Press release - 22.03.2023An international team of experts from CMS advised the ALPLA Group on establishing a joint venture with the Spanish packaging company Inden Pharma. The core CMS Vienna team, led by Alexander Rakosi, included Florian Mayer and Anna Hiegel­sper­ger.   The ALPLA Group and Inden Pharma have strengthened their presence in the pharmaceutical market by founding a joint venture. ALPLA Pharma is contributing production sites in Greece and Poland to the cooperation and Inden Pharma two plants in Spain. Together they plan to set up a site in Germany and triple their production over the next five years. Such cross-border joint venture projects present numerous legal challenges, whose successful implementation requires seamless cooperation between internationally experienced teams from various practice groups and jurisdictions. The expert team for the current ALPLA deal included lawyers from CMS offices in Austria, Spain, Germany and Poland. Alexander Rakosi, Partner at CMS Vienna and responsible for the successful conclusion of the joint venture says: "Cross-border technology and know-how transfer are becoming increasingly important for our clients’ sustainable economic success. We are therefore delighted to have made a valuable contribution to this deal with our global CMS network, our international experience and our in-depth expertise on cross-border deals."The CMS Austria team consisted of corporate/M&A experts Alexander Rakosi, Florian Mayer, Anna Hiegelsperger, Livia Landskron, Ramona Mujanovic, Rebecca Herlitz, Rupert Riedl and Hannah Gierlinger. The Intellectual Property department was represented by Hans Lederer. Dieter Zandler, Vanessa Horaceck and Stefan Sottner were dealing with antitrust and competition law issues. The CMS Spain team, led by Luis Miguel De Dios and Jorge Peris Hevia, also included corporate/M&A experts Ana Vázquez Recio, Lucía Signes de Mesa and Saphira Mouzayek. Víctor Sanjuán Mira, María José Ramos Aguilar, Guillermo García Diéguez, Irene San Martín García and Ricardo Gómez-Barreda de la Gándara were also involved in the due diligence process. Tax law expertise was provided by Ricardo Héctor and Marta Burgos Murillo. The CMS Germany team included Malte Bruhns, Laura Christin Stein, Christin Fischer and Moritz Ziegler. The CMS Poland team consisted of Blazej Zagorski, Joanna Bialoskorska and Aleksandra Dalecka.

With the support of CMS, the ALPLApharma division further expands its position in Central and Eastern Europe by taking over APON. The internationally active packaging company ALPLA is strengthening the presence of its pharmaceutical division in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) following the acquisition of the Polish company APON. APON was founded in 1985 as a family business. Today, around 45 employees produce plastic packaging for the pharmaceutical industry at the Żyrardów site near Warsaw. Among other things, APON manufactures primary packaging for medicines in accordance with ISO 15378 under clean room conditions. With a staff of around 22,100 at 177 locations in 45 countries worldwide, ALPLA is one of the leading companies in the sphere of plastic packaging and recycling. Alexander Rakosi, Partner and M&A expert at CMS Vienna, is pleased about the closing of the transaction: “We are very proud that we have been able to continue supporting the successful ALPLA Group in the course of its international expansion, this time in the pharmaceutical sector; relying on our international network and our practice groups fully integrated across national borders, we are in a position to offer our clients a customised package of efficient, high quality legal and transactional cross-border advice.”The international CMS team was led by Alexander Rakosi. Marie-Christine Lidl, Anna Hiegelsperger and Dieter Zandler from CMS Vienna were on the team as well. The team of experts from CMS Warsaw was made up of Błażej Zagórski, Joanna Bialoskorska, Kinga Mogilnicka, Aleksandra Dalecka, Tomasz Piotrowski, Michał Serwa, Maciej Olejnik, Agnieszka Górecka, Marta Trębacka, Katarzyna Łoś, Maciej Andrzejewski and Karolina Terech.

The new capital will be used both to finance the online grocer’s continued expansion in Germany, Italy, Spain and Romania and to drive forward technical innovation. Founded in 2014, online grocer Rohlik, which revolutionised grocery in Austria with gurkerl. at, is one of the fastest growing retailers in the Czech Republic and the entire CEE region. Promising delivery just 90 minutes after an order is placed, the company already supplies more than one million customers with more than 17,000 products. Rohlik now not only offers its delivery service in Vienna (gurkerl. at), but also in Prague (rohlik. cz), Budapest (kifli. hu), Munich and Frankfurt (knuspr. de). Soon the service plans to launch in Hamburg, Milan (sezamo. it), Bucharest (sezamo. ro) and Madrid (sezamo. es). The fresh capital will be used to finance continuing expansion and drive technical innovations. Alexander Rakosi, Partner in the CMS Vienna Corporate Transactions Team, is delighted with the deal: “Such a large cross-border transaction always raises a number of complex legal and organisational issues that require sound legal expertise and a well-coordinated transaction team. Our international network enables us to provide our clients with comprehensive advice and access to seasoned experts in all coun­tries.”Man­aging Partner of CMS in Prague and Bratislava, Helen Rodwell, is also pleased about the successful closing: “We are proud to have been able to accompany this new financing round. Rohlik’s unique offering and first-class service make it an attractive growth candidate for investors cautious due to the current economic and geopolitical climate. As a leading international law firm – with a significant presence in CEE and many other European countries – CMS is ideally placed to provide legal support for this kind of cross-border trans­ac­tion.”The Austrian CMS legal team in Vienna included Alexander Rakosi and Florian Mayer (Corporate Law/M&A), Anna Hiegelsperger (Corporate Law/M&A), Jens Winter (Employment & Pensions), Sonja Otenhajmer (Dispute Resolution), Mariella Kapoun (Real Estate & Construction) and Maximilian Uidl (Real Estate & Construction). The international CMS legal team was led by experienced CMS partner Helen Rodwell (CMS Czech Republic) and consisted of David Cranfield (CMS Romania), Štěpán Havránek and Tristan O'Connor (CMS Czech Republic); and Moritz Kopka (CMS UK). Also advising were Florian Kamienke and Oliver Thurn (CMS Germany); Miklos Boros (CMS Hungary); José Luis Rodriguez and Carlos Peña (CMS Spain); Cristina Ciomos and Rodica Manea (CMS Romania); and Alessandra Cuni, Sara Tammarazio and Daniela Murer (CMS Italy). 

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.

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.”

The internationally active specialist in recycling and packaging solutions ALPLA is adding to its already broad product portfolio. ALPLA was advised by CMS again on its recent acquisition of Wolf Plastics Group.

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...