Binder Grosswang Partners Michael Kutschera and Markus Uitz have advised the Dutch Koninklijke Ahold company on its EUR 192 million acquisition of 36 Interspar hypermarkets and 14 SPAR supermarkets, with an annual turnover of about EUR 540 million, and a total of about 4,700 employees, in the Czech Republic.
The deal makes Ahold the largest retailer in the Czech Republic, and the transaction has been described as the largest-ever retail chain acquisition in the Czech Republic. The transaction was signed on 10 March 2014. Closing is still subject to approval by Czech competition authorities.
Ahold was advised by the Dutch law firm De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek as transaction counsel and Binder Grosswang as Austrian counsel. The Weinhold Legal team advising the Austrian Spar Group was led by Partner Thilo Hoffmann and included Managing Attorneys Dalibor Simecek and David Emr.
