CBI member DLA Piper recently announced that it has been advising and representing the Quinshan Shipyard of China Changjiang National Shipping Group Corporation (CSC), one of the largest shipyard groups in China, during the insolvency proceedings of the Germany-based Beluga Shipping Group.

After insolvency proceedings meant that assurances could no longer be secured from a company of the Beluga Group for outstanding residual purchase prices amounting to €28 million on E Series ships that had already been supplied, the worldwide arrest of ships (India, Sri Lanka, Malta, and France) succeeded in bringing the new operators and the financing institution HSH Nordbank to the negotiating table. Agreement has now been reached on the claims being made by CSC.

DLA Piper's counseling process also involved the clarification of problems in civil law and civil proceedings as well as issues of German and European insolvency law and shipping and company law.

Carsten Grau, a specialist in maritime commercial law for DLA Piper in Hamburg, said, "This case showed in particular how the international and interdisciplinary working approach of DLA Piper has paid off by producing an efficient and practically oriented solution in the client's interest. During the course of the global economic crisis, worldwide asset recovery actions are becoming necessary with increasing frequency."

Click here to read the full press release by DLA Piper.