Abstract

The article concerns a well-known case of insolvency of a German publishing house Suhrkamp. A major shareholder used the amendment of the German insolvency law to change the legal form of the company and by doing so to pacify another minor inconvenient shareholder. This solution is a brekthrough because the insolvency law was used as a weapon in the fight among shareholders which until now had been waged mainly using the commercial companies law. The new application of the insolvency law opens up new possibilities as regards disputes within a company without giving clear answers where this new style of fighting against an unwanted business partner may lead.

Outlining and analyzing the same facts in in the light of both German and Polish laws the article makes it clear that under the amendment to the Polish bankruptcy and reorganization law a similar solution would not be possible or highly improbable.