Hamburg – ECE has adopted a new structure with effect from 1 January 2021. The ECE Group is an international owner-managed family firm in the real estate and investment business. It offers asset management, development expertise, investment management and other full-service real estate services under one roof.
A CMS team headed by lead partner Dr Christian von Lenthe and client relationship partner Dr Sebastian Orthmann advised ECE on legal and tax aspects of the restructuring. The project was managed at ECE by general counsel Joachim Kämpf. The restructuring involved numerous corporate, tax and employment law issues, as well as reorganisation of the compliance structure.
The restructured ECE Group is responsible for the strategy and management of the Group as a whole. The two former divisions, ECE Marketplaces (shopping centres) and Work & Live (residential, hotel, logistics, office) become legally independent companies, as does ECE Group Services, which brings together the key central functions. Investment management firm ECE Real Estate Partners retains its existing structure as an independent, regulated alternative investment fund manager (AIFM). Based on the firm’s own figures, the new ECE Group will have annual revenues of around EUR 800 million, manage assets worth some EUR 33 billion and handle construction and planning activities worth approximately EUR 2.8 billion.
Hamburg-based ECE Group GmbH & Co. KG develops and operates shopping centres and realises large-scale projects such as corporate headquarters buildings, office blocks, industrial buildings, logistics facilities, hotels and urban ensembles. ECE was established in 1965 by mail-order company founder Werner Otto. It is still owned by the Otto family and has been managed by Alexander Otto, the son of the founder, since 2000. The business operates in thirteen countries. With around 200 shopping centres under management, it describes itself as a leader in the shopping centre sector in Europe and is one of the top three hotel developers in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
CMS Germany
Dr Christian von Lenthe, Lead Partner, Corporate/M&A
Dr Sebastian Orthmann, Client Relationship Partner, Real Estate & Public
Dr Arne Burmester, Counsel, Lead
Charlotte von der Heydt-von Kalckreuth, Senior Associate
Dr Hanna Stukenbrock, Senior Associate, all Corporate/M&A
Dr Heino Büsching, Partner
Dr Olaf Thießen, Principal Counsel, both Tax
Dr Daniel Ludwig, Partner
Annika Vanessa Kemna, Senior Associate, both Labor, Employment & Pensions
Dr Eckart Gottschalk, Partner
Dr Charlotte Dobers-Koch, Senior Associate, both Compliance Structures
Dr Dennis Heinson, Counsel, Technology, Media & Communications
ECE Legal
Joachim Kämpf, General Counsel
Dr Niels Helmholz, Associate General Counsel
Lutz Garbers, Legal Counsel
Press Contact
presse@cms-hs.com
