Linklaters and CMS Vienna are advising investment banks JP Morgan and Citigroup on matters of Austrian law related to the Carinthian Compensation Fund’s offer to the holders of HETA (formerly Hypo Alpe Adria) instruments in the nominal amount of Euro 11.2 billion, as part of the long-awaited debt restructuring of the Heta banking crisis. Skadden Arps, Hausmaninger Kletter, and Abel & Abel are advising Carinthian State Holding, Schoenherr is advising the Austrian state, and bond creditors are being advised by Kirkland & Ellis, Binder Groesswang, Gorg, Dorda, and Wolf Theiss.
The offers were publicly announced on January 20, 2016 at a purchase price equal to 75% of the senior-instruments and 30% of the subordinated-instruments. The offer period lasts until March 11, 2016.
"The volume of more than Euro 11 billion nominal value is not the sole reason for the high complexity of the transaction, but also the fact that more than 200 debt instruments are involved“, said CMS Partner Martin Zuffer, who leads the CMS team on the matter. Zuffer is supported by Partners Daniela Karollus-Bruner, Sibylle Novak, and Robert Keisler, and Attorneys Philipp Mark and Thomas Bohm. Frankfurt-based Partner Peter Waltz leads the Linklaters team.
The Province of Carinthia, Carinthia Landesholding, and the Carinthian Compensation Fund are receiving legal advice in all restructuring matters and in “the individual cases related to the statutory deficiency guarantees” (according to Norbert Abel of Abel & Abel), by himself, and by Partners Mark Kletter and Manfred Ketzer of Hausmaninger Kletter. The Frankfurt/London/New York Skadden Arps team advising on Capital Markets matters was led by Partner Stephan Hutter, and included Partners Katja Kaulamo, Dominic McCahill, Chris Mallon, James McDonald, and Jay Goffman, and Associates Nico Feuerstein, Michael Steiner, Percy Lorenz, and David Quartner.
The Vienna-based Schoenherr team consists of Partners Wolfgang Holler, Sascha Hodl, Thomas Kulnigg, and Ursula Rath, and Associates Stefan Paul Mayer, Miriam Simsa, Stefanie Woess.
Binder Groesswang (in Austria) and Kirkland & Ellis (in Germany) is acting for the largest group of creditors of HETA — the so-called ad hoc group — led by Commerzbank, Pacific Investment Management, and FMS Wertmanagement. The Binder Groesswang team consists of Partners Tibor Fabian, Florian Khol, Christian Klausegger, Gottfried Gassner, and Emanuel Welten, and Senior Associates Therese Frank and Clarissa Nitsch. Munich-based Partner Leo Plank leads the Kirkland & Ellis team.
Other bond creditors are being advised by a team from Germany’s Gorg law firm, led by Cologne-based Partner Roland Hoffmann-Theinert and including Cologne-based Partners Christian Barenz, and Yorick Ruland, Cologne-based Associate Anne Laspeyres, and Berlin-based Associate Christoph Kunze.
Still other creditors are being advised by a Dorda team led by Partner Andreas Zahradnik and including Partners Bernhard Muller, Tibor Varga, and Felix Horlsberger, and Associate Christian Schoeller.
Yet another subset of bond creditors is being advised by a Vienna-based Wolf Theiss team consisting of Partners Kurt Retter, Claus Schneider, and Holger Bielesz, and Consultant Christine Siegl.
A thorough summary of the complex HETA crisis was published in the April 2015 issue of the CEE Legal Matters magazine.
