Under German law, a transfer of pledge of shares in a German limited liability company (Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung / GmbH) has to be notarized, i.e. signed in front of a notary after having been read aloud and in its entirety to the parties. After recent changes in German and Swiss law it has been questioned by several legal scholars whether such a transfer or pledge can be executed in front of a Swiss notary public as it was quite common in the past. In the opinion of the regional court Frankfurt it is in fact doubtful whether such notarization in Basel would be valid if effected on or after 1 November 2008.
Please click here to read the client memo, written by Dr. Andreas Müller-Driver.