Cash pooling is a staple of corporate treasurers as an efficient way to allocate liquidity and reduce financing costs within a group of companies. Despite its commercial importance, neither Austrian statutory law nor the Austrian Supreme Court has provided any guidance as to whether cash pooling is permissible under Austrian law – in particular whether it is compatible with Austria’s strict capital maintenance laws.

It’s not easy to get to the top of a profession. Among lawyer in particular, there is fierce competition, great pressure, slim margins of error, and a number of people waiting to capitalize on mistakes. Making it to the top, and staying there, is a tightrope that must be walked over and over. And yet, the Hanslik family has not one but two such high achievers, in two different countries, as Austrian brothers Erwin and Guenther Hanslik have senior positions at offices of two of the most respected and successful international law firms in Europe.

Wolf Theiss has advised Volksbank Wien AG on the issuance of EUR 500 million covered bank bonds 2019-2029. The bonds with a denomination of EUR 100,000, each, are listed on the Vienna Stock Exchange. Rautner advised the joint lead managers, Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft, DZ Bank AG Deutsche Zentral-Genossenschaftsbank, Frankfurt am Main, Erste Group Bank AG, and Landesbank Baden-Wurttemberg.

BPV Huegel and Switzerland's Meyerlustenberger Lachenal law firm have advised shareholder Raiffeisen Informatik on the initial public offering of SoftwareONE Holding AG and its listing on the SIX Swiss Exchange. Lenz & Staehelin and Linklaters advised SoftwareONE, while Niederer Kraft Frey and Freshfields advised joint global coordinators and joint book-runners Credit Suisse, J.P. Morgan, and UBS Investment Bank, and additional joint book-runners BNP Paribas, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, UniCredit, and Zurcher Kantonalbank.

Schoenherr has advised Credi2 GmbH on the acquisition by Volkswagen Bank of a 20% stake in the company. Volkswagen Bank was reportedly advised by Dorda.

Dorda and Gleiss Lutz have advised Austria's Miba, a strategic partner of the international engine and automotive industry, on its entrance into a joint venture with German metal processor Zollern.

CMS has advised ALPLA on its acquisition of Spanish recycling companies Suminco S.A. and Replacal S.L. Barcelona's Fornesa Ceca Magan law firm advised the sellers.

Graf & Pitkowitz has advised Lukoil International GmbH on its acquisition of a 5% share in the GHASHA project for the development of deposits of gas, oil and gas condensate in the United Arab Emirates.

The Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) recently dealt with "appropriate compensation" due in cases where a preliminary injunction based on IP rights was lifted or not rectified in subsequent main proceedings.

Binder Groesswang has advised British private equity fund Enact on backing the management team of Qualter, Hall & Company Limited in its buyout of the business from the insolvency estate of Waagner-Biro AG. Womble Bond Dickinson advised Enact on matters of English law. Kosch & Partner advised Waagner-Biro.

Weber & Co. has advised joint lead managers Erste Group, LBBW, RBI, and UniCredit on the successful November 13, 2019 issuance of EUR 300 million mortgage covered notes by Raiffeisenlandesbank Vorarlberg. Wolf Theiss advised Raiffeisenlandesbank Vorarlberg as the issuer.

DLA Piper has advised European hotel developer UBM Development AG on the successful issue of a new EUR 120 million corporate bond, including an exchange offer. Wolf Theiss advised joint lead managers and book-runners Raiffeisen Bank International AG and M.M.Warburg & CO.

Former Wolf Theiss Poland Co-Managing Partner Ron Given has joined Deloitte Legal as its CE Senior Legal Counsel, responsible for all of the firm’s offices in 19 Central and Eastern European countries.

The development of autonomous driving has been a recurring topic in the media in recent years. Technology in this area has progressed so much that autonomous vehicles are now ready for test drives on public roads. This development is subsequently exerting great pressure on local governments to create new laws allowing this type of testing and therefore driverless vehicles on public roads.

In September 2018 Schoenherr Partner Thomas Kulnigg advised crowd-investing company Conda AG on the digitalization of its shares, allowing the registered shares to be managed via blockchain technology. The project represented the first-ever digitalization of shares linked to digital tokens in an Austrian joint stock company. The tokens were digital units that were mined exclusively by Conda on a blockchain (dis-tributed ledger technology) protocol and then given to company shareholders. When a shareholder trans-fers a token to another person, the transfer is recorded in the blockchain and, on that basis, the transfer is also registered in Conda’s share ledger. The transfer of a token is thus the equivalent of a share transfer.

Herbst Kinsky has advised Viennese FinTech start-up FINcredible GmbH on the acquisition by credit protection association KSV1870 of a 25.1% stake in the company for an undisclosed sum.

Dorda has advised Berlin-based electric scooter sharing company Emmy on its expansion into Austria.

Binder Groesswang has advised industrial holding company Mutares SE & Co. KGaA on a notarized, binding offer to acquire the business of Q Logistics GmbH, a logistics subsidiary of Osterreichische Bundesbahnen-Holding Aktiengesellschaft. Wolf Theiss advised OBB on the transaction.