2008 CMS Business of the Year Award

This year's European Business Awards, of which CMS is a proud sponsor, took place in the magnificent setting of the Opera Room at the InterContinental Hotel, in Paris, on 11 March 2008.

Over 7000 entries from 25 EU Member States were received and narrowed down to 70 Ruban d'Honneur finalists. From these, 9 Award winners were carefully selected by judging panels totalling XX judges representing senior business executives, economists and top academics, which included José María Aznar, former Prime Minister of Spain, and Wim Kok, former Dutch Prime Minister.

The CMS Business of the Year Award was attributed to Econcern, a fast-growing global sustainable energy provider, based in The Netherlands (see www.econcern.com ), and client of CMS Derks Star Busmann and other CMS member firms. Econcern was incorporated in 1984 and had total revenues of 500 million euros in 2007.

The numerous attendees at the 2008 European Business Awards included corporate finalists, sponsors (including representatives from CMS Member Firms) and select clients. The participants took part in a morning business forum focused on networking with the finalists and then attended the gala prize-award ceremony during which Christine Lagarde, French Minister of Economy, Finance and Employment, gave a video-taped welcome to all and José María Aznar spoke and presented The Business Leader of the Year Award to Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, President and CEO of Nokia.

For further information, please contact:
CMS Bureau Francis Lefebvre
Florence Jouffroy / Tel: +33 1 47 38 40 32
Laetitia Mostowski / Tel: +33 1 47 38 40 74

CMS Legal
Robert Derry-Evans, CMS Executive Partner / Tel: +49 69 71 701 500