Brandl & Talos has supported APEX Ventures GmbH in the creation of the APEX Digital Health venture capital fund, designed for investments in new companies with unique technologies and applications in the healthcare sector. 

Wolf Theiss has advised the REWE group on the sale of a property in the Donaustadt district of Vienna, following a two-stage bidding process. The successful bidder, BUWOG, was advised by Lattenmayer Luks & Enzinger.

Cerha Hempel has advised the shareholders of Austrian electric car manufacturer Elin Motoren GmbH on the sale of a 70% stake to Voith technology group. Schoenherr reportedly advised the buyers on the deal, which remains subject to competition authority approval.

Stefan Paulmayer has been promoted to Partner at CMS Vienna.

Right to a copy of personal data

BPV Huegel has advised French biotech company Valneva SE on its delisting from the Vienna Stock Exchange.

Former Wolf Theiss Partner Holger Bielesz has joined Cerha Hempel's Dispute Resolution practice.

Why would anyone knowingly become a law firm marketing specialist – a role that is demanding, complicated, challenging, and stressful? To explore this mystery, we went to the source. Accordingly, this time around we asked the law firm marketing specialists of CEE to complete the following question: “I went into Law Firm Marketing/BD as a career because ____________.“

South African Liesel Beukes is a dual-qualified lawyer and Content Marketing Manager at Schoenherr in Vienna, where she manages the firm’s highly-regarded annual RoadMap publication and assists lawyers across the firm’s 14 offices with marketing, business development, and press relations.

Binder Groesswang and Schoenherr have advised Austria's Wiesenthal AG and Wiesenthal Holding on the sale of Wiesenthal & Co GmbH, including Wiesenthal Handel und Service GmbH, to Switzerland's Mercedes Benz Automobil AG. Switzerland's Frotz Riedl law firm and CMS Vienna advised the buyers on the transaction, which is expected to close in June 2020. Financial details were not disclosed.

Dorda has advised DLH Real Estate Austria, a company owned by the Zech Group, on the sale of two logistics properties and the forward sale of two additional logistics properties to Germany's Deka Immobilien. The buyers were advised by Schoenherr.

Dorda has advised Patrizia AG on the sale of Zentrum Rennweg to Swiss Life Living + Working via a structured bidding process. The investment volume for the property is around EUR 52 million. Schoenherr reportedly advised Swiss Life Living + Working.

Wolf Theiss and Garrigues have advised the shareholders of Tag Systems S.A. on the sale of the company to Austriacard and their entrance into a joint venture with Austriacard. The transaction closed on December 4, 2019. The buyers were advised by Garger Spallinger.

BPV Huegel has helped Sanochemia Pharmazeutika AG with its restructuring and is representing the company in court proceedings.

CMS has advised Niederosterreichische Breitband-Holding on its EUR 300 million sale of a 74.9% stake in its Niederosterreichische Glasfaserinfrastrukturgesellschaft subsidiary to Allianz Capital Partners. Eisenberger & Herzog advised the buyers on the deal.

Wolf Theiss has advised Raiffeisen Bank International AG on the issuance of EUR 500 million 0.125% extendable covered bank bonds 2019-2029 and the bonds' listing on the Official Market of the Luxembourg Stock Exchange. DZ Bank AG Deutsche Zentral-Genossenschaftsbank, Frankfurt am Main, Mediobanca-Banca di Credito Finanziario S.p.A., Raiffeisen Bank International AG, Societe Generale, and UniCredit Bank AG were joint lead managers.

Taylor Wessing has advised the German Wefox Group on its merger with DIE Maklergruppe Versicherungsmakler GmbH. KWR Karasek Wietrzyk Rechtsanwalte advised DIE Maklergruppe.

Background

The amendment of the Austrian Law on the Ultimate Beneficial Owners Register (Wirtschaftliche Eigentümer Registergesetz) as part of the EU Financial Adaptation Act 2019 (EU-Finanz-Anpassungsgesetz 2019) was announced on 22 July 2019. This amendment provides for far-reaching changes of the Ultimate Beneficial Owners Register, implementing the 5th Anti-Money Laundering Directive on the one hand and resulting in improvements in user-friendliness on the other. The main changes that will come into force on 10 January 2020 are summarised below.