Category: Austria

Former Schindler Attorneys Counsel Julia Kusznier has become the co-head of IP/IT at KPMG Law in Austria. 

According to KPMG, Kusznier, who joins as Counsel, “advises national and international clients in the areas of Intellectual Property law, IT law, Unfair Competition law, E-Commerce law, and Data Protection law.” According to the firm, “[she] has also repeatedly demonstrated her expertise in M&A transactions and restructuring.”

She will co-head the firm’s IP/IT practice with Counsel Karin Bruchbacher. 

Kusznier holds a Magistrate degree and a Ph.D. from the University of Vienna. Prior to joining KPMG Law, she spent two and a half years with Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, over three years with Schoenherr, seven and a half years with Eisenberger & Herzog, and almost three years with Schindler Attorneys.

Herbst Kinsky has advised Austrian start-up Trality on attracting EUR 1.5 million in financing from a group of German investors including Blockrocket, VC Tokentus, FFG, and AWS.

Trality provides investment services through automated trading bots.

Herbst Kinsky’s team included Attorney-at-Law Johannes Frank and Associate Christoph Renner.

Herbst Kinsky did not reply to an inquiry about the deal.

Graf & Pitkowitz has advised Germany’s Cherry GmbH on the acquisition of Austria’s Theobroma Systems Design and Consulting GmbH. 

Cherry is a global manufacturer of computer input devices and switches for mechanical keyboards. Theobroma Systems is a developer and manufacturer of embedded systems. 

Graf & Pitkowitz’s team included Partners Ferdinand Graf, Jakob Widner, and Stefan Weileder and Attorneys Andreas Edlinger, Axel Guttmann, Claudia Csaky, Marija Krizanac.

Graf & Pitkowitz did not reply to our inquiry on the matter.

Brandl & Talos has advised AWS Grunderfonds on its EUR 1.8 million seed investment in Vienna-based real estate startup Rendity. TBS Schmidt reportedly advised Rendity on the deal.

Rendity is a platform that enables small and institutional investors to invest in real estate, with amounts starting at EUR 500. More than 80 real estate projects valued at EUR 455 million have been financed through the platform since its inception.

AWS Grunderfonds is an Austrian venture capital fund which manages equity capital of approximately EUR 70 million. The fund primarily focuses on Austrian startups and has so far, together with co-investors, invested more than EUR 323 million in 36 companies.

According to Brandl & Talos, “the investment by AWS Grunderfonds … is intended to finance [Rendity’s] international growth, particularly its expansion into Germany.”

The Brandl & Talos team consisted of Attorney Markus Arzt and Trainee Lawyer Christina Bernhart.

TBS Schmidt’s team was reportedly led by Lukas Schmidt.

Binder Groesswang has advised the SeneCura Group on its acquisition of Austria’s St. Veit/Glan therapy center. The signing and closing of the share deal took place on October 28, 2020.

St.Vein/Glan therapy center, which is operated by the municipality of St. Veit an der Glan in Austria, is an outpatient clinic for physical medicine with a capacity of 46 therapy places and a total annual treatment volume of around 92,000 treatments. According to Binder Groesswang, “SeneCura operates 85 health and care facilities in Austria, 19 in the Czech Republic, 3 in Slovenia, and one in Croatia, making it one of the market and innovation leaders in the private care sector in the CEE region. Since April 2015 SeneCura has been part of the French group ORPEA, which specializes in long-term care, post-acute care, and psychiatric care, with a presence in 22 countries on three continents and a network of 1,014 healthcare facilities with around 104,000 beds.”

Binder Groesswang’s team included Partners Markus Uitz and Angelika Pallwein-Prettner and Senior Associates Michael Delitz and Manuel Muellner.

Binder Groesswang could not provide additional information on the deal.

Cerha Hempel has advised CA Immobilien Anlagen on its EUR 350 million placement of a fixed rate senior unsecured green bond (with a maturity of five years and an annual coupon of 1.0%). The Frankfurt office of Linklaters reportedly advised joint global coordinators J.P. Morgan Securities plc and Morgan Stanley & Co International plc and joint bookrunners and joint sustainability structuring agents UniCredit Bank AG and Raiffeisen Bank International AG.

According to Cerha Hempel, “the issuance was oversubscribed more than 5.4 times with strong demand by more than 150 investors. The bond trades on the Official Market of the Vienna Stock Exchange.” The firm stated that, “the international rating agency Moody’s Investors Service Ltd. has assigned an investment grade rating of ‘Baa2’ to the bond. CA Immo’s long term rating is also ‘Baa2’ with stable outlook.” 

CA Immobilien Anlagen is a real estate company specialized in leasing, management, and project development of office spaces in Central Europe. Cerha Hempel reported that the firm “intends to use the net proceeds of the bonds in particular for further growth and the optimization of its financing structure and other general corporate purposes.”

Cerha Hempel’s team consisted of Partners Volker Glas and Thomas Zivny, Senior Counsel Christian Aichinger, and Associate Mathias Drescher.

CMS has advised Plastic Omnium on establishing a joint venture with ElringKlinger. In addition, Plastic Omnium acquired ElringKlinger’s Austrian subsidiary — ElringKlinger Fuelcell Systems Austria — for almost EUR 15 million. KPMG Law Germany and KPMG Law Austria Buchberger Ettmayer advised ElringKlinger on the transaction, which remain subject to regulatory approval.

According to CMS, the transaction is designed to “drive forward the development of hydrogen mobility” and “will create a joint venture for the development and large-scale production of fuel cell stacks for CO2-neutral mobility. ElringKlinger will contribute its fuel cell business and expertise. Plastic Omnium will invest around EUR 100 million for accelerating innovation, expanding the commercial pipeline, and increasing production capacities. “

The newly established company, EKPO Fuel Cell Technologies, will be 60% owned by ElringKlinger and 40% by Plastic Omnium.

The CMS team included Germany-based Partner Dirk Jannott and Senior Associate Artur Baron and Austria-based Partners Alexander Rakosi, Dieter Zandler, and Sibylle Novak, Attorney Georg Gutfleisch, and Associates Marco Selenic and Sanela Fuerstenberg.

KPMG Law Austria Buchberger Ettmayer’s team was led by Partner Wendelin Ettmayer.

Dorda has successfully defended Energy Hero in a case heard by the Austrian Supreme Court against an unspecified energy supplier.

Energy Hero is a part of the Blue Minds Group and is a provider of energy price comparison and switching services to almost 20,000 customers in Austria. According to Dorda, “Energy Hero compares available energy and gas rates and, based on a power of attorney, automatically switches its customers to the cheapest provider each year.” According to the firm, “the energy supplier attempted to prove that the customers needed to opt for the cheaper prices personally, which would in turn prevent Energy Hero from acting on their behalf.”

The Austrian Supreme Court ruled in favor of Energy Hero, on the grounds that a requirement that each customer would need to personally enter into a contract would be grossly disadvantageous for the end customer and have a negative impact on Energy Hero.

Dorda’s team consisted of Partner Axel Anderl, Attorney-at-Law Bernhard Heinzl, and Associate Alexandra Ciarnau.

Schoenherr has successfully represented Austrian AOP Orphan Pharmaceuticals AG in a Frankfurt-seated arbitration against Taiwan’s PharmaEssentia Corporation. The tribunal awarded AOP declaratory relief, damages, costs, and interest, and dismissed all counterclaims.

According to Schoenherr, “the dispute arose from an agreement concerning the development and distribution of a new blood cancer drug. While AOP had kept its end of the bargain and successfully completed the formulation, clinical, and regulatory development of that drug in the EU, Taiwanese biopharmaceutical company PharmaEssentia tried to terminate the initial deal. AOP did not accept that termination and took PharmaEssentia to arbitration requesting declaratory relief that the agreement is in full force and effect and claiming damages caused by PharmaEssentia’s created uncertainty and project delays. After numerous rounds of written submissions, extensive witness and expert testimony, a comprehensive document production phase, and a full week of hearings in December 2019 and February 2020,  the tribunal confirmed that PharmaEssentia’s purported termination of its agreement with AOP was invalid, and awarded damages, costs, and interest to AOP in a total amount of over EUR 150 million while dismissing PharmaEssentia’s counterclaim on all accounts.”

Schoenherr’s team included Partners Christoph Lindinger and Peter Madl, Counsels Victoria Pernt and Stephan Wilske, and Attorney Marina Stanisavljevic.

Cerha Hempel’s Vienna office has advised Immofinanz on its successful placement of an unsubordinated, unsecured bonds issue valued at EUR 500 million. Citigroup and J.P. Morgan Securities acted as joint global coordinators and joint bookrunners, while Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Erste Group Bank, and HSBC served as joint bookrunners on the deal. Linklaters’ Frankfurt office reportedly advised the underwriters.

According to Cerha Hempel, “the bonds were issued under a seven-year maturity period and an annual coupon of 2.5%. The international rating agency Standard & Poor’s has assigned the bond the investment grade rating of ‘BBB-‘.” The firm reported that, “Immofinanz intends to use the net proceeds of bonds sale to refinance existing debt, capitalize on value creating growth opportunities, and for general corporate purposes.”

Cerha Hempel also reported that, “the issue was two-times oversubscribed with a strong demand from more than 110 investors. The notes, which have a denomination of EUR 100,000 each, are listed at the regulated market of the Luxembourg Stock Exchange and are also traded at the Vienna MTF of the Vienna Stock Exchange.”

Cerha Hempel’s team consisted of Partners Volker Glas and Thomas Zivny, Senior Counsel Christian Aichinger, and Associate Mathias Drescher.