The Romanian Competition Council (the "RCC") recently imposed a total penalty of EUR 1.1m on four companies for indulging in anticompetitive practices. The companies breached the competition rules by colluding to rig bids for winter road maintenance services organised by the National Company for the Management of Road Infrastructure.

Former Weinhold Legal Managing Attorney Ondrej Havlicek has joined Schoenherr Prague as Head of Banking, Finance, and Capital Markets.

The 5th Anti-Money Laundering Directive¹ ("AMLD") to amend the current EU Anti-Money Laundering ("AML") regime must be transposed into national law by 10 January 2020. The approach of the EU is clear: AML prevention will be strengthened and AML requirements in the financial sector will rise.

ODI Law in Slovenia and the LTA Legal Tax Audit firm in the Czech Republic have advised the Czech Ministry of Finance and IMOB and PRISKO, the Ministry's two state-owned subsidiaries, on the cross-border sale of a majority stake in VIPAP VIDEM KRSKO, the largest paper mill in Slovenia, as well as on the sale of claims against it, all to Czech-based RIDG Holding. RIDG was advised by Schoenherr.

Schoenherr's has advised Horizon Capital on its sale and private placement of a 22.7% stake in Purcari Wineries Plc for EUR 19 million, carried out through an accelerated book building process addressed to investors worldwide. RTPR Allen & Overy advised Wood & Company Financial Services, a.s., the coordinator and book-runner, and joint book-runners Raiffeisen Centrobank AG and Raiffeisen Bank S.A.

Schoenherr Bucharest has advised Greenbridge Partners on its acquisition of a 75% stake in Rus Savitar and its retail arm Casa Rusu from the Rusu family. Radu si Asociatii SPRL, the Romanian member firm of Ernst & Young Global, advised the Rusu family on the sale.

Schoenherr Prague has advised Spanish manufacturer Torrot Electric Europa, S.A. on the "delivery of technology solutions" for scooter sharing to Skoda Auto DigiLab s.r.o. Rowan Legal advised Skoda Auto DigiLab on the deal.

Schoenherr Ljubljana has advised Immofinanz AG on its purchase of a real estate portfolio consisting of five shopping centers from Centrice Real Estate, which was advised by Rojs, Peljhan, Prelesnik & Partners.

General information: Consumer Protection is one of the strategic goals of the EU. The Sale of Goods Directive and the Digital Content Directive entered into force on 11 June 2019 to provide European consumers a high level of protection and legal certainty as well as create common warranty rules in the EU. By 1 July 2021, Member States are obliged to adopt necessary regulations into their national laws to comply with these Directives, which will apply from 1 January 2022.

Jones Day has advised Societe Generale in connection with the sale of its majority stake in the share capital of Societe Generale Montenegro, a company listed on the Montenegrin Stock Exchange, to OTP Bank Nyrt. Schoenherr advised Societe Generale on matters of Montenegrin law, while CMS advised OTP.

Under Austrian law, incorrect land register entries may trigger public liability. But the Austrian Supreme Court recently held that such incorrect entries only create public liability claims for of a certain group of people, thereby potentially increasing the risk management costs of mortgage-backed loans.

Schoenherr, working with lead counsel Kirkland & Ellis, has advised Apax Partners on its acquisition of a majority stake in the ADCO Group. The ADCO Group’s shareholders were advised by King Wood & Mallesons on the transaction, which remains subject to regulatory approvals and is expected to close by the end of the year.

How do law firms in Austria promote themselves to current and prospective employees? A series of conversations with several leading firms revealed more than expected.

At the end of April, 2019, Sopharma Trading announced the creation of “SOinventure” – a corporate acceleration program in the field of health-tech, organized in partnership with Bulgarian investment fund Eleven Ventures. We decided to ask Mr. Ivaylo Simov, Partner at Eleven Ventures, and Mr. Dimitar Dimitrov, CEO of Sopharma Trading, three questions about the development of the alliance between healthcare and new technology, and we added our experience-based opinion to their answers.

Dorda has advised European hotel developer UBM Development and real estate developer S IMMO AG on the sale of the QBC 1&2 office properties in Vienna to EPH Eastern Property Holding. Schoenherr advised EPH on the deal, which was valued at approximately EUR 233 million.

DLA Piper has advised a consortium of South Korean investors working with asset manager Mastern Investment Management on the EUR 375 acquisition, made as part of a joint venture with Munich-based asset manager Wealthcore Invester Management, of the Hilton Parkview Vienna. The sellers — two Austrian family firms — were represented by Invester United Benefits and advised by Schoenherr.

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.