CMS has advised Encavis Infrastructure Fund III on its acquisition of the Furstkogel wind farm in Austria, consisting of five wind turbines with a total rated output of 17.25 MW. The sellers, wind energy specialist Ecowind Handels- & Wartungs-GmbH, were advised by Schonherr.

KPMG Law has advised the shareholders of Barracuda Holding GmbH on the sale of 71% of the shares in the company to the CTS Eventim Group. The buyers were advised by CMS and Schoenherr.

In late November 2019 the Croatian Parliament passed a series of laws amending Croatian tax legislation. The new laws, in the most part, came into effect on 1 January 2020. The changes form part of wider efforts of the Croatian Government to ease the tax burden on both citizens and businesses.

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.

Right to a copy of personal data

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.

The Commission for the Protection of Competition has published its first leniency decision in a cartel case, following a report by one of the cartel participants.

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.

Herbst Kinsky and Cooley have advised Bitmovin GmbH, a subsidiary of Bitmovin Inc US, on its receipt of a loan of up to EUR 20 million from the European Investment Bank. Cooley served as the US law advisor to BItmovin. EIB was advised by Duane Morris and Schoenherr.

“There haven’t been any large shifts in the legal landscape recently if we’re talking about legal offices, teams moving, exits, and so forth,” says Schoenherr Partner Miriam Simsa. “The general situation seems to be that established players have things pretty much in control and that there is not a lot of room for new entries. Yet it is fair to say that the spin-offs have been increasing their market share over the last few years.”

Cash pooling is a staple of corporate treasurers as an efficient way to allocate liquidity and reduce financing costs within a group of companies. Despite its commercial importance, neither Austrian statutory law nor the Austrian Supreme Court has provided any guidance as to whether cash pooling is permissible under Austrian law – in particular whether it is compatible with Austria’s strict capital maintenance laws.

Bond financing has recently become quite popular in the Czech Republic and companies often finance their business needs by issuing corporate bonds instead of the more usual credit financing. Obviously, the popularity of corporate bonds is also associated with the greater willingness of investors to buy them. Bonds are perceived by the general public as a safe and conservative investment instrument. Nevertheless, recent market developments show that corporate bonds issued by private companies may not always be a safe investment, as evidenced, for example, by the insolvency of online fashion store Zoot, which funded its expansion by issuing bonds.

Schoenherr has advised Facebook, Inc. and Facebook Technologies, LLC on the acquisition of Czech games studio Beat Games s.r.o., which develops and upgrades the Beat Saber virtual reality game. Beat Games was advised by BBH.

No doubt we all agree that a good lawyer should not only have extensive legal knowledge and experience, but should also constantly monitor the market. In reviewing the state of the Czech legal market over the past six months, I would like to point out several issues I personally find interesting or important.