Taylor Wessing Slovakia has advised and represented the Austrian company Wiener Donauraum Laanden und Ufer Betriebs- und Entwicklungs GmbH on its investment into P.A.D., spol. s.r.o., which owns and operates seven pontoons on the Danube river in Slovakia.
According to Taylor Wessing, Wiener Donauraum was founded in 2002 "to develop the shores area of and the sailing on the Danube. An outstanding example of the Wiener Donauraum activities was a construction of the ship station Schiffstation Wien City in Vienna's city center, which opened in July 2010. This terminal is not just a ship station, but also contains restaurants, cafes and shops and also provides premises for social events and exhibitions."
According to Taylor Wessing, P.A.D. "provides anchorage places for cruise ships, but also offers additional services, such as drinking water supply for ships, disposal of the municipal waste or shipping agency services."
The transaction was executed at the end of the April 2017 and was structured as a share deal, with Taylor Wessing advising on the adjustment of the share transfer agreement, negotiating the agreement’s content, and preparing the company’s internal documentation. The firm's team included Partner Radovan Pala and Senior Associate Iveta Bosiakova.
According to Ronald Schrems, Director of Wiener Donauraum Laanden und Ufer Betriebs- und Entwicklungs GmbH, "the purpose of the transaction is to closer connect the historically related Danubian metropolises Bratislava and Vienna, to improve their mutual accessibility and transportation on the Danube, as well as to create the so called 'Gate to Vienna' — an information-booking platform of the city of Vienna in Bratislava. The connection between Vienna and Bratislava was very important also during negotiations of the entire transaction. That’s the reason why we chose Taylor Wessing as our advisors, as they perfectly understood our 'Austrian law terminology' and thanks to their local know-how they helped us execute this transaction pursuant to Slovak law.”
Taylor Wessing Partner Radovan Pala added that “the challenge for us was to combine the client’s interest in a swift and simple execution of the transaction and at the same time to minimize the risks stemming from the quite complex Slovak legislation on the operation of pontoons on the Danube.”
Taylor Wessing did nor reply to an inquiry about counsel for P.A.D.
