland and a private placement in the United States in accordance with Rule 144A. In 2003, Ms. Apfelbacher represented Bank Austria Creditanstalt in connection with its initial public offering. She also worked on various convertible bond offerings and bank capital transactions.
Ms. Apfelbacher joined the firm in 1993 and became a partner in 2001. She has also been resident in the New York office. Prior to joining the firm, Ms. Apfelbacher was a staff member of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. She received an LL.M. degree from Columbia University School of Law in 1994 and a Doctorate in Law, summa cum laude, from the Universität Regensburg in 1992. Ms. Apfelbacher passed the second state examination in the State of Bavaria in 1991 and the first state examination at the University of Regensburg in 1988.
Ms. Apfelbacher is a member of the Bars in Frankfurt am Main and New York. Her native language is German and she is fluent in English.