Schoenherr has advised the Tscherne family — the owners of Hotel Weismayr in Bad Gastein, Austria — on their entrance into a 20-year lease with the Selina hospitality group. DLA Piper advised Selina on the deal.

By outsourcing production of major parts of car components, carmakers have also outsourced a substantial amount of their financing needs and associated risks to their suppliers. Still, despite rather slim margins, the prospect of a fairly stable cash flow over a number of years has made the automotive supplier business viable in the past. However, this viability is becoming questionable. This is visible in the number of struggling or even insolvent suppliers, the German group Eisenmann being a very recent example.

Former Schoenherr Partner Florian Kusznier will be joining the Corporate/M&A team of Wolf Theiss at the beginning of September 2019.

On 27 June 2019 the Commission on the Protection of Competition (CPC) issued a decision in which it penalised funeral agency Elida MG EOOD (formerly Pokoy-1945 EOOD) for failing to comply with an earlier CPC decision. Such cases in which an undertaking fails to comply with a CPC decision and is therefore fined again are extremely rare due to the substantial pecuniary penalties which may be imposed on violators.

Schoenherr has advised the shareholders of the Synergis Informationssysteme GmbH on the sale of SynerGIS GIS & FM Solutions — its geographic information systems and facility management software development business — to AED-SICAD. The buyers were advised by White & Case and Eisenberger & Herzog.

What do human rights have to do with financial institutions? At first glance, one may think nothing. Originally, the protection of human rights was considered as the duty of governments only. However, it is becoming clear that those universal rights may be violated, but also protected by private sector actors. Recently, multiple international initiatives have started to develop regulations regarding human rights in the private sector, including the financial sector.

Schoenherr has advised France's Thales Group on its July 24, 2019 acquisition of insolvent motor manufacturer Steyr Motors GmbH. Grassner Lenz Thewanger & Partner reportedly advised the unnamed seller on the deal, which remains subject to the approval of the Austrian Federal Competition Authority.

Schoenherr, working with lead counsel Herbert Smith Freehills, has advised BNP Paribas on a EUR 345 million term and revolving facilities agreement for Financiere SNOP Dunois S.A. in relation to its acquisition of manufacturing facilities from Tower International. Sullivan & Cromwell was lead counsel to the borrower; and Barthelemy & Partners provided Czech counsel.

Bulgarian legislation on the legal cultivation of cannabis could make for interesting reading. Some readers might feel that the regulations and definitions are “the most hilarious things ever.” This ar-ticle aims to show why.

Natural or legal persons directly or indirectly acquiring shares granting more than 33% of the vot-ing rights in a Romanian listed company are required to make a bid as a means of protecting the company’s minority shareholders. Under the European legal framework, the offeror must address that bid to all minority shareholders, offering to purchase all their holdings at an equitable price.

Wolf Theiss worked with lead counsel Clifford Chance in advising the Blackstone Group on its EUR 1.64 billion acquisition of CRH's European distribution business. Slaughter and May advised CRH on the transaction, which remains subject to regulatory approval.

The Constitutional Tribunal recently analysed regulations regarding dawn raids carried out by the Office for Competition and Consumer Protection (OCCP) and ruled that the respective law is not in line with the Constitution insofar as it excludes the possibility to challenge rulings allowing searches to be conducted.

Schoenherr has advised Coeo Inkasso GmbH on its June 17, 2019 acquisition of 100% of the shares of KNP Financial Services GmbH from founders Anton Moser and Wolfgang Hetlinger, who were reportedly advised by Hasch & Partner.

Members of the BPV Legal in Romania, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia have provided local counsel in those jurisdictions to Dutch property managers MVGM on its takeover of the property management division of the Jones Lang LaSalle Group in Continental Europe. The Hague office of the Dutch law firm Barents Krans acted as lead counsel to MVGM, and Watson, Farley & Williams was lead counsel to JLL, working with local counsel from Schoenherr in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, and Romania.

RTPR Allen & Overy and Schoenherr Romania have successfully represented Romanian electrical company Societatea Energetica Electrica S.A. in a EUR 800 million dispute against the Romanian Management Company for Ownership in Energy.

I. Introduction: Drones (coll.; "unmanned aircraft [systems or vehicles]" in technical terms) are aircraft operated with no pilot on board. Once mainly developed and used for military purposes, drones are increasingly influencing our everyday lives. Drones vary greatly in size, performance and type. Civil drones are operated for risky flights to accident areas (e.g. firefighting, overflying flooded areas, finding missing persons3), can assist authorities4 (e.g. border control), deliver commercial services such as infrastructure (e.g. bridges, railways, nuclear plants) maintenance and monitoring, aerial mapping (e.g. for construction planning, insurance, urban planning), filming6 (see "Can flying photo drones be shot down?"), farming7, forestry, fisheries or may deliver packages. In fact, taxi drones may turn out to be a landmark in drone operations (see "Taxi drone EHang 216 takes off in Austria"). Considering that unmanned aerial toys will increasingly impact the Single European sky airspace, proper harmonised rules on safe and secure drone operation within the EU and its internal (aviation) market are urgently needed. EU-wide harmonised rules on civil drones must take into account their great variety of use these days.

In February 2019 the Ministry of Justice of the Czech Republic submitted a bill that aims to provide whistleblowers credible tools to report illegal conduct in the workplace and protect them against potential reprisals. The bill also introduces new duties for many employers.

The EU Shareholder Rights Directive II (2017/828) (SRD II), amending Directive 2007/36/EC as regards the encouragement of long-term shareholder engagement, must be transposed into national law by 10 June 2019.