1,689 German company insolvencies in July — and a leading indicator at a record high

1,689 insolvencies of partnerships and corporations in July, 7% above the same month last year: measured against the jumps of the spring, that is a quiet month. The gap to the pre-Covid level, however, remains at 75% — the elevated level is no longer an outlier, it is the market's normal state.

The employment figures show this is not only about micro-businesses: in the largest ten percent of insolvent companies, more than 13,000 jobs were affected in July — 26% more than a year earlier, around 6,000 of them in industry. Larger units with real operations, machinery, customer contracts and brands are entering proceedings. Those are the cases where a going-concern sale makes sense at all.

For buyers, though, the finding that matters is the outlook: the IWH reports a new record high in its leading indicators and expects continued high numbers of company failures. Sharpening an acquisition thesis, preparing financing and building administrator relationships today is not preparation for a cycle that is ending — it is preparation ahead of the next wave.

July was not an even month, and that is precisely where the usable information lies. Among business-related service providers and among financial and insurance service providers, the IWH recorded the highest levels ever measured in the IWH bankruptcy trend. Hospitality, by contrast, came in unusually low.

For buyers this is a map, not a statistic. Business-related services — agencies, IT firms, engineering and consulting companies, staffing providers — are asset-deal candidates with a particular profile: the value sits in customer contracts, teams and software, not in real estate. Such proceedings have to be decided quickly, because the substance walks out of the door with every week of standstill. That raises the pressure on the administrator's side and shortens the negotiation for a buyer who arrives prepared.

Conversely, an unusually weak month in hospitality does not mean the market has calmed for buyers focused on that sector — it means the selection was smaller in that particular month. If you search there, widen your window rather than optimising for a single month.

Our pipeline holds 2,830 announcements concerning legal entities with a July 2026 publication date, covering 2,759 distinct companies (analysis as of 9 August 2026). An important qualification: an announcement is not a new insolvency — a case produces several publications over its life, and a final order (Schlussbeschluss) published in July belongs to a case opened in an earlier year. The figure is therefore not comparable with the IWH count; it answers a different question: how many matters were on the table for review this month?

By procedure type: 727 preliminary proceedings — where interested-party lists are forming right now. 687 opened standard insolvencies — classic asset-deal territory, where the administrator is actively looking for a going-concern solution. 478 self-administration (Eigenverwaltung) cases — proceedings where management restructures itself and often approaches investors directly. Plus 163 final orders (closed cases) and 769 announcements whose procedure type is not yet classified.

Regionally, North Rhine-Westphalia leads with 636 announcements, followed by Bavaria (381), Baden-Württemberg (356), Hesse (279), Lower Saxony (248) and Berlin (200). The order broadly follows the economic weight of each state — the exception worth noting is Berlin, well above what its size would suggest, and the densest search space outside NRW for buyers focused on services and digital businesses.

July's 727 preliminary proceedings will be opened over the coming weeks. The best window for first contact with the administrator is typically weeks 2 to 6 after the opening order — for the July cohort, it starts now. What that outreach should look like is set out in our guide to contacting administrators; what you need to have ready before it, in the due-diligence checklist.

August is the month with the least buyer competition in the year: strategic acquirers and family offices are in holiday mode and decision committees meet less often. The proceedings run on regardless — insolvency deadlines take no summer break. Reaching out now means competing for the same cases against far fewer bidders.

And because the leading indicators stand at a record high, the preparation you do now — acquisition thesis, proof of funds, administrator contacts — is not aimed at July, but at a fourth quarter in which supply is more likely to grow than shrink.

Every proceeding counted here is researchable on our platform — with AI-enriched dossiers (register data, Federal Gazette accounts, web presence, administrator contact) and a match score against your buyer profile. Instead of scanning amtliche Insolvenzveröffentlichungen announcements by hand, you see each morning the cases that fit your search profile.

For every case, the Deal Playbook produces a concrete action plan: which assets matter, how the administrator approach should read, which deadlines are running. Whether a proceeding is heading for continuation at all can often be spotted early — we described the signals in continuation or shutdown.

The July cohort is live — filter by federal state, sector and procedural stage at /unternehmen.