Category: Austria

Luther has advised the Austrian Immofinanz Group on legal and tax aspects of the acquisition of 18,000 residential units and the residential real estate service business from the Prelios Deutschland company.

The residential units — acquired by Immofinanz subsidiary BUWOG for approximately EUR 900 million — are primarily located in the German cities of Kiel, Lubeck, Hamburg, and Braunschweig, and were previously in a portfolio owned by a joint venture of Prelios and the real estate investment management fund of Deutsche Bank. The residential real estate service business acquired by Immofinanz from Prelios has approximately 300 employees. 

Luther had previously advised Immofinanz Group on a 2013 acquisition of two residential portfolios in Luneburg and Syke, and the firm had supported BUWOG (and others) on an acquisition of 2,000 residential units in Berlin.

Schoenherr has promoted Competition lawyer Stefanie Stegbauer to Counsel.

Stegbauer, who works in the firm’s Vienna office, specializes in Austrian and European competition law and represents clients in antitrust and Phase 1 and Phase 2 merger control proceedings before both the Austrian Competition Authority and the country’s Cartel Court, as well as before the European Commission and the European Court of Justice.

The Vienna office of CHSH Cerha Hempel Spiegel Hlawati has advised Raiffeisen Bank International on matters related to a recent capital increase with issue proceeds of EUR 2.78 billion.

This is reported by CHSH to be the third-largest ever on the Vienna stock exchange. CHSH advised RBI in all aspects of structuring. The team at CHSH consisted of Partners Edith Hlawati and Volker Glas as well as lawyers Christian Aichinger and Gernot Wilfling.

Schoenherr has announced that it has promoted Real Estate and IT specialist Wolfgang Tichy to Partner in the firm’s Vienna office.

Tichy joined the firm in 2005, and has been focusing on contractual matters, construction contracts, and claim management and litigation in the real estate context, as well as drafting and negotiating software licenses and outsourcing projects as a member (and co-founder) of Schoenherr’s newTech team. Tichy also advises clients on the distribution law issues involved in structuring distribution and franchising contracts. 

Christoph Lindinger, Schoenherr’s Managing Partner, said of the promotion that “Wolfgang Tichy is a good fit for Schoenherr. He combines a solution-oriented approach to providing advice with very far-reaching legal expertise. His promotion to partner helps strengthen the firm’s next generation in an optimal manner.

CMS Reich-Rohrwig Hainz has announced the promotion of Monika Ploier to Partner at the firm as of February 1, 2014.

Ploier, who joined the firm in 2005, focuses on Medical Law and Hospital Law, and works closely with health-care institutions on matters of medical malpractice, the foundation of medical practices, and anti-corruption law. She also works in the CMS RRH Labor Law team and advises on labor aspects in cases involving health-care institutions.

CMS RRH Partner Peter Huber released a statement announcing that “in the past years, Monika Ploier has developed extensive and well-founded expertise in medical law.  With her energetic personality and intuition about clients’ needs, she has significantly contributed to establishing our law firm in this practice area. We are very happy to welcome her as a new partner and head of the medical law practice area.”

The Real Estate & Construction team at CHSH has advised KGAL, one of Germany’s largest asset managers, on its purchase of the Shopping Horn shopping center in the northern Austrian town of Horn.  

The CHSH team was led by Partner Manfred Ton, with assistance of Partner Mark Krenn and Senior Associates Matthias Nodl and Stefan Huber. “We are pleased that the acquisition of the retail center in Horn already represents the third project in which KGAL has relied on the expertise of CHSH,” said Ton.

Binder Groesswang has promoted Banking/Finance attorney Stephan Heckenthaler and Corporate/M&A attorney Markus Uitz to Partner, effective as of February 1, 2014.

Heckenthaler specializes in banking and capital markets law and advises primarily on corporate funding, the financing of acquisitions and projects, and supervisory law matters for banks and insurance companies. He was significantly involved in advising Oesterreichische Volksbanken AG on its restructuring in the course of the creation of a group pursuant to Art. 3 of the Capital Requirements Directive as well as in advising the Prinzhorn group and its financing banks on the acquisition of the listed Turkish paper production plant Dentas Ambalaj ve Kagit Sanayi. He has been at Binder Groesswang since 2010.

Uitz joined Binder Groesswang in 2006. Recently he was one of the primary advisors to the Swiss SIX group on its acquisition of the Austrian PayLife Bank GmbH, to BAWAG P.S.K. on the sale of the listed Postsparkasse building, and to the founders of kununu GmbH on the sale of their share in XING AG. He also advises numerous start-up companies on ongoing legal matters.

Binder Groesswang Partner Michael Kutschera and Managing Partner Thomas Schirmer released as a statement saying that: “We are very pleased that Stephan Heckenthaler and Markus Uitz are joining us as Partners. Both are recognized experts in their fields and have contributed substantially to the great success of the firm in recent years. Adding them to our team of highest-level advisors in Corporate/M&A and Banking/Finance reflects our precept of always giving our clients the best possible counsel, particularly in view of the ever-increasing complexity of legal issues and the challenges involved.”

Schoenherr has invited Ursula Rath, a Vienna-based partner in the firm’s Banking, Finance, and Capital Markets practice, into the firm’s equity.

Rath, who served as lead lawyer on a number of prominent capital markets transactions in Austria in recent years, will become an equity partner in Schoenherr commencing with the firm’s next financial year on February 1, 2014. 

Rath specializes in capital markets transactions (both equity and debt), investment funds and asset management and financial services regulatory. Recent achievements include leading the Schoenherr team advising UNIQA insurance group on its EUR 757 million re-IPO in October 2013, the largest equity capital markets transaction in Austria last year, and UNIQA’s EUR 500 million rights offering in 2012, and multiple large volume high-yield bond issuances for Continental, Phoenix Pharma, and Schaeffler Group.

Rath joined Schoenherr in 2003 and was promoted to partner in the firm’s Banking, Finance, and Capital Markets practices in 2009.

Austrian Corporate lawyer Michal Dobrowolski has been elected to Counsel by Freshfields.Dobrowolski is the only CEE lawyer among the 15 associates promoted to Counsel worldwide.

Dobrowolski has been working for Freshfields since 2006. He specializes in private equity, mergers and acquisitions, reorganizations and general company law. He also practices in the field of public takeovers and squeeze-outs in particular in the context of listed stock corporations. He was promoted in 2010 to the level of corporate principal associate. 

According to Freshfields, “The role of counsel is the most senior legal role in the firm below that of partner. The key requirements for the role are that a candidate should have an appropriate level of seniority in the jurisdiction in which he/she works; is considered to have exceptional legal expertise and excels in providing legal and non legal contributions to ensure the continued development of the firm.”

Schoenherr has advised Osterreichische Volksbanken-AG on the sale of a financing portfolio with an approximate value of EUR 428 million to CA Immobilien Anlagen. They were assisted on the project by the new Austrian Vavrovsky Heine Marth law firm.

The Schoenherr team was led by Partner Sascha Hodl, who was assisted by Associate Sascha Schulz. Vavrovsky Heine Marth Founding Partner Dieter Heine led that firm’s team in the matter. 

The buyer, Immobilien Anlagen, and was advised by Partner Wilfried Seist from Doralt Seist Csoklich.