Fellner Wratzfeld & Partner and Wolf Theiss have advised the Steinhoff Group on the sale of the Kika/Leiner Group to Signa Holding. Arnold Rechtsanwalte advised Signa Holding on the acquisition. Kika was represented by Urbanek Lind Schmied Reisch on the sale. Eisenberger & Herzog and the London office of Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy advised a group of creditors of the seller of Kika/Leiner's property assets in Austria and several CEE countries.
The signing took place on June 21, 2018.
“Given its international dimension, the complexity of the structures and the large number of stakeholders involved, along with the requirement to come to a closing as quickly as possible, this transaction is unprecedented in Austria,” FWP reported.
Kika/Leiner, which has more than 70 locations in Austria and Eastern Europe, has been part of the Steinhoff Group since 2013.
Michael Strenitz, Partner at E&H Law, said that “the deal’s greatest challenge was the impending bankruptcy of the operational Kika/Leiner companies and with that, the loss of more than 5,000 jobs if the negotiations had failed."
The FWP team consisted of Partners Markus Fellner, Florian Kranebitter, Paul Luiki, Lukas Flener, and Christian Thaler, Junior Partner Elisabeth Fischer-Schwarz, and Associates Pia-Alena Havel and Julian Zarre.
The Arnold Rechtsanwalte team was led by Partner Nikolaus Arnold. The team also included Partner Florian Arnold and Senior Associates Andreas Eder, Verena Stagl, Thomas Raubal, and Roman Gruber.
The Wolff Theiss team in Austria included Partners Peter Oberlechner, Eva Spiegel, Markus Bruckmuller, Christian Mikosch, and Claus Schneider, Counsel Matthias Schimka, Senior Associate Jiayan Zhu, and Associates David Gschaider, Lukas Pinegger, Iris Riepan, Jakob Jelinek, Natascha Johannik, Stefan Horn, and Marlene Bouzek. Also working on the deal were, Prague-based Counsel Jan Kotous and Associate David Simek, Budapest-based Partner Janos Toth and Associate Peter Ihasz, Bratislava-based Counsel Katarina Bielikova and Associate Ivana Hovancova, and Zagreb-based Partner Luka Tadic-Colic and Associate Lucia Mocibob.
The Urbanek Lind Schmied Reisch team was represented by Partner Ulla Reisch.
The E&H Law team consisted of Partners Michael Strenitz and Clemens Lanschutzer, Senior Associate Laurenz Liedermann, and Associates Wolfgang Kiegerl, Krzysztof Nowak, Karoline Hofmann, and Helena Neuner.
The Milbank team included Partners Yushan Ng and Peter Newman, Senior Associate Helen Ward, and Associates Scott Jardine and Natalie Raine.
Urbanek Lind Schmied Reisch did not reply to an inquiry about the deal.
Editor’s Note: After this article was published Wolf Theiss informed CEE Legal Matters that the team also involved Bratislava and Vienna Partner Erik Steger, Vienna Partner Niklas Schimdt, and Counsel Melanie Dimitrova. In addition, the Prague team included Associate Katerina Kulhankova, the Bucharest team included Counsel Flaviu Nanu and Associate Cristina Ion, the Zagreb team included Senior Associate Josip Martinic, the Budapest team included Associate Zoltan Banki, and the Bratislava team included Associate Dalibor Palaticky.
In addition, Schoenherr announced that it also advised KIKA/Leiner on the sale. The firm's team consisted of Partners Wolfgang Holler and Miriam Simsa, supported by Associate Philipp Kalser.
