CRO (Chief Restructuring Officer) & interim management

A Chief Restructuring Officer (CRO) is typically appointed by shareholders, existing management, or under pressure from financing banks once a company enters serious distress — usually well before any insolvency filing. Unlike an insolvency administrator or supervisor, a CRO is not court-appointed but engaged on a contractual basis (a service or advisory agreement), often with their own authority over operational and financial decisions alongside or in place of existing management.

Typical mandates include: drafting a restructuring concept (often coordinated with an IDW S6 opinion author), negotiating standstill agreements with financing banks, preparing a StaRUG proceeding or self-administration (Eigenverwaltung), and — particularly relevant for buyers — quietly sounding out an M&A process before any insolvency petition is even filed. Larger restructurings frequently deploy a full interim-management team rather than a single CRO.

For buyers, the CRO is often the first serious point of contact in the pre-crisis phase — reaching out at this stage can open access to a deal before it becomes public via § 9 InsO and bidding competition sets in. Important to understand: the CRO acts in the interest of the company or its principals, not the buyer's — but unlike the insolvency administrator later on, they typically have no statutory duty to maximise estate value, which can make negotiations more flexible.