DLA Piper advises Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG on the restructuring of the company pension scheme

DLA Piper has advised Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG on the restructuring of the company pension scheme, covering all employees in Germany. This was agreed by the Management Board and employee representatives of the company together with the IG Metall trade union. A collective bargaining agreement brings together the previous pension arrangements of the German Heidelberg Group. In addition, a uniform dynamization of company pensions was agreed upon, which is based on the expected lower inflation. This makes the development of pensions more predictable for employees, pensioners and the company and at the same time reduces administrative costs. The new regulation leads to a reduction in the expected future pension increases and, with a positive effect of around €65 million on the operating result (EBITDA), strengthens the company’s equity in the current first quarter of the financial year. With this step, the company is also reacting to the historically low interest rates in the euro area, which will lead to further increases in provisions for pension obligations in the future. Damping future pension increases therefore has a positive effect on rising pension obligations. The restructuring of the company pension scheme is part of the comprehensive package of measures to increase profitability announced by Heidelberger Druckmaschinen in March, on which a team from DLA Piper also advised, under the joint leadership of partners Dr Benjamin Parameswaran (Corporate/M&A, Hamburg), Mike Danielewsky (Restructuring, Frankfurt) and Dr Henriette Norda (Employment, Hamburg).

A DLA Piper team under the joint leadership of partners Dr Henriette Norda (Employment, Hamburg) and Dr Marco Arteaga (Pensions, Frankfurt), which also included Counsel Dr Annekatrin Veit and Senior Associate Georg Haberkorn (both Munich, pensions), has now advised on the restructuring of the company pension scheme.