Schoenherr has advised Austrian Raiffeisen Bank International AG (RBI) on its merger with unlisted Raiffeisen Zentralbank Oesterreich AG (RZB). RZB was advised by bpv Huegel.
The merger, Schoenherr reports, "represents one of the largest corporate reorganizations in the Austrian banking sector to date." As a result of the merger, the Raiffeisen Landesbanken (the former majority shareholders of RZB) will hold 58.8% of RBI and the rest will be free float. According to Schoenherr, "the merger, which was officially completed on March 18, 2017, was aimed at increasing the overall capitalization of the combined group, improving transparency for all stakeholders by simplifying the group structure, and achieving clearer corporate governance."
Schoenherr provided corporate and regulatory advice and due diligence support to RBI. According to the firm, "the RBI legal team prepared a significant part of the corporate documentation in-house and Schoenherr worked very closely with them on the drafting and implementation side (e.g., regarding the merger reports by the boards). Also, Schoenherr's Austrian and CEE banking team advised RBI, RZB, and the eight Raiffeisen Landesbanken on regulatory and banking supervision aspects related to the merger throughout the CEE region, including representing the parties before various local regulatory authorities."
The Schoenherr team was led by Partners Peter Feyl and Roman Perner, supported in Vienna by Counsel Stefan Paulmayer, Attorneys at Law Clemens Rainer and Stefanie Woss, and Associates Matthias Pressler and Martina Hiebl. The team also included lawyers from other CEE offices, including Zagreb Partner Arijana Petres and Attorney Ozren Kobsa, Prague Attorney Natalie Rosova, Warsaw Partner Pawel Halwa and Attorney Marcin Antczak, Bucharest Partner Matei Florea and Attorneys Carmen Stirbu and Sandu Costin, and Bratislava Partner Sona Hekelova and Associates Alexandra Adamickova.
The bpv Huegel team was led by Partners Hanns Hugel and Christoph Nauer.
