Category: Austria

These days, Austrian lawyers are primarily focused on the topics of the prevailing economic climate and its future trajectory, the implications of ESG trends, and the impact of artificial intelligence on the legal profession, according to Dorda Managing Partner Martin Brodey.

“In Austria, as elsewhere, the trends in M&A deals serve as a barometer of market activity,” Brodey begins. “The amount of ongoing deals in the pipeline reveals the state of the market. We note concerns raised by lawyers, particularly in the Anglo-Saxon world and in Germany. Private equity players accustomed to accessing capital at low costs face deal constraints at current interest levels. In Germany, two consecutive negative quarters, formally considered a recession, show effects on the flow of deals.”

Additionally, Brodey says “there is a general concern about inflation, which in Austria stands at more than 8%, well above the European average. Numerous issues suggest that it could dampen the overall economy. Fortunately, however, our country remains relatively settled and resilient, and we are not easily swayed by sudden developments,” he notes. “The main objective is to ensure the maintenance of a predictable environment and stability.”

Brodey is confident that the legal business in Austria is not in a downward spiral. “The pipeline of deals is good, in particular in the mid-cap area, presenting an opportune time for strategic moves and exits,” he says. “Also, in times of crisis, there is typically an increase in litigation, arbitration, and other areas such as compliance and ESG, which have become prominent topics due to extensive regulatory requirements.”

“ESG requirements carry significant implications for all participants in the economic sector,” he continues, “and companies face a substantial burden in determining the specific components of ESG requirements. Countries like Germany have taken the lead by enacting relevant legislation, and we often turn to them as a benchmark for understanding the associated challenges.” Brodey expects that many of the anticipated legislative updates will also encompass the topic of ESG.

“And another buzz topic in Austria is AI for lawyers – or instead of lawyers – as some are concerned,” Brodey says. “The prevailing opinion is, however, that AI will not replace lawyers but rather assist those who are able to utilize it. Many larger law firms have taken steps to incorporate AI capabilities in some way.” Clients now anticipate cutting-edge user-friendliness, regardless of whether they use the AI tool directly, he highlights: “It is crucial to adapt as, quite soon, it will become a standard tool in the legal profession. The main focus is on ensuring adaptation to the current trends and maintaining visibility by encompassing all that accompanies them and staying up-to-date with new developments. Our firm dedicates considerable resources to face the challenges of rapid technological development.”

Finally, Brodey mentions that several Austrian law firms have launched dedicated Start-Up practice groups which, in Dorda’s case, include lawyers from the Corporate, M&A, IP, and Life Sciences fields. “It’s a market trend we have been watching with heightened interest. Founding a business as well as start-up investing in Austria are now accessible options to a larger number of people than ever before.”

Former Vavrovsky Heine Marth Attorney at Law Peter Tutsch has joined Fieldfisher as the fifth Partner in its new Vienna office, on July 3, 2023.

The Vienna office of Fieldfisher had opened just a month earlier, with former SCWP Schindhelm Partners and by integrating Meissner & Passin (as reported by CEE Legal Matters on June 2, 2023).

A corporate finance and restructuring specialist with a background in engineering, Tutsch has a particular focus on technology businesses, including fintech and venture capital firms. Before joining Fieldfisher, he spent two and a half years with Vavrovsky Heine Marth. Earlier, he spent almost two years in-house with Siemens as a Legal Counsel. Before that, he spent another two with BPV Huegel, between 2017 and 2019, and two and a half with Eustacchio Schaar. He started his career with Fiebinger Polak & Partner in 2013 as a Paralegal. Tutsch currently also serves as the Chief Legal Officer of CONDA Crowdinvesting.

“I am delighted to welcome Peter to Fieldfisher Austria so soon after opening our new office,” Fieldfisher Austria Managing Partner Thomas Ruhm commented. “Peter’s experience in corporate finance, restructuring, and insolvency and his ambitions to further build his practice as part of a respected international law firm perfectly align with our team’s entrepreneurial spirit and objectives.”

“Joining Fieldfisher Austria is an excellent opportunity to add my skills and experience to a highly respected team working under an internationally recognized brand name,” Tutsch added. “I am confident that by cooperating with Thomas and my other colleagues at Fieldfisher Austria we can grow the office’s client base and offer market-leading expertise in fields in which there is significant demand.”

Schoenherr has successfully protected the trademark rights of Jaegermeister in a dispute regarding their imitation by a discount private label by obtaining an EU-wide preliminary injunction before Austria’s Supreme Court of Justice.

According to Schoenherr, the courts, up to the Supreme Court, “considered the design elements of the product used by a discount private label – i.e., the color combination and Fraktur lettering on an orange banderole as well as the depiction of a deer’s head – to be inadmissible product imitation. The main reason given was that the imitation product is conspicuously based on Jaegermeister’s well-known brand and design elements, and this leads to a mental association and exploitation of reputation.”

“This decision of the Supreme Court once again confirms that well-known trademarks and well-known product get-ups are protected against imitation,” Schoenherr Intellectual Property Partner Christian Schumacher commented. “It can often be observed that an association with a well-known product is aroused via important product design elements. The Supreme Court has made it clear here in its reasoning that this is difficult to justify even if the imitator applies its own brand, which can also be well-known.”

Schoenherr’s team included Schumacher and Attorney at Law Birgit Kapeller-Hirsch.

Wolf Theiss has advised Bain Capital Special Situations on the acquisition of an approximately 20% stake in Intel’s IMS Nanofabrication business, as part of a transaction that values IMS at approximately USD 4.3 billion. Hogan Lovells reportedly advised Intel.

The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2023.

According to Wolf Theiss, IMS Nanofabrication, an Austrian business and subsidiary of the Intel Corporation, is an “industry leader in multi-beam mask writing for advanced technology nodes. Its customers are chip manufacturers across the world who rely on IMS’s technology to produce current and future chip generations. The company’s innovative multi-beam writers play a key role in chip manufacturing and provide significant added value to the semiconductor industry.”

According to the firm, Bain Capital Special Situations is a “global team of investors who have driven value creation for more than 20 years.” Bain Capital Special Situations has USD 18 billion in assets under management and has invested more than USD 28 billion since its inception in 2002.

The Wolf Theiss team included Partners Florian Kusznier and Guenter Bauer, Counsels Stefan Wartinger and Stefan Horn, Senior Associates Christopher Juenger, Martina Edlinger, Phillip Wrabetz, Anna Schwamberger, and Georg Knafl, and Associates Carolina Brunnmayr, Miranda Ellison, Pascal Gstoettner, Dorothea Arlt, Dominik Mayrhofer, and Julia Moser.

Brandl Talos has advised the shareholders on their sale of Ready2Order to Zucchetti. Schoenherr advised Ready2Order early investor Franz Hoerhager, while Schindler Attorneys advised Co-Founder Christoph Zhu on the transaction. Fellner Wratzfeld & Partner advised the Zucchetti Group.

Ready2Order is an Austrian company offering cloud-based point-of-sale systems. According to Brandl Talos, since 2015, it “has specialized in the development of modular point-of-sale and payment applications for small businesses and counts over 10,000 companies in Germany and Austria as their clients. Over the years, the Viennese fintech has already caught the attention of investors with its innovative solutions and, inter alia, secured venture capital from Speedinvest, Reimann Investors, and Franz Hoerhager. The company now employs almost 100 people at its headquarters in Vienna and across Europe.”

Zucchetti is an Italian company that offers software, hardware, and services for companies, banks, insurance providers, professionals, and trade associations. With more than 8,000 people, a distribution network exceeding 2,000 partners worldwide and more than 700,000 customers, the Zucchetti Group describes itself as “one of the most important Italian companies in the IT sector.”

“By the 100% acquisition of Ready2Order, the Zucchetti Group extends its portfolio with an innovative, cloud-based point-of-sale and payment system tailored for entrepreneurs in the SME sector. Ready2Order will remain an independent company with two co-founders, Markus Bernhart and Christopher Fuchs, continuing to lead the business and sustainably expand the company location in Austria,” Brandl Talos announced.

The Brandl Talos team was led by Partner Roman Rericha and Attorney at Law Markus Arzt.

The Schoenherr team included Partners Thomas Kulnigg and Marco Thorbauer, Attorneys at Law Niklas Kerschbaumer and Tobias Hayden, and Associate Benedikt Schachner-Groehs.

The Schindler Attorneys team included Partner Florian Cvak, Senior Associates Daniel Kropf and Martin Lanner, and Associate Victoria Huf.

The FWP team included Partner Paul Luiki and Associate Erin Burton.

Herbst Kinsky has advised Salzburg-based dietary supplement manufacturer Biogena on a public offering for crowd-investors via the Rockets Investments platform with a total amount of up to EUR 3 million.

Rockets Investments serves as an online community for investing in small business debt, starting at EUR 250, and enables borrowers to receive funding directly from investors.

The Herbst Kinsky team included Attorney at Law Johannes Frank and Associate Christoph Renner.

Johannes Feilmair, Karoline Hofmann, and Stefan Jeitler have been appointed to Partner positions with E+H in Austria at the beginning of July 2023. 

Feilmair joined E+H in 2016 and specializes incorporate/M&A, venture capital/private equity, and real estate law. According to E+H, Feilmair has “special expertise in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries.” Before joining E+H, he spent two years with Kunz, Schima, Wallentin.

Hofmann started her career at E+H in 2013, developing as an Associate and Counsel in the firm’s Vienna office. According to the firm, she specializes in “advising creditors and debtors in crisis situations and restructurings, and advises on distressed M&A transactions.” In addition to a number of Legal Trainee positions she held before joining the firm, Hofmann also spent a year with E+H as a Trainee, between 2013 and 2014.

Jeitler started his career with E+H in 2012, working as an Associate in the firm’s Vienna and Graz offices. According to the firm, “he has considerable experience and expertise in corporate and real estate transactions, as well as start-up financing rounds.”

“We are particularly pleased to welcome Johannes Feilmair, Karoline Hofmann, and Stefan Jeitler, experienced and highly qualified lawyers, as new Partners in our firm,” commented E+H Practice Group Leader Peter Winkler. “Their expertise and knowledge will further strengthen our services and optimally serve the needs of our clients.”

Schoenherr has advised Verbund – via its Verbund Energy4Business and Verbund Thermal Power subsidiaries – on the acquisition of all shares in Solarpower Holding together with its subsidiaries MSP Solarpower and IFIX-Solar from its shareholder. SCWP Schindhelm reportedly advised the sellers.

According to Schoenherr, “Verbund is Austria’s leading electricity company and one of the largest producers of electricity from hydropower in Europe. Almost 100% of Verbund’s electricity generation comes from climate-friendly, renewable hydropower.”

Solarpower Holding, based in Feldkirchen an der Donau, Upper Austria, is a  provider of consulting, funding processing, system planning, delivery, assembly, and commissioning of turnkey photovoltaic plants. The company specializes in renewable energies and has installed more than 3,000 photovoltaic systems throughout Austria.

The Schoenherr team included Partners Markus Piuk and Marco Thorbauer, Attorneys at Law Michael Marschall and Constantin Klausegger, and Associates Lukas Pirringer, Irina Hanin, Verena Krikler, and Gabor Kulcsar.

Binder Groesswang has advised microbiome technology R&D company Biome Diagnostics on its investment round with Uniqa Group company SanusX. Schoenherr reportedly advised the investors.

Austria-based Biome Diagnostics, founded in 2018, has, according to Binder Groesswang, “been developing innovative microbiome-based technologies that use machine learning and DNA sequencing to analyze microbial functions […] The aim is to develop first-class microbiome diagnostics and therapies that can be used in routine care and thus revolutionize cancer prevention in the future.”

SanusX is an exploratory start-up established by the Uniqa Group in 2020. In addition to its own research work, SanusX regularly invests in up-and-coming medical technology startups.

According to Binder Groesswang, “together, SanusX and Biome Diagnostics now want to continue to grow and create new synergies to help even more people with new, accessible healthcare solutions.”

The Binder Groesswang team was led by Partner Christian Zwick and included Partners Christine Dietz and Michael Horak, Senior Associates Christoph Raab and Sabine Apfl-Trumpeter, and Associate Michael Mittermair.

Editor’s Note: After this article was published, Schoenherr confirmed it had advised SanusX on the acquisition of a participation in Biome Diagnostics in a capital increase transaction. The Schoenherr team was led by Counsel Gregor Petric and included Partner Marco Thorbauer, Counsel Iliyana Sirakova, Attorneys at Law Alexander Pabst, Nina Zafoschnig, Karin Pusch, Johannes Frank, and Tobias Hayden, and Associates Christina Unterduenhofen, Gabor Kulcsar, and Nikolaus Stepan.

Schoenherr has advised HS Timber Industrieinvest on establishing a joint venture with Hat Trick to build a sawmill in Argentina and produce and trade logs worldwide. PHH advised Hat Trick.

Based in Vienna, the HS Timber Group is a wood processing company. It is active in the timber industry and the bioenergy sector throughout the CEE region, exporting its products to 70 destinations.

Hat Trick is a Belgian investment management company.

According to Schoenherr, “through this joint venture, HS Timber Industrieinvest and Hat Trick will jointly build a sawmill in Argentina and produce and trade logs worldwide.”

Earlier in 2023, Schoenherr advised HS Timber on the sale of HS Timber Productions Sebes to the Ziegler Group (as reported by CEE Legal Matters on April 28, 2023) and, in 2022, on the acquisition of Luvian Saha (as reported by CEE Legal Matters on May 11, 2022) and the sale of the Interfloat Corporation and Glasmanufaktur Brandenburg to Borosil Renewables (as reported by CEE Legal Matters on May 5, 2022).

The Schoenherr team included Partner Maximilian Lang and Associate Markus Fasching.

The PHH team included Partner Rainer Kaspar, Attorney at Law Wolfgang Guggenberger, and Associate Johannes Metzler.