Benedikt Gillessen

Practice Areas

Dr. Benedikt Gillessen is a corporate lawyer based in Frankfurt. He advises on a number of areas of company law, with a particular focus on issues related to capital markets transactions and stock corporation law.

Benedikt has more than 20 years of experience in advising both domestic and foreign issuers and investment banks in the course of initial public offerings (IPOs), capital increases, public takeovers (including takeover defence), the issuance of convertible bonds, and similar capital markets deals, often involving complex cross-border structures. He has worked with issuers in an array of business sectors, regarding listings on both German and international stock exchanges. He advises issuers, the members of their management and advisory boards as well as investors especially with regard to their duties resulting from the admission to listing of securities to a German stock corporation (Capital Markets Compliance), and to general questions under corporate law.

Benedikt uses his broad capital markets knowledge and experience to steer clients through the complexities of major deals, thereby ensuring that issuers successfully execute the strategic transactions necessary for their growth and prosperity.

He has repeatedly been recognized by various leading legal publications, including the current editions of Chambers Europe, The Legal 500 Deutschland, JUVE, The Best Lawyers™ and Who's Who Legal Germany, most of which have ranked him continuously for many years. For example, The Legal 500 Deutschland 2017 recommends him for ECM and quotes a client describing him as 'proactive, never confrontational and nevertheless drives a hard bargain'. In Chambers Europe 2017, he is ranked for ECM and described by clients as 'highly responsive and open in his communication' and 'he knows where to make the points and is sensitive regarding the relationship between the issuer and the bank'. JUVE 2020 praises him as 'very competent and fast, practice-oriented'. In addition, he was selected by his peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers™ 2019 in Germany for the seventh time in the fields of Capital Markets Law and Debt & Equity. In Who's Who Legal Germany 2020, he is listed among the 'Experts in Debt and Equity' as well as 'Experts in Capital Markets' as Global and National Leader.

Prior to joining us in 2017, Benedikt worked for many years in the corporate and capital markets groups of two other leading international law firms in Frankfurt, and with an international investment bank in London.