Restructuring & Turnaround
in the Mittelstand: CRO Tobias Bobka
Guiding companies through upheaval with judgement and experience

Any company can run into a crisis. The decisive questions are when the crisis is recognised and how the company deals with it. Even when a company is already in an earnings or liquidity crisis, it is often still possible to turn things around. 

I know from my own responsibility what running a business feels like in good times and in bad. As your sparring partner, I also raise the difficult points openly, without false restraint.

Together with you, I assess the first warning signs, create transparency in the numbers, develop the restructuring plan and implement it with you until the turnaround shows in the books.

As a certified restructuring and turnaround expert (RWS), I know the mechanics of a turnaround from having carried the responsibility: towards the bank pool and trade credit insurers, towards shareholders, towards the works council and trade union, and towards a workforce that wants to know what happens next.

In crisis management, every step has to be quick and sure. Telling the achievable from the impossible takes experience and critical distance. Experience shows that in a corporate crisis an outsider can not only push through unpopular measures more easily, but also open up unexpected opportunities for rebuilding the company faster. It is therefore a strategically sound step to hand these tasks to a restructuring expert (Chief Restructuring Officer, CRO for short) rather than burden the existing or even new management with them. 

If you wish, I support the process as a consultant with responsibility for results. If the situation demands more, I take on the formal board position in the management as CRO and bear personal responsibility for the turnaround.

My credo:
Steer companies successfully through upheaval with judgement and experience.

How
to tell it is getting serious

Crises announce themselves, usually earlier than they become visible in the balance sheet. The earlier you act, the more room for manoeuvre you have. Typical warning signs:

  • The plan is missed for the second time in a row, and countermeasures are not working.
  • Margin is falling, and orders are increasingly won on price.
  • The credit line is permanently drawn down, and suppliers are shortening payment terms.
  • Loan covenants are only just being met, and the bank is asking for a concept.
  • Shareholders and management disagree on the direction, and decisions are postponed.
  • Key performers are leaving, and the workforce is unsettled.

If you see several of these signs at once, do not wait for the next quarter. Management is in any case obliged to identify developments that threaten the company's survival at an early stage and to counteract them.

Tobias Bobka in an expert interview on WirtschaftTV Börsentalk

Many companies only deal with crises when it is actually already too late. Why it matters to prepare for risks early, and how best to do it, is explained by expert Tobias Bobka in conversation with stock market correspondent Mick Knauff on the wirtschaft tv Börsentalk.

What
I am brought in for in a crisis

  • Earnings crisis: Results have been falling for years, and the measures taken so far are not working.
  • Liquidity crisis: The ability to pay must be secured within weeks, not months.
  • Breached loan covenants: Financing partners require a CRO as a condition for further support.
  • Turnaround concept without implementation: The expert report is in, but the measures are not reaching the organisation.
  • Leadership vacuum in a crisis: Management drops out or shareholders block each other.
  • Investment in difficulty: A portfolio company is missing its plan, and the shareholders need clarity quickly.
Find out more about Tobias Bobka's CRO assignments

How
I work

Stabilise. In the first weeks, I build a reliable set of figures, secure liquidity and win back the trust of the financing partners. Banks, trade credit insurers, shareholders and workforce hear from me where the company stands and what happens next.

Turn around. The concept becomes an action plan with owners, deadlines and impact on results. I start with the earnings side: prices, key accounts, sales. In parallel, I implement the cost measures rigorously and track every week what has been achieved.

Realign. Business model, steering and leadership are set up so that the company is sustainable in the long term. Depending on the goal, I lead it into a refinancing, an investor process or an orderly handover to the future management.

What
you gain

Ability to act. Within a few weeks, the company is again deciding on the basis of reliable figures rather than under pressure.

Trust of the financing partners. Banks and trade credit insurers have a contact whose commitments hold.

An informed workforce. Employees hear early and honestly what happens next. Key performers stay on board.

A turnaround that lasts. The earnings side is repaired alongside the costs. The result is a company that can grow again.

Relief. Management hands over the burden of the crisis without giving up control of its company.

Core competencies
and activity profile

  • Planning, steering and implementation of restructuring and turnaround programmes, as CRO in a formal board position if required
  • Liquidity protection, short-term liquidity planning and integrated business planning
  • Leading negotiations with banks, trade credit insurers, suppliers, shareholders, advisory boards and supervisory boards
  • Negotiations with works councils and trade unions on turnaround contributions and staffing measures
  • Earnings improvement programmes with a focus on sales: prices, key accounts, portfolio
  • Implementation of turnaround concepts together with expert reviewers, lawyers and financing partners
  • Investor processes, company sales and leadership changes to external management

Experience
and discretion

I have led restructurings in industry, trade and services, in owner-managed companies, subsidiaries of corporate groups and private equity investments. For reasons of discretion towards my clients, I do not name specific mandates publicly. I am happy to explain relevant project examples in a personal conversation.

If you see warning signs, or your bank is already asking for a concept, let us talk in confidence: your situation, your figures, your financing partners' expectations and the first steps. You will get an honest assessment of what is feasible. Feel free to call me directly.

Yours, Tobias Bobka

RESTRUCTURING | TURNAROUND | CRO

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Crisis
radar in companies

Client testimonials in German
Interview ERFOLG Magazin
Interview ERFOLG Magazin

Restructuring:
When everything wobbles

Recipes for success for Germany's Mittelstand – owner-managed mid-sized companies – in stormy times.

Interview with and expert article by Tobias Bobka in ERFOLG Magazin
- March 2025 issue (in German)

Tobias Bobka is a sought-after interview guest

Interviews
worth hearing

TV interview on WirtschaftTV (in German)

Frequently
asked questions (FAQ)