It is with great pleasure that we announce the 2019 CEE Deal of the Year Award winners – the most important, complicated, significant, and valuable deals across Central and Eastern Europe.

BPV Huegel has helped Austrian low-cost airline Level Europe GmbH initiate and implement judicial insolvency proceedings at the Regional Court of Korneuburg.

Dorda has advised Eastern Property Holdings on the acquisition of an office building in Vienna. Financial details were not disclosed, and closing remains subject to several conditions.

Cerha Hempel has advised MK Group Global Limited on the acquisition of a loan portfolio from Heta Asset Resolution AG and the acquisition of the direct and indirect shareholdings of HETA in three Slovenian wind-down entities that manage receivables from non-performing loans granted by the former Hypo Alpe-Adria-Bank International AG and its subsidiaries to customers in Slovenia. Schoenherr advised the Republic of Austria as the owner of HETA. 

Weber & Co has advised OMV AG, the international integrated oil and gas company headquartered in Vienna, on the issuance of two tranches of corporate bonds. White & Case's Frankfurt office advised joint lead managers Citigroup Global Markets Europe AG, Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft, Erste Group Bank AG, Landesbank Baden-Wuerttemberg, Mizuho Securities Europe GmbH, and Raiffeisen Bank International AG.

Matthias Scholz has been re-elected Managing Partner for Baker McKenzie Germany and Austria for an additional three-year term.

Wolf Theiss has advised Euronext Amsterdam-listed Royal DSM on its acquisition of the Erber Group, an animal nutrition and health business. Closing is contingent on customary conditions.

Schoenherr, acting as leader of a consortium of European law firms, has conducted what it describes as "a comprehensive study on the regulatory and administrative requirements for entry and trade on the gas wholesale market in the EU for the European Commission, Directorate General Energy."

Weber & Co has advised Wienerberger AG, a Vienna-based supplier of building materials and infrastructure solutions, on its June 4, 2020 issuance of EUR 400 million of 2.750% 2020-2025 Bonds. Wolf Theiss advised joint lead managers BNP Paribas, Raiffeisen Bank International AG, and UniCredit on the issuance.

Fellner Wratzfeld & Partners has supported the biodiversity project known as "Mielo" and donated a large amount of the honey produced through the project to the parish of St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna.

Cerha Hempel, working alongside German law firm Menold Benzler, has advised Alfred Ritter GmbH & Co KG on its acquisition of a production facility belonging to Mars Austria OG in the Austrian village of Breitenbrunn. Preslmayr reportedly advised Mars on the deal.

BPV Huegel, working with SIWE Rechtsanwalte Sinzger & Partner, has advised Dogado GmbH — a subsidiary of European Directories — on its acquisition of 100% of the second-largest Austrian hosting provider, Easyname GmbH. Dorda and Rittershaus advised the seller, Easyname’s Founder and Managing Director Florian Schicker, on the deal, and Allen & Overy’s Frankfurt office advised European Directories.

The Vienna office of Taylor Wessing has advised the Korber Group and subsidiary Werum IT Solutions GmbH on their acquisition of the operations of Exputec GmbH and Exputec Kft. Wolf Theiss advised Exputec on the deal.

Dorda has established a Sustainability Practice Group, "bring[ing] together experts from various legal fields to provide targeted support to companies in their efforts to operate successfully and sustainably at the same time."

On 27^th May 2020 the Austrian government submitted a proposal for a new foreign investment screening act (Investitionskontrollgesetz) to the Parliament (the "Proposal").

CEE Legal Matters first interviewed Ingo Steinwender in 2014, near the end of his first year as Group Head of Legal at CA Immobilien Anlagen AG, one of the largest real estate companies in Austria. Six years later, we check in.

Ivan Males, from Croatia, is Senior Associate with DLA Piper in Vienna. He is a Finance, Projects & Restructuring practitioner with a focus on financing transactions and the infrastructure sector. In addition, he has gained particular knowledge on corporate and M&A cross-border transactions, notably in CEE and SEE markets.

Austria is one of the most desirable destinations for investors from Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries. It is frequently chosen as a country for investment or as a hub for doing business in Eastern and Southern Europe. In addition to Austria’s attractive economic and political environments, investors can benefit from Austria’s legal environment, in particular (a) the general accessibility of its market; (b) Austria’s flexible corporate law, which has a lot of similarities with CIS corporate law; (c) the country’s comfortable tax regime; and (d) benefits the country extends to startups. Below we briefly consider these benefits.