Healthcare

Your industry
takes care of others.
We take care of you.

Jenny Mehlitz, lawyer

The right experts for every challenge,
the perfect team for every client.
We focus on the elements that drive your success.

Handling future questions intelligently.
The healthy perspective.

Innovative, with long-term growth potential: The healthcare industry is a major driver of the economy. Alongside real estate, it is one of the most important economic sectors in Germany when measured in terms of gross domestic product. The dynamic growth of the industry is marked by equally dynamic innovation and transformation processes. Successful companies use and develop these further. We act as a competent partner to clients who are seeking to remain efficient and productive in the face of increasing competitive pressure. Thanks to our internal sectoral network, we bundle our experience in legal advice and support for companies in the healthcare sector. This in-depth understanding of the role healthcare companies play enables us to quickly identify important correlations and focus on the essentials.


Our advisory services focus particularly on areas where the healthcare and real estate industries intersect. We are a market leader in the field of healthcare real estate.

Because our lawyers not only look at problems and challenges in the healthcare sector from a legal angle; we also approach them from a practical business perspective – and with the implementation know-how of a former Chief Compliance Officer. Your goals are our benchmark. That is our claim. That is what we mean by: Your perspective.

The healthcare industry is extremely dynamic. So it is incredibly important to have a partner who is not only up to speed – but also able to dictate the speed. A partner like GSK Stockmann.

Markets in focus

If you want to make the most of every opportunity for growth across the board, top-notch support is a crucial ingredient. Our bundled expertise in all areas and markets is the answer.

For many years now, dynamic growth, enormous cost pressure and a complex regulatory framework have been key distinctive features of the healthcare sector. In light of the various challenges – demographic change, an increasing shortage of healthcare professionals and government pressure to focus on outpatient treatment rather than hospitalisation – this condition is unlikely to change. By the year 2030, the number of persons in need of nursing care is likely to have risen by approximately 20% to 4.1 million. This situation is further augmented by all the opportunities and challenges market participants face in the wake of digitalisation that is gaining importance and the increasing shortage of skilled labour.

We offer reliable legal advice and support with all the questions and challenges that arise in connection with the above – from comprehensive advice for planning, constructing and leasing the nursing homes which society so urgently requires, to questions related to their operation, through to data protection for patient records.

We focus particularly on transactions connected with nursing homes, an asset class in which our healthcare team began specialising a number of years ago. At GSK Stockmann, more than 30 lawyers handle acquisitions and sales of nursing care properties on a regular basis. We help you develop structures that comply with tax laws and investment laws. We have considerable experience with various types of deal structures (share deals, asset deals, forward deals, purchase deals and forward funding, combined owner/operator transfers, acquisitions from insolvency proceedings, etc.). We know and understand the regional regulations that apply to nursing homes in the various federal German states, and how these are applied to different forms of nursing care (inpatient care, assisted living, outpatient care, day care, communities and other mixed-use forms). We are very well connected, know the market and its specific challenges. In short: we are part of the healthcare industry.

Like other submarkets in the healthcare industry, the market for hospitals is anything but static. With immense cost pressure, ongoing urbanisation and huge investment gaps, the market is becoming increasingly concentrated. For many years, GSK Stockmann has offered competent legal advice on regulatory and financing issues connected with hospital transactions, e.g., for the development, acquisition or sale of hospitals.

We help you set up meaningful structures such as charitable foundations – and answer questions in connection with non-profit requirements and financing structures. We also pave the way for successful public procurement and state aid procedures. We partner with public authorities, private companies and beneficiaries – regardless of whether the task in hand is procuring medical equipment, e-health solutions, construction services or the acquisition or sale of current or former public facilities, including real estate.

In Germany, MVZs (community health centres) are a relatively recent phenomenon. Introduced in 2004, such centres employ general practitioners and primarily aim to improve outpatient care by improving interaction between hospitals and surgeries.

Expectations regarding MVZs are manifold; not only are they expected to optimise horizontal and vertical collaboration in the health sector, but they are also expected to improve outpatient care in general, as well as medical care in rural areas. The legislative framework for MVZs has changed repeatedly. Major changes introduced in 2015 now allow groups of doctors who specialise in the same field to found MVZs, and also allow regional authorities to operate their own MVZs.

Our team of experts provides sound legal advice and support on regulatory, real estate and corporate issues in this complex legislative landscape.

Digitalisation has been impacting the healthcare industry for some considerable time. Countless start-ups compete with new ideas for their niche in the healthcare market of tomorrow. They provide innovative solutions in all areas – from improving medical services (e.g., telehealth and digital patient records) through to improving nursing care (e.g., processes), analysing health data, developing new treatment options and improving diagnoses.

Healthcare, however, is strictly regulated throughout. There are different interest groups in the various health sectors, federal decision-making structures, technological complexity, difficult access to funding, strict requirements for data protection and data safety – the list of challenges and concerns is long.

The Healthcare team at GSK Stockmann is ready to steer you expertly through this legal maze.

Ansprechpartnerinnen für den Sektor Healthcare,

Your contacts.

Understanding your perspective. And finding the best solution.
That is our mission (from left to right):

Key areas of advice

The right experts for every challenge, the perfect team for every client: we focus on the elements that drive your success.

Our team offers comprehensive advice and support on all types of real estate in the healthcare sector (e.g., residential nursing homes, hospitals, assisted living with or without day-care facilities or outpatient care, retirement villages and laboratories). You can rely on our expertise in the following fields of specialisation:

  • Real estate transactions
  • Construction, planning and environmental law
  • Project development
  • Private building law and architect law
  • Public procurement law
  • Real estate asset management
  • M&A
  • Privatisation
  • Tax law

The market for investments in companies has grown steadily in recent years, particularly in the healthcare sector. Our specialised teams support financial investors, private investors and family offices – as well as the companies to be financed and their shareholders – in dealing with all aspects of a transaction. This includes, for example:

  • Financing
  • Investment law and asset management
  • Tax law

GSK advises and supports healthcare companies in many ways on a wide range of issues related to maintaining and improving business operations. These include, for example, the use of e-health systems (patient management and electronic patient records), grants and subsidies, corporate structuring, and questions connected with the distribution of medical devices or pharmaceutical drugs.

  • Corporate law
  • Tax law
  • Public procurement and state aid law
  • Regulatory issues
  • Data protection
  • Competition law
  • Financing
  • IP & IT
  • Labour law
  • Restructuring and insolvency

GSK Stockmann helps healthcare companies (particularly hospitals and laboratories) to optimise purchasing processes. These include medical devices, e-health solutions and construction services. We advise you on structuring and handling procurement procedures. Where necessary, we also advise on legal protection. If one party is bound by public procurement law, the procedure must be structured accordingly. You can rely on our expertise in the following fields of specialisation:

  • Public procurement and state aid law
  • Distribution law and supply relationships
  • Commercial
  • Regulatory issues
  • Financing
  • IP & IT
  • Corporate law
  • Tax law

We provide in-depth and expert legal advice on preventative compliance for international manufacturers of generic drugs, international pharmaceutical logistics companies and biotech companies with a strong research focus. We help our clients to establish, operate and develop CMS (compliance management systems) – e.g., by conducting compliance risk analyses, preparing compliance workshops or conducting compliance-related business partner checks.

GSK Stockmann advises healthcare companies and investors on numerous types of transactions and forms of collaboration, e.g., joint ventures.

These include financing rounds for those investing in start-ups, as well as support with company acquisitions and joint ventures with established players on the healthcare market (e.g., nursing care companies, hospitals and manufacturers or pharmaceutical drugs and medicines). Our team has a special focus on:

  • Private equity / venture capital transactions
  • M&A and joint ventures
  • Privatisation
  • Tax law
  • Labour law
  • Antitrust law
  • Public law
  • Competition law