Binder Groesswang has helped the Wustenrot Group set up its own bank for private customers.
In particular, Binder Groesswang reported, it provided assistance with the regulatory license application process. The firm’s team included Partner Stephan Heckenthaler, Counsel Stefan Frank, and Associate Andreas Perkonig.
DLA Piper has advised Panoptes Pharma co-founders Franz Obermayr and Stefan Sperl and other unspecified shareholders on the sale of 100% of the company to EyeGate Pharmaceuticals. Frotz Riedl in Austria and Burns & Levinson in the US reportedly advised the buyer.
Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.
EyeGate Pharmaceuticals is a clinical-stage specialty pharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing products for treating diseases and disorders of the eye. The company is listed on Nasdaq and is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts.
Panoptes Pharma is a privatively-held Vienna-based clinical stage biotech company focused on developing treatments for severe eye diseases.
According to DLA Piper, “Dr. Franz Obermayr and Dr. Stefan Sperl, [along with] the institutional and strategic investors, sold their stake by way of a share swap and now hold an interest in EyeGate.” The firm also reported that, “under the terms of the agreement, Panoptes became a wholly owned subsidiary of EyeGate and its co-founders became part of the EyeGate management team.”
DLA Piper’s team consisted of Partner Christoph Mager, Counsel Johanna Holtl, and Senior Associate Christian Knauder.
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has advised a consortium of Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, BNP Paribas, HSBC, and UniCredit on the placement of Qiagen NV’s USD 500 million convertible bond due in 2027 and the management of bondholder’s buyback of Qiagen’s convertible bonds due in 2021.
According to Freshfields, “Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, and Merrill Lynch [acted] as joint global coordinators and joint bookrunners … [with] BNP Paribas, HSBC, and UniCredit [acting] as further joint bookrunners for both the issue and the buyback.”
Freshfields reported that, “in the event of conversion, the bondholders will be repaid the bonds at their nominal value in accordance with the more detailed provisions of the bond conditions and (convertible) shares will only be delivered in a number whose value corresponds to Delta between the nominal amount and a reference value specified in more detail in the bond terms and conditions, based on the then current market price (so-called net share settlement).” The firm reported that “the simultaneous repurchase of the convertible bonds maturing in 2021 was carried out with a total volume of over 170 million US dollars.”
According to Freshfields, “the convertible bonds due 2027 are to be included in the open market of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange … the proceeds from the issue will be used to finance the simultaneous repurchase of the convertible bonds due in 2021 as well as general corporate purposes.”
The Freshfields team included, in Vienna, Partners Stephan Pachinger and Principal Associate Christian Jollinger; in Frankfurt, Partner Christoph Gleske, Counsel Kyle Miller, and Principal Associate Nikolaus Bunting; and in Amsterdam, Partner Hanneke Rothbarth, Counsel Igor Dovgaliouk, Principal Associate Bob Van Kasteren, and Senior Associate Zach Truscott.
Freshfields could not provide further information about the deal.
Cerha Hempel has advised Worthington Cylinders GmbH, a designer and manufacturer of pressure vessels, on its acquisition of all of the shares in German PTEC Pressure Technology GmbH from its unidentified founder and sole shareholder.
Cerha Hempel describes PTEC as “a global specialist in the manufacture of components for natural gas and hydrogen applications and a longstanding cooperation partner of Worthington.” According to the firm, “immediately after and in connection with the transfer of shares, PTEC acquired the operating real estate as well as the patents required for conducting the business of PTEC from the sole shareholder, who [has been] retained by PTEC as Senior Director of R&D.”
Cerha Hempel’s team included Managing Partner Albert Birkner and Senior Associate Martin Eichinger.
Cerha Hempel could not provide more information on the deal.
Cerha Hempel, working with Allen & Overy’s Amsterdam office, has advised Mississippi Ventures B.V. on the acquisition of 50% of the shares in Dutch retail chain Hema B.V. from the Ad Hoc Group. Loyens & Loeff advised the Ad Hoc Group on the deal, which is expected to close in the first quarter of this year, and De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek advised Hema.
Hema has over 750 branches, mainly in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France, Luxembourg, Great Britain, and Austria.
Mississippi Ventures is an investment company of the Van Eerd family, which has been operating in the grocery retail sector for decades with the Dutch supermarket chain Jumbo.
Cerha Hempel’s team included Managing Partner Albert Birkner, Senior Counsel Matthias Nodl, Senior Associates Alistair Gillespie and Christopher Peitsch, and Associates Jakob Weber and Julia Haumer-Moerzinger.
Binder Groesswang has advised Raiffeisen Bank on the acquisition of several bank branches, including customer relationships, from Landes-Hypothekenbanken Steiermark AG. Saxinger, Chalupsky & Partner advised Landes-Hypothekenbanken Steiermark on the deal, which closed on January 1, 2021.
Binder Groesswang’s team included Partners Michael Binder, Christian Zwick, and Gottfried Gassner, Lawyer Stefan Frank, and Trainee Lawyer Markus Sacherer.
Saxinger, Chalupsky & Partner’s team included Partners Franz Mittendorfer and Clemens Harsch and Trainee Lawyer Stephan Pree.
Eisenberger & Herzog has advised Wien Energie GmbH on the acquisition of a 49% stake in Austria’s Pongratzer Kogel, Herrenstein, and Zagersdorf wind farms from wind and solar farm operator Encavis AG. Taylor Wessing advised Encavis on the deal.
Financial details of the transaction, which closed on December 18, 2020, were not disclosed.
The three wind farms generate a total of 36.2 megawatts, and, according to Eisenberger & Herzog, reduce the CO2 emissions that would be required to produce this amount of energy by traditional means by around 14,500 tons per year.
Eisenberger & Herzog’s team included Partners Marco Steiner, Dieter Thalhammer, and Tatjana Katalan, Attorneys Christoph Lejsek and Marie Sophie Reitinger, and Associates Niklas Kerschbaumer-Gugu, Fabian Larcher, and Daniel Metz.
Taylor Wessing’s team included Partners Philip Hoflehner and Peter Solt.
Brandl & Talos and SMP’s Berlin office have advised System Industrie Electronic Holding on the acquisition of a 70.1% stake in Elektromotorenwerk Grunhain.
The deal is expected to close on January 1, 2021, and financial details were not disclosed.
Elektromotorenwerk Grunhain is a developer and manufacturer of electric motors and drive components for a wide variety of industrial applications. The company employs around 270 people at locations in Grunhain-Beierfeld, Germany, and Gabrovo in Bulgaria.
SIE Holding leads a group of companies that offer electronics solutions, components, and services to industrial companies for their applications in the fields of medicine, government, security, and industry.
According to Brandl & Talos, “together with the EMGR management, SIE Holding intends to expand the company, particularly in the further development of innovative electronic controls and systems for engine applications as well as in the area of cargo e-mobility.”
The Brandl & Talos team consisted of Partner Roman Rericha and Lawyer Stephan Strass.
SMP’s team included Partner Tim Schloesser and Senior Associate Leonie Hartz.
Brandl & Talos did not reply to an inquiry about the deal.
Former SCWP Schindhelm Partner Alice Meissner and former Skribe lawyer Bernhard Passin have joined forces to launch Meissner & Passin Attorneys, which will open its doors on January 1, 2021.
According to Meissner & Passin Attorneys, the firm will focus on “arbitration and litigation as well as corporate law. As for the Asian legal market, there will be close cooperation with Nivalion AG, a leading European third party funder.”
“Well-known Chinese corporations [have already been] active in Austria and Germany for several years,” says Alice Meissner. “Besides corporate legal advice, representing Asian clients in arbitration proceedings has, therefore, become significant [and] important. Also, Vienna’s reputation in Asia as [a] popular place of arbitration increased significantly.”
Meissner, who is admitted to the bar in Vienna and Munich, has “counseled on numerous arbitration proceedings and advised the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission, CIETAC, on the establishment of its new sub-commission in Vienna,” according to Meissner & Passin Attorneys. “Long-term clients of Alice Meissner include industrial companies with Chinese roots, such as Aihai Minerals Europe, which just opened a new talc grinding plant in Styria, as well as various Chinese banks, which usually finance the transactions of Asian investors.”
Meissner has a J.D. from the University of Hamburg and a Ph.D. from the University of Vienna. Prior to setting up MP Attorneys, she spent a year at the Commercial Court in Hamburg, a year with Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, four years with Wolf Theiss, and six years with SCWP Schindhelm.
The firm describes Bernhard Passin as an “experienced litigator with more than ten years of experience.” He has acted as lead counsel in several proceedings before the ECJ and the Austrian Supreme Court.
Passin is a graduate of KF University in Graz. Prior to opening MP Attorneys with Meissner, he spent two years with Binder Groesswang and 11 years with Heinke Skribe — now Skribe Rechtsanwalte.
Schoenherr has advised UBS Europe SE on the sale of its onshore wealth management business in Austria to LGT Bank AG. The transaction remains subject to competition authority clearance.
Schoenherr’s team included Partners Sascha Hoedl and Franz Urlesberger, Counsel Matthias Pressler, Attorneys Clemens Gaugusch, Teresa Waidmann, Marco Thorbauer, and Johannes Frank, and Associate Gabriel Ebner.