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Expertise
15/03/2024
CMS advises Sfakianakis Group on the acquisition of Ajar Car Rental
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.
03/02/2023
CMS Reich-Rohrwig Hainz ernennt drei erfolgreiche Rechtsanwälte zu Partnern
Pressemitteilung - 02. Februar 2023Hans Lederer, Klaus Pateter und Arno Zimmermann werden mit 1. Februar 2023 Partner bei CMS in Wien. Die CMS Reich-Rohrwig Hainz Rechtsanwälte GmbH leitet den Gen­er­a­tion­en­wech­sel ein und ernennt drei international erfahrene Wirtschaft­san­wälte zu neuen Partnern: Hans Lederer, Klaus Pateter und Arno Zimmermann erweitern ab 1. Februar 2023 den Partnerkreis der renommierten Wiener Recht­san­walts­sozi­etät. Hans Lederer ist auf Im­ma­ter­i­al­gü­ter­recht spezialisiert. Er verwaltet zahlreiche internationale Rechteportfolios und berät und vertritt seine Mandant:innen in Zusammenhang mit der Sicherung, Durchsetzung und Lizenzierung von Marken- und Designrechten. Er verfügt zudem über profunde Kenntnisse und langjährige Erfahrung in den Bereichen Urheberrecht und Per­sön­lich­keit­s­rechte, publiziert hierzu regelmäßig in Fachzeits­chriften und ist Gastvortragender an der FH Burgenland. Darüber hinaus berät er seine Mandant:innen in strategischen Fragen zum Patentrecht, insbesondere in Zusammenhang mit Di­en­sterfind­un­gen, und vertritt diese in streitigen Verfahren. Vor seiner Tätigkeit für CMS arbeitete Hans Lederer als Jurist und Projektmanager im Gen­er­alsek­ret­ari­at des Ös­ter­reichis­chen Roten Kreuzes. Klaus Pateter berät und vertritt seine internationalen Mandant:innen in den Bereichen IT-Recht, neue Technologien & digitale Assets, Datens­chutzrecht, Cybersecurity sowie Produkthaftung und Produkt­sich­er­heit. Zudem steht er Start-ups bei Aufbau und Finanzierung des Unternehmens – insbesondere im Bereich Venture Capital – zur Seite. Klaus Pateter leitet die Start-up Advisory Group von CMS Österreich sowie equIP, den renommierten Legal Accelerator von CMS für Start-ups. Klaus Pateter ist in Österreich und New York als Rechtsanwalt zugelassen. Arno Zimmermann berät Mandant:innen in streitigen Verfahren vor staatlichen und Schiedsgericht­en. Sein Schwerpunkt liegt auf gesell­schaft­s­recht­lichen Au­s­ein­ander­set­zun­gen zwischen Gesellschaftern sowie Gesellschaften und deren Organen. (Börsen­ori­entierte) Gesellschaften wenden sich an Arno Zimmermann auch regelmäßig zur Vorbereitung von Haupt- und Gesell­schafterver­sammlungen, sofern er Investoren in solchen vertritt. Darüber hinaus berät er regelmäßig Klient:innen in gesell­schaft­s­recht­lich anspruchsvollen Transaktionen im Venture Capital Bereich sowie bei gren­züber­s­chreit­enden Im­mob­i­li­en­tran­sak­tion­en. Arno Zimmermann ist Autor von mehr als 40 Publikationen in seinen Fachbereichen und regelmäßiger Vortragender. CMS Österreich hat eine führende Position in Mittel- und Südost-Europa und verfügt über Büros in Wien, Belgrad, Bratislava, Istanbul, Kiew, Ljubljana, Podgorica, Sarajewo, Skopje, Sofia und Zagreb. Mit den neuen Partnern werden die Kernkompetenzen des Hauses weiter ausgebaut und das Know-how im Technologie- und Start-up-Bereich stärker in den Fokus ger­ückt.Gün­ther Hanslik, Managing Partner bei CMS Reich-Rohrwig Hainz: „Unsere Kanzlei steht für fachliche Kompetenz, internationale Expertise und nachhaltige Stabilität. Die große Mehrzahl unserer Mandant:innen beraten und betreuen wir über viele Jahre. Dabei geben wir ihnen Sicherheit und Orientierung und unterstützen sie nicht zuletzt bei der Umsetzung innovativer Zukunftsthemen. Mit unserer zielgerichteten Nachwuchs¬arbeit stellen wir sicher, dass diese wertvolle Expertise auch an die nächste Generation weitergegeben wird und CMS ihren Mandant:innen auch in Zukunft als verlässlicher und vertrauensvoller Partner zur Seite stehen kann. Wir freuen uns daher sehr, dass wir mit Hans Lederer, Klaus Pateter und Arno Zimmermann drei hochqual­i­f­iz­ierte und engagierte Anwälte in unserer Partnerschaft begrüßen dürfen.“
24/10/2022
CMS advises ABB on the acquisition of ASKI
Press release - 10th October 2022
31/03/2022
CMS advises Siemens Austria on sale of Austrian facility management business
Apleona acquires Siemens Ge­bäu­de­m­an­age­ment und -Services (SGS). CMS Vienna provides comprehensive legal support to Siemens Aus­tria.   Siemens Austria has agreed to sell Siemens Ge­bäu­de­m­an­age­ment & -Services G.m.b.H. (SGS) to Apleona. The closing of the transaction is expected in the third quarter of the financial year and is subject to customary antitrust approvals. Both companies have maintained a good and close relationship for years. SGS will be further strengthened by joining forces with Apleona, resulting in an expanded and improved range of ser­vices.   Siemens Austria is being legally advised and supported by the Viennese law firm CMS Reich-Rohrwig Hainz under the leadership of Alexander Rakosi, partner in the Corporate/M&A department. The core CMS team further consists of M&A experts Florian Mayer, Marie-Christine Lidl, Anna Hiegelsperger and Matthias Emich. Sibylle Novak and Alexander Hiermann deal with tax law issues, Andrea Potz, and Jens Winter assist on labour law topics and Bernt Elsner and Marlene Wim­mer-Nistel­ber­ger advise on competition law. Additional support during the course of the transaction came from Daniela Karollus-Bruner, Robert Keisler, Dieter Zandler and Clemens Gross­may­er.   Al­ex­an­der Rakosi is pleased with the successful deal signing: “We are proud to be able to support Siemens on this project with a cross-de­part­ment­al team and contribute to further entrenching Siemens as a focused technology company in Aus­tria.”   Siemens Ge­bäu­de­m­an­age­ment & -Services ¬G.m.b.H., based in Vienna, is a successful man­u­fac­turer-in­de­pend­ent full-service provider in the technical building¬ management¬ sector with around 260 employees. Its customers include institutions from the health care, culture and education, trade and logistics sectors, as well as renowned commercial enterprises. In the last business year, it achieved a turnover of around 75 million euros.
03/02/2022
CMS advises Mayr-Melnhof Holz Holding Group on acquisition of Swedish sawmill...
With the support of CMS Austria, Mayr-Melnhof Holz is continuing its successful course of expansion. Shortly before the end of the year, the traditional Austrian company signed a contract to take over the Swedish sawmill group Bergkvist Siljan. In the 2022 financial year, the company will thus achieve sales of more than EUR 1 billion for the first time in its 170-year history. With this acquisition, Mayr-Melnhof Holz, one of the leading companies in the European sawmill and wood processing industry, is expanding its production capacity by around 50 percent to more than 5.0 million solids cubic metres of sawn timber per year. The closing of the transaction took place on 1 February 2022. The parties agreed not to disclose the financial details of the trans­ac­tion.“We are very pleased that we were able to successfully assist the Mayr-Melnhof Holz Group with this important step in its expansion. The short period of time over which this transaction was negotiated and contractually agreed was exceptional,” said Rainer Wachter, Co-Head of Corporate Transactions at CMS Austria. The CMS team consisted of partner Rainer Wachter (lead), partner Oliver Werner (M&A, W&I Insurance) and lead associate Marco Selenic. Associate Matthias Emich from the corporate team provided support. CMS’s competition law work was handled by partner Dieter Zandler with support from associates Vanessa Horaceck and Arno Scharf. Swedish law firm Wistrand Advokatbyrå (Lead Partner Robert Kullgren) assisted CMS and Mayr-Melnhof Holz. Sustainability in fo­cus­Mayr-Mel­nhof Holz is one of a large number of CMS clients who place the issue of sustainability at the centre of their business activities. For example, the company obtains its raw wood exclusively from sustainably managed forests. With the acquisition, the existing sawmills in Leoben (Austria), Paskov (Czech Republic) and Efimovskij (Russia) have now been joined by three new sites in central Sweden.
02/03/2021
Maria Orlyk is the new Managing Partner of CMS Reich-Rohrwig Hainz in Kyiv
Effective immediately, longtime Local Partner Maria Orlyk succeeds Johannes Trenkwalder and becomes Managing Partner of the office of CMS Reich-Rohrwig Hainz in Kyiv. In addition to her new role as Managing...
26/02/2021
CMS Vienna advises Modine on sale of Austrian automotive business
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...
03/11/2020
CMS advises Plastic Omnium on establishment of joint venture with ElringKlinger
Dus­sel­dorf/Vi­enna -  In order to drive forward the development of hydrogen mobility, the two automotive sup­pli­ers El­ringK­linger and Plastic Omnium will create a joint venture for the development...
05/10/2020
CMS supports OeNB as it sets course for future-proof payments in Austria
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...
16/09/2020
Green hydrogen costs fall, but not quite enough
The cost of electrolysers have fallen sharply over the last decade, but power-to-gas technologies will not be competitive with fossil-based hydrogen before 2030, panelists claimed in a webinar hosted...
12/05/2020
Webinar I: Funding in the context of the COVID-19 Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic is having a serious impact on the economy. In order to cushion the economic consequences, the Federal Government has set up several support programmes for companies operating in...
30/03/2020
Securing your company's liquidity
The COVID-19 pandemic is leading to drastic legal and economic restrictions worldwide. In Austria too, companies are confronted with forced plant closures and delays (up to almost complete standstill)...