Cerha Hempel has advised OMV on the sale of its 51% stake in Gas Connect Austria GmbH to Verbund AG. Schoenherr advised Verbund on the EUR 271 million sale.
As part of the transaction, Verbund will also assume Gas Connect Austria’s outstanding liabilities to OMV, which, as of December 31, 2019, stood at EUR 165.9 million. According to media reports, subject to the amount of liabilities at closing, Verbnud will pay approximately EUR 436.9 million to OMV. According to Verbund, the acquisition cost implies an enterprise value of EUR 980 million for Gas Connect Austria.
The sale, which is part of OMV’s strategy to exit the regulated gas transport business, is expected to reduce OMV’s debt by over EUR 570 million.
Gas Connect Austria transports natural gas to Austria's federal states and to Germany, France, Slovenia, Croatia, and Hungary. It operates a gas pipeline network of around 900 kilometers that has a transportation capacity of 143 billion cubic meters annually.
Cerha Hempel’s team included Partners Clemens Hasenauer, Johannes Prinz, Harald Stingl, and Lorenz Pracht, Senior Associates Alexander Reich-Rohrwig and Ferdinand Guggenmos, and Junior Associates Michael Ebner, Julia Digruber, Stefanie Praauer, and Denise Runceanu.
Schoenherr's team was led by Partner Markus Piuk and included Partners Bernd Rajal and Franz Urlesberger and Associates Alfred Amann and Irina Hanin.
