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.

Press release - 03 March 2023An international CMS team advised DPE Deutsche Private Equity GmbH (DPE) on all aspects of the transaction. The team included lawyers from CMS offices in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Belgium, Romania and Poland.   DPE is selling its stake in VTU Group, a leading European provider of engineering solutions for the life science industry based in Graz, to Altor Funds. The Swedish private equity firm, which invests in mid-sized companies with the aim of creating value through growth initiatives and operational improvements, prevailed in a bidding process. The sellers, DPE-owned funds, were advised on all aspects of the transaction by an international CMS team led by Hendrik Hirsch (CMS Germany). The transaction is subject to the requisite approvals from the competent authorities. The parties have agreed not to disclose further details of the trans­ac­tion.   The CMS Austria team led by Alexander Rakosi consisted of corporate/M&A experts Florian Mayer, Marco Selenic and Christoph Birner. The employment department was represented by Jens Winter and Shima Babanzadeh. Competition issues were handled by Dieter Zandler. Real estate law expertise was provided by Mariella Kapoun and Maximilian Uidl. Marlene Wim­mer-Nistel­ber­ger was in charge of public law issues and Thomas Aspalter saw to tax is­sues.   Al­ex­an­der Rakosi, partner at CMS in Vienna and leader of the Austrian team, is enthusiastic about the cross-border cooperation: “Once again, we were able to demonstrate our international expertise, especially in the private equity area, in a multi-jur­is­dic­tion­al project – congratulations to all involved!”

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).