(1) At the request of a debtor which is a member of a group of companies within the meaning of section 3e (debtor company in a group of companies), the insolvency court seized of the matter declares its jurisdiction over the other debtor companies in that group of companies (group ancillary proceedings) if an admissible request to open insolvency proceedings has been made in relation to the debtor and the debtor is not manifestly of subordinate importance for the group of companies as a whole. Subordinate importance is generally not to be presumed where, in the previous closed business year, the debtorʼs total number of employees on an annual average exceeded 15 per cent of the group of companiesʼ total number of employees on an annual average and
1. the debtor’s balance sheet total amounted to more than 15 per cent of the group of companiesʼ combined balance sheet total or
2. the debtor’s sales revenues amounted to more than 15 per cent of the group of companiesʼ combined sales revenues.
Where several debtor companies in a group of companies have simultaneously filed a request in accordance with sentence 1 or where several requests have been filed and it is not clear which was filed first, the request filed by that debtor which had the most employees in the previous closed business year is decisive; the other requests are not admissible. If none of the debtor companies in the group of companies meets the requirements set out in sentence 2, group jurisdiction can at any rate be established at that court which is competent to open proceedings for that debtor company in the group of companies which had the most employees, on an annual average, in the previous closed business year.
(2) Where there are doubts as to whether concentrating the proceedings with the insolvency court seized of the matter is in the creditorsʼ common interest, the court may refuse the request referred to in subsection (1) sentence 1.
(3) The debtor’s right of request transfers to the insolvency administrator upon the opening of the insolvency proceedings and, upon the appointment of a provisional insolvency administrator to whom the power of administration and of disposal concerning the debtor’s assets has been transferred, to that provisional insolvency administrator.
(4) At the debtor’s request and under the conditions set out in subsection (1), the court which is competent as regards group ancillary proceedings declares that it is also competent, as the restructuring court, as regards group ancillary proceedings in insolvency matters in accordance with subsection (1), that is insofar as it is competent under section 34 of the Company Stabilisation and Restructuring Act.