News & Informations

Press release - 15 March 2024 CMS Austria has advised the Greek Sfakianakis Group on the acquisition of Ajar Car Rental GmbH from the Saudi Arabian Al Jomaih Group, providing comprehensive legal advice on the project. Ajar Car Rental GmbH is the master franchisee of Enterprise, National, and Alamo in Austria, serving rent-a-car customers across the country. During the acquisition, the CMS Austria team provided significant support and advice on all areas of the transaction, including due diligence, employment, regulatory compliance, intellectual property, banking and finance, data protection and competition. Alexander Rakosi (Partner, Corporate/M&A) led the CMS core transaction team, which further consisted of Christoph Birner (Associate, Corporate/M&A) and Thomas Liegl (Associate, Corporate/M&A). Alexander Rakosi comments: “We are very pleased to have successfully supported the Sfakianakis Group on its market entry into Austria and to have contributed to our client's continued growth in the automotive industry."The CMS due diligence team included Rebecca Herlitz (Associate, Corporate/M&A), Mariella Kapoun (Partner, Real Estate), Hans Lederer (Partner, Intellectual Property), Andreas Lichtenberger (At­tor­ney-at-Law, Data Protection), Caroline Pavitsits (Associate, Employment), Kai Ruckelshausen (Partner, Banking & Finance), Sheldon Sookdeo (Associate, Banking & Finance), Maximilian Uidl (Associate, Real Estate), Marlene Wim­mer-Nistel­ber­ger (Partner, Regulatory), Jens Winter (Partner, Employment) and Dieter Zandler (Partner, Competition), as well as legal trainees Roman Namestek, Ferdinand Sima and Mattias Torggler. PHH Rechtsanwälte, led by Rainer Kaspar and Philip Rosenauer, provided legal support to Al Jomaih. About Sfakianakis Group Founded in 1958, Sfakianakis Group is one of the leading diversified business groups in Greece, with a core focus on the Automotive, Industrial and Consumer Retail sectors. Headquartered in Athens, Greece, the Group is 100% family owned and employs over 1,500 individuals across 14 countries in Europe. Within the Automotive sector, the Group operates one of the largest automotive retail businesses in the region, the distribution businesses of BYD and Suzuki, a leading long-term leasing business (Executive Lease), and a rapidly growing Rent-A-Car business as the Master Franchisee of En­ter­prise-Na­tion­al-Alamo in 14 countries.

Published on 03 July 2023We are pleased to announce the launch of our English Law Desk. Our English Law Team focuses on English law governing finance and corporate/M&A transactions as well as dispute resolution. The team consists of highly qualified lawyers, among them CMS partners Marcell Clark, Alexander Rakosi and David Kohl as well as solicitor Anna Freund. Marcell Clark (Banking & Finance), Alexander Rakosi and David Kohl (both Corporate/M&A) and their teams have extensive expertise in advising on banking and finance as well as corporate/M&A transactions governed by English law, regularly working on some of the most important deals in the region. Anna Freund is an expert qualified in English law with extensive experience in handling litigation and arbitration in various industries. She recently joined CMS's dispute resolution team and contributes valuable expertise in English law governing dispute resolution practice. The English law department of CMS Austria works with a wide range of internationally active clients, including banks, institutional and financial investors, corporations, industrial conglomerates, DFIs, debt funds, national and international development organisations, government institutions and public authorities. We believe that the launch of our English Law Desk enables us to provide comprehensive and high-quality legal services to our clients. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you need assistance or have any questions. 

Published on CEE Legal Matters | February 23, 2022 CMS has advised Greiner on the sale of its extrusion division, including operational assets in Austria and the Czech Republic, to Nimbus. KPMG Legal advised Nimbus. Greiner is an Austrian plastics and foam specialist company.

Shortly before the beginning of the year, CMS Austria supported the Austrian plastics and foam specialist Greiner AG on the successful sale of its extrusion division, including the associated operational real estate in Nußbach, Upper Austria, and Trhové Sviny, Czech Republic. On 21 December 2021, the German Federal Cartel Office approved the sale of the Austrian- based Greiner Extrusion Group (GEG) to the Dutch-German investment company Nimbus – the majority owner, amongst other things, of bat­ten­feld-cin­cin­nati, one of CEG’s competitors with subsidiaries in Germany, Austria, the USA and China. The now affiliated companies intend to exploit synergies in purchasing, at least. Otherwise, both entities will remain independent companies with their organisational structures and market presence. As part of the transaction, the experts of the CMS advisory team, led by Alexander Rakosi, Florian Mayer and Anna Hiegelsperger, had to navigate numerous complex legal topics on trans­ac­tion-re­lated aspects as well as in the areas of real estate law and an­ti­trust/com­pet­i­tion law. The internationally experienced team of experts at CMS Austria also included Dieter Zandler (antitrust law), Vanessa Horaceck (competition law), Hans Lederer (trademark law), Johannes Hysek (real estate law), Mariella Kapoun (real estate), Sibylle Novak (international tax law), Thomas Aspalter (tax law), Cornelia Kreuth (M&A), Christoph Birner (financing) and Alexandros Hantasch (corporate trans­ac­tions). In addition, the Austrian advisory team was also supported by colleagues from other CMS offices. The international CMS team consisted of Stepan Havranek (CZ), Eva Bryndova (CZ), Michael Munzinger (PRC), Lei Shi (PRC), Dipesh Santilale (UK), Sabby Kenzie (UK), Margaux Deuchler (F), Thomas Hains (F), Blazej Zagorski (PL) and Marta Osowska-Buba (PL). Lead partner Alexander Rakosi happily notes: “International transactions bring multi-faceted challenges. We are glad to have been able to provide comprehensive legal advice to the Greiner Group from project kick-off to its successful closing across all countries.”

Johannes Juranek and Günther Hanslik will take over management responsibilities at the Vienna law firm CMS on 1 February 2022. Together they want to make the firm fit to face the challenges of the future. CMS Reich-Rohrwig Hainz Rechtsanwälte GmbH will have a leadership duo as of 1 February 2022 comprising data protection specialist Johannes Juranek, who has already led the firm successfully for the past three years, and banking partner Günther Hanslik. They have been elected by the firm’s partners as managing partners for the next three years. CMS Austria already has a leading position in Central and Southeast Europe and has offices in Vienna, Belgrade, Bratislava, Istanbul, Kyiv, Ljubljana, Podgorica, Sarajevo, Skopje, Sofia and Zagreb. Together, the new management duo wants to further strengthen the positioning of the law firm, one of the most renowned in Austria. To this end, they will expand the firm’s core competencies, make CMS an even more attractive employer for the best lawyers in the country, advance digitalisation, and continue to oversee the successful implementation of the “Vision 2025” strategy. Jo­hannes Juranek will be responsible for IT and the development of new innovative technical tools over the next three years and continue to represent the company in the CMS global Executive Committee. Günther Hanslik will be responsible for Human Resources, Marketing & Communications, Business Development in both Austria, and the company's locations in the CEE countries. The financial area is jointly supervised by the two. CMS is one of the most technically innovative law firms in the country. For example, Lupl. com, an international platform for the exchange of information between legal departments and law firms, was developed together with external partners and very successfully launched on the market. Johannes Juranek: “New technologies and digital offers are of great importance to our clients and appreciated by companies and public authorities alike. In recent years, we have repeatedly proven that we are among the market leaders in the digitalisation area. We want to further strengthen this position and expand it in all areas.” Gün­ther Hanslik: "We are constantly improving the quality of our services. All employees have been actively involved in our process of change as we set course for a thriving future together." The new management will also focus on the topics of sustainability, increased CEE integration and diversity. Günther Hanslik: “At CMS, we are mindful of resources in all departments. We are also the first law firm to have an eco-profit cer­ti­fic­ate.” The bar is also set high for the new management team in terms of economic success: CMS Austria achieved the highest turnover in its history in 2021. “This is a great challenge for us, which we gladly accept, and which motivates us to become even better to meet the high demands,” says Johannes Juranek.

Philipp Mark has been an important member of the CMS Banking & Capital Markets team for many years and is now continuing his journey as a partner in the international commercial law firm. The expansion...

US-based Modine Manufacturing Company, a diversified global leader in thermal management technology and solutions, is selling part of its European air-cooled automotive business, including its manufacturing...

CMS advised GREEN SOURCE GmbH and its subsidiary Solar Partners on the financing of a power plant construction project in Hungary in the field of renewable energy. Despite the additional challenges arising...

Over the past one and a half years, together with Payment Services Austria (PSA), the Oesterreichische Nationalbank (OeNB) (the Austrian Central Bank) has laid the foundation for modernising the processing...