BPV Hugel has represented the Vienna airport in a procedure for exemption from procurement rules before the European Commission.
According to bpv Huegel, “by order of January 24, 2017, the Austrian airports have received such exemption from otherwise compulsory tender procedure rules pursuant to the Austrian Procurement Law.”
The firm’s team was led by Partners Florian Neumayr and Christian Schneider.
PHH Attorneys has advised Harold Primat, a French investor living in Switzerland, on his acquisition of almost 12% of shares in tractive GmbH, an Austrian company focusing on pet wearables for “more than EUR 2 million.”
According to PHH, “the initial shareholders of the company (including business angel Hansi Hansmann and the four founders of runtastic), whose stakes are reduced accordingly, remain on board.
Tractive was established in 2012 and employs 27 employees. PHH reports that “so far, the company has delivered thousands of its pet tracking devices to more than 80 countries and managed to triple its turnover over the last year.”
The PHH team was led by Partner Rainer Kaspar and included Associates Wolfgang Guggenberger and Ivana Dzukova.
Image Source: tractive.com
Wolf Theiss has advised OBB in a tender for up to 200 freight locomotives in areas dealing with procurement and contract law. Siemens succeeded as the best bidder in the tendering procedure.
According to Wolf Theiss, prior to the tendering procedure, OBB had been working to comprehensively overhaul the language of its contracts used in the acquisition of what the company calls ‘rolling material’ (i.e., engines, trains and cars) – a process in which Wolf Theiss had been advising over the course of several months. According to Wolf Theiss, “all the experience that the client had gained in remedying defects, lifecycle costs, the availability of replacement parts and other related issues was brought to bear on the new contractual language.”
The new freight trains will be used in more than 10 countries in East and Southeast Europe as well as in Germany and Italy.
The Wolf Theiss team was led by Partner Christian Hoenig, assisted by Counsel Doris Buxbaum. Partner Manfred Essletzbichler led the project in matters concerning procurement law and was assisted by Counsel Philipp Marboe and Associates Alexandra Avram and Klara Durrhammer.
Binder Groessswang has served as lead counsel to the Belgian Puratos Group in the acquisition of 100% of Diamant Nahrungsmittel Group from the German Werhahn Group. Kinstellar and Domanski Zakrzewski Palinka worked alongside Binder Groesswang in the Czech Republic and Poland, respectively. SCWP Schindhelm reportedly advised Diamant Nahrungsmittel Group on the transaction, which was signed and closed in Vienna on February 3, 2017.
Diamant Nahrungsmittel, with headquarters in the Austrian town of Wels and subsidiaries in Poland and the Czech Republic, employs more than 140 staff, producing and distributing baking ingredients in Europe and Asia.
Puratos is an international group of companies with a range of products and practical experience in bakery, patisserie, and chocolate manufacturing. It is headquartered in Brussels, Belgium. Puratos products and services are available in more than 100 countries worldwide.
According to Binder Groesswang, its advice “included support to the Puratos Group in the bidding procedure, the performance/coordination of a transnational due diligence review, checks under competition law, and the review of complex trademark law aspects, as well as the negotiation and drafting of the contractual documents.” The firm’s team consisted of Lead Partners Michael Kutschera and Bernd Schneiderbauer, Attorney Philipp Kapl, and Associate Mona Holzgruber. They were supported by Partner Christine Dietz and Counsel Hellmut Buchroithner.
The Prague-based Kinstellar team was led by Partner Jan Juroska, supported by Associates Michal Kníz and Kristyna Del Maschio.
Neither SCWP Schindhelm nor DZP replied to our inquiries on the matter.
Schoenherr has advised UNIQA Insurance Group AG on a contract with IBM Oesterreich GmbH for the upgrade of UNIQA’s business processes and IT infrastructure. Schoenherr describes the agreement as “one of the largest IT contracts ever to be signed in the German speaking region of Austria, Germany, and Switzerland.”
According to Schoenherr, “the project is part of UNIQA’s EUR 500 million investment and innovation program that was introduced at the beginning of 2016. “UNIQA is investing in the re-design of its business processes, in the competence development of its personnel, and in the necessary IT systems. Working together with IBM, UNIQA’s current IT systems will be replaced by the new UNIQA Insurance Platform, which will enable the future mapping of efficient, necessary and innovative processes, products, and functionalities.”
As general contractor IBM will be joined by three subcontracting companies – msg life, innovas and Guidewire – to re-design UNIQA’s life and non-life insurance businesses.
Advising UNIQA on the drafting, negotiation, and signing of this contract was Schoenherr Partner and new technologies expert Wolfgang Tichy, who explained that, “by embarking on this project with IBM, UNIQA is laying the foundation to providing customers with tailored and modern products and solutions.” Tichy also stressed that regulatory and data protection requirements continue to grow, and “UNIQA is thus investing in a successful future and in the right domain by revamping its business processes and IT infrastructure.”
CHSH has advised on Austrian legal aspects of LifeNet Health’s recently concluded acquisition of Krems-based tissue bank AlloTiss from Drs. Karl Kaudela und Ursula Burner. CHSH collaborated with U.S. firm Kaufman & Canoles to facilitate the transaction, while the sellers were advised by EYLaw.
CHSH describes LifeNet Health, which is headquartered in Virginia, in the United States, as “the world’s most-trusted provider of transplant solutions and is a leader in regenerative medicine” and reports that “its grafts are distributed in more than 25 countries on five continents.”
Founded in 2014, AlloTiss is a trusted member of the biomedical community, with partnerships throughout the European Union. According to CHSH, “LifeNet Health will leverage AlloTiss’s existing logistical infrastructure in Europe to accelerate the process of establishing its presence in Vienna, which is planned for completion in summer 2017.”
CHSH Partner Thomas Trettnak, who headed the firm’s team of four lawyers on the deal, said, “it was a true pleasure to support LifeNet Health and their US counsel in this exciting overseas transaction. Knowing that it will create the foundation in Europe for saving lives, restoring health, and giving hope to thousands each year makes us proud of being part of the team.”
The EYLaw team advising the sellers was led by Partner Mario Gall, supported by Associate Fabian Spendel.
Wolf Theiss has advised Erste Group Bank AG on its January 18, 2017 placement of a fixed-interest mortgage-backed Pfandbrief with a volume of EUR 750 million on the international capital market. Allen & Overy advised the participating consortium of banks.
The fixed-interest mortgage-backed Pfandbrief received Moody’s highest rating (Aaa) and will mature in 10 years. It was placed with institutional investors. The backing of the Pfandbrief by the collateral value of the collateral pool for mortgage-backed Pfandbriefe allowed Erste Group Bank AG to set the coupon at 0.625% annually over the course of the pricing. The Pfandbrief is listed on the Second Regulated Market of the Vienna Stock Exchange.
The Wolf Theiss team advising Erste Group was led by Banking & Finance Partner Claus Schneider and Associate Nikolaus Dinhof.
The Frankfurt-based Allen & Overy team advising the banks was led by Partner Christoph Enderstein, supported by Associate Sandra Ziener and Paralegal Sven Steinbach.
Wolf Theiss, working alongside global counsel Paul Hastings, has provided local Austrian counsel to international real estate investor Invesco Real Estate on its sale of a portfolio of hotels to the hotel operator Pandox AB. Wolf Theiss was responsible for executing the sale of Invesco’s Austrian hotels, located at Vienna International Airport and in Salzburg.
A total of seven hotels with 1,744 rooms were transferred from Invesco to the Sweden-based Pandox AB in the form of a share-deal transaction. Four of the hotels are located in Germany, two in Austria, and one in the Netherlands. According to Wolf Theiss, “the hotels serve an upscale market and are managed by notable hotel operators.”
The Wolf Theiss team was led by Partner Karl Koller and included Managing Partner Erik Steger and Associate Elias Pressler. The transaction closed in December 2016.
Image Source: pandox.se
Storing and filing of emails often happens without much attention. While the employer does have a legitimate interest in information and control of the email traffic at the workplace, this can present a high degree of risk if employees are left alone with the responsibility of storing and filing emails correctly and appropriately.
The Austrian law, however, does not specifically regulate issues regarding filing and storage of emails at the workplace. Therefore, a well-thought compliance organization should also address the documentation of (internal) company information, in order to demonstrate the compliance with laws by the company in case of government authorities conducting investigations. It has to be noted that email compliance in companies explicitly touches upon issues of labor law and data protection law.
On a general note, the employer is entitled to prohibit the private use of computers, the internet and emails. If so, the employer may not expect its employees to use emails or data for private use. However, in most cases companies permit the private use of emails or computers, which restricts the access of the employer to those accounts to very limited cases. If the private use is allowed it is advisable to create an additional (private) email folder for employees to file their private emails there or clearly mark emails per se as “private” (e.g. in the subject heading), in order to facilitate the differentiation from company-designated email correspondence. Otherwise potential data protection conflicts could arise for the employer when trying to select or check emails of employees.
Most importantly, companies should be aware of where and how emails are filed and stored internally at all times. Hence, one possibility would be to store and archive emails on external servers automatically and thus taking that responsibility off the employees’ shoulders. At the same time, the employer would always know the exact location of its emails and data.
Acting on behalf of the Austrian National Union of Students, CHSH has represented a Czech student and a German student in their challenge of the practice of having family allowance notionally deducted by authorities when calculating financial aid for higher education studies granted to foreign students in Austria. The practice, according to CHSH, “has frequently resulted in a significant reduction in financial aid granted to students.”
As a result of the challenge, Austria’s Administrative Court ruled that the practice is unlawful. “The findings of the Administrative Court have now clarified that only family allowance actually received, both in the case of foreign and Austrian students, may be taken into account when calculating financial aid for higher education studies,” explained CHSH Partner Stefan Huber, who leads the firm’s Public Law team.
In addition to Huber, the CHSH team at CHSH included Associate Eugenio Gualtieri.