Category: Austria

Fellner Wratzfeld & Partner has advised the HYPO NOE Group regarding the upstream merger of HYPO NOE Landesbank AG into HYPO NOE Landesbank fur Niederosterreich und Wien AG. The project was completed on September 23, 2017.

FWP assisted in planning the project and provided advice and support regarding the implementation of the corporate and regulatory measures involved in the transaction. The objective of the consolidation, according to the firm, “was to ensure the reintegration of the retail and housing business into Lower Austria’s core bank and, consequently, to increase the banking group’s efficiency by reducing organizational complexity and leveraging operational synergies.”

FWP’s core team was led by Partner Markus Fellner and included Attorney at Law Benedikt Kessler and Associate Safiye Unuvar. Lead in-house legal counsels for the merger were Andreas Maier and Emanuel Obentraut.

WMWP — the Austrian office of act legal — has been selected by weXelerate as a channel partner for legal services.

According to WMWP, weXelerate, which is based in Austria, “is Europe’s largest innovation center, with a multi-corporate accelerator of 9000 square meters, granting startups access to workshops, international investors, and top mentors from companies like Google, Uber, Twitter and many more.”

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has advised Austrian Oberbank AG on the conclusion of a financing framework agreement with banks in the Islamic Republic of Iran. This is the first agreement of this type between a European credit institution and Iranian banks since the easing of sanctions against Iran in early 2016. 

According to Freshfields, “the framework agreement allows the granting of individual loans tailored to the needs of well-known Austrian companies in the export of goods and services to Iran of Austrian Kontrollbank AG. Furthermore, various projects in Iran are to be financed in areas such as infrastructure, plant construction, and health care. 

The firm’s advice included aspects of German and Iranian law in connection with the conclusion of the agreement.

The Freshfields team in Vienna included Partner Farid Sigari-Majd, the head of the Freshfields Iran country group, Partner Florian Klimscha and Associate Eva Schneider. German law advice was provided by Frankfurt-based Partner Michael Josenhans and Principal Associate Andreas Thummler.

Schoenherr has advised BK Invest GmbH on its acquisition of atms Telefon- und Marketing Services GmbH, which also includes sms.at mobile internet services GmbH, from German company dtms GmbH. The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Schoenherr describes atms as “one of the most successful medium-sized telecommunication companies in Austria, with 42 employees in Vienna and Graz serving more than 4,500 national and international customers,” and says that “as the leading Austrian provider, atms designs, develops and implements network-based customer dialogue solutions in the voice, mobile and internet sectors.” In addition, Schoenherr reports, “sms.at offers mobile messaging services (including WhatsApp, push- and voice messages) to more than 3,500 small and medium-sized companies in the German-speaking area.”

“We were excited to support BK Invest, a joint venture formed by Austrian entrepreneurs Christian Bamberger and Stefan Kalteis, on this strategic acquisition,” said Schoenherr Corporate/M&A Partner and project lead Markus Piuk.

Piuk was supported by Partner Thomas Kulnigg, Counsel Michael Woller, Attorneys at Law Manuel Ritt-Huemer, Constantin Benes, Veronika Wolfbauer, and Mario Perl, and Associates Christopher Junger, Teresa Waidmann, and Lukas Solek.

Editor’s Note: After this article was published Fellner Wratzfeld & Partner announced that it had advised dtms GmbH on the deal, which closed on September 15, 2017.

Wolf Theiss has advised The Student Hotel Group on preparations for a new 822-room flagship hotel in Vienna, including on its acquisition of real property and on the drafting and development (design and build) agreement. Hule Bachmayr-Heyda Nordberg reportedly advised the sellers and developers of the real property, the S+B Gruppe.

According to a press release from The Student Hotel, it “will open its first Austrian co-living and co-working destination on the Nordbahnstrasse, in the heart of the up-and-coming 2nd district of Vienna. Construction of the 37,878 square meter Student Hotel is expected to start in early 2018, for an opening in Q2 2020. The Student Hotel Vienna will compose of a mix of contemporary student rooms, hotel rooms, and co-living studios. The 4,000 square meters of ground floor has been designed to be open and inviting to the public and local community. It will include a wide variety of high quality services such as study and gaming areas, meeting rooms, close to 1,500 square meters of co-working facilities dedicated to start-ups and local business, restaurants, bars, gyms and sports facilities. A unique indoor amphitheater will serve both as a communal seating area or event space. The project will also have dedicated space for local and international retail brands.”

The Student Hotel claims that its “co-living, co-working business model provides a unique hybrid destination for a fast-growing international community.” The group plans to have 41 properties (17,550 rooms) in major European cities by 2021.”

The Wolf Theiss team was led by Partner Karl Koller, supported by Associate Elias Pressler.

The Hule Bachmayr-Heyda Nordberg team was led by Partner Christian Nordberg.

Editor’s Note: After this article was published, CEE Legal Matters learned that Binder Groesswang has advised UniCredit Bank Austria AG in connection with the financing of the construction of The Student Hotel Vienna. more information can be found here. 

Image Source: breakingtravelnews.com

Schoenherr has advised the Valora Group on Austrian aspects of its acquisition of German-based food service company BackWerk from the Swedish financial investor EQT. The transaction remains subject to the approval of the German Federal Cartel Office.

BackWerk operates a franchise network of over 340 outlets mainly in Germany, Austria and the Netherlands.  

According to Schoenherr, “Valora runs a retail network of around 2,500 convenience and food-service outlets at heavily frequented sites in Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Luxembourg, and France. Every day more than one million customers visit these sales outlets and make use of Valora’s well-known brands, such as k kiosk, Brezelkonig, Ditsch, Press & Books, avec, Caffe Spettacolo, and ok.-. Valora is also a leader in pretzel production and operates a highly integrated bakery-products value chain. Headquartered in Muttenz, Switzerland, Valora generates external sales in excess of CHF 2.5 billion per year and has more than 4,000 employees. The registered shares of Valora Holding AG (VALN) are traded on the SIX Swiss Exchange.”

The Schoenherr team was led by Partner Florian Kusznier and included Partners Hanno Wollmann and Andreas Natterer, Attorneys at Law Julia Wasserburger, Manuel Ritt-Huemer, Dominik Hofmarcher, Veronika Wolfbauer, and Eva Mozina, and Associates Arzu Cakmak, Franziska Oczlon, Natalia Wolfschwenger, Una Campara, Teresa Waidmann, Clemens Gaugusch, and Nives Slemenjak 

Schoenherr acted alongside Gleiss Lutz, Stibbe, Bar & Karrer, and Travers Smith.

Liechtensteinische Landesbank has hired Martina Neubauer to head its compliance function in Austria. 

Prior to joining Liechtensteinische Landesbank, Neubauer worked for VTB Bank Austria for almost one year and a half. Initially, her role was that of Head of Team Compliance & AML, Compliance Officer. She added KYC responsibilities four months into her tenure with the company. 

Neubauer joined VTB from HYPO NOE Gruppe Bank AG, a company she first joined in February 2008. She was Head of Group General Secretariat & Compliance at the time of her departure. Earlier experiences include working for Kunz Schima Wallentin Rechtsanwalte GmbH, Generali Bank AG, IMMO Bank AG,Thomas Cook Austria AG, Oberlandesgericht Wien.

Dorda has advised Soravia and ARE Development as joint venture and project partners on their sale of TrIIIple Tower 3 to Corestate Capital Group. The buyers were reportedly advised by Binder Groesswang, with a Dusseldorf-based Allen & Overy team advising Corestate on the structuring of the transaction.

According to Dorda, “the Austrian real estate project TrIIIple is regarded as landmark project with a project volume of more than EUR 300 million and a total usable area of around 70,000 square meters.” In addition, the firm reports, “Projekt TrIIIple foresees the development and construction of three residential towers and an office building at the former customs office in the 3rd Vienna district. Tower 3 is designated to house 670 micro-apartments for students and young professionals as well as office and retail space in the ground floor.” Finally, the firm says, “as of autumn, 2017, the project partners will start construction on the first two residential towers. At the same time, the detailed planning for tower 3 will commence together with the investor; completion is scheduled by 2020.”

Soravia Equity is a subsidiary of the Soravia Group, while ARE Development is a company of the Austrian public entity Bundesimmobiliengesellschaft (BIG). 

Dorda Partner Stefan Artner and Attorney Magdalena Brandstetter advised the sellers. Artner commented that: “The TrIIIple Towers are currently one of the most interesting and largest construction projects in Vienna. The developers Soravia and ARE Development are setting new standards with this visionary project. A special highlight: By bridging the airport highway, the residential towers will be connected to the Danube Canal, and thus brought to the water. We are delighted to be advising on this landmark project.”

Image Source: triiiple.at

Austria’s Federal Ministry of Finance has appointed Cerha Hempel Spiegelfeld Hlawati Partner Irene Welser a member of the supervisory board of the country’s Federal Procurement Agency for the duration of the current term in office, which ends in 2020.

The Federal Procurement Agency provides procurement services to public sector bodies. According to CHSH it is “wholly owned by the Republic of Austria and the percentage of women appointed to its supervisory board is now 50%.”

In addition, CHSH reports, “in her capacity as attorney, Irene Welser not only regularly provides advice on issues relating to supervisory boards, she has also published widely on the subject and as honorary professor at the University of Vienna she also regularly lectures on the liability of management and control bodies.”

“I’m extremely pleased to bring my profound experience of construction and public procurement law to my new position on the supervisory board,” said Welser, who heads the Department of Contentious Business at CHSH.

Schoenherr has advised Schweighofer Group on the sale of Schweighofer Fiber GmbH to private equity group TowerBrook Capital Partners L.P. The buyers were reportedly advised by CMS on the deal, which closed on September 12, 2017.

Schoenherr describes the Schweighofer Group as “one of Europe’s leading timber processing companies exporting products to over 70 countries worldwide,” and reports that “following the sale, which was purely strategic, Schweighofer Group will concentrate on its core business of wood processing.”

Schweighofer Fiber is located near Salzburg in Austria and specializes in the production of viscose pulp for export and bio-energy from renewable energy sources. According to Schoenherr, “with more than 240 employees, Schweighofer Fiber is among the market leaders worldwide for the special type of viscose pulp produced in Austria and among the most profitable of the top 250 industrial companies in Austria, a true hidden champion.”

The Schoenherr team advising the Schweighofer Group was led by Partners Christian Herbst and Volker Weiss, supported by Counsel Maximilian Lang, and Associate Alexander Mazevski.

Editor’s Note: After this article was published, CMS confirmed that it advised TowerBrook Capital Parnters. The firm’s team was led by Partner Clemens Grossmayer and included Partners Robert Keisler, Dieter Zandler, and Jen Winter, Attorneys at Law Anna Wieser, Daniel Courtney, and Anna Konopkaand Associates Molly Kos and Dominik Stella.