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.

The move by the Big 4 firms – Deloitte, KPMG, EY, and PwC – to capitalize on their client lists and their multi-disciplinary capabilities by extending the ability of their legal arms to compete with traditional law firms is by now well-established. In Austria, their legal arms have begun competing aggressively for talent as well.

Everybody talks about the speed at which life moves in our globalized world. And the Austrian legal market isn’t evolving more slowly – so keep up the pace!

Wolf Theiss and Covington & Burling have advised MSD on the acquisition of 100% of Austrian biotech company Themis Bioscience. Brandl & Talos and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati advised the selling shareholders on the deal, which remains subject to regulatory approval, with McDermott Will & Emery and Herbst Kinsky advising Themis Bioscience. Financial details were not disclosed.

“The fairly stringent lockdown imposed by the Austrian Government in mid-March resulted in a relatively small number of infections,” says Paul Luiki, Partner at Fellner Wratzfeld & Partners in Vienna. “Apart from being able to get the infection under control, they also introduced a EUR 38 billion package to help the economy recover. Even though room for improvement always exists, given the little time the Government had to act, I think the support package on the whole has worked out just fine.”

Deloitte Legal has advised Magenta Telekom on structuring cooperation with the City of Vienna regarding broadband coverage. Lumsden and Partners advised the City of Vienna on the deal.