Hogan Lovells has advised the HR Group hotel operating company on its acquisition of a hotel portfolio from the Vienna House Group. 

PRK Partners, working with Binder Groesswang, has helped American restaurant chain Five Guys open up a restaurant in Vienna.

Schoenherr has advised Linz-based start-up Storyblok on its EUR 7 million Series A financing round. Mubadala Capital, the state investment company of the United Arab Emirates, participated in the current financing round, as did existing investors 3VC and Firstminute Capital, Binder Groesswang advised Mubadala Capital on the deal.

BPV Huegel has advised the Irish Zeus Packaging Group on the acquisition of Austrian-based food packaging company Petruzalek from Italian investment holding company Italmobiliare. Gattai, Minoli, Agostinelli & Partners and Pelzmann Gall Gross — the Austrian office of EY Law — advised the sellers on the transaction, which remains subject to regulatory approval. 

Graf & Pitkowitz has advised Germany's Hubert Burda Media group on its acquisition of digital brands Netdoktor.at and Netdoktor.ch from Vienna-based Netdoktor.at GmbH.

Austrian lawyer Josef Holzschuster will be relocating from Budapest to Amsterdam, having been appointed Head of Legal, Markets DA at Philips, in which capacity he will lead the worldwide Legal Team for the Philips Domestic Appliances business, reporting to the General Counsel for DA, also located in Amsterdam.

Cerha Hempel has advised the RHI Magnesita Group on the sale of its participation in RHI Normag AS and Premier Periclase Ltd to Callista Private Equity, following a bidding process. Financial details were not disclosed. 

Allen & Overy has advised Oesterreichische Kontrollbank on its issue of USD 1.5 billion 0.500% guaranteed global notes due 2026.

Herbst Kinsky, working with lead counsel Linklaters, has advised Neovia Logistics Holdings on its acquisition of two unidentified companies from Austria’s Temmel Logistik Group. 42 Law reportedly advised the seller.

“Austria has learned in the last year that every choice needs to be evaluated and reevaluated,” says Klaus Pfeiffer, Partner at Weber & Co. in Vienna. “Especially when it comes to making decisions about the pandemic, facts on which assumptions are based can change rapidly.” Having learned this lesson, he says, the Austrian government has “put itself in a good position to be flexible and able to constantly reassess its position – which will lead to better responses to the current crisis and future challenges.”

E+H has advised the shareholders of Curecomp Software on the sale of the company to the ProALPHA Group. Herbst Kinsky advised the buyer.

Michael Lind, the former Head of Legal at Raiffeisen-Holding Niederoesterreich-Wien, has joined PwC Legal in Austria.

When it comes to clearing a path in a forest to construct and operate an overhead electrical power line, electricity grid operators face various legal issues.

Long-time CMS Partner Johannes Trenkwalder will join photovoltaic plant developer Green Source as Legal Counsel and Principal.

One of the most important issues facing businesses in CEE is the impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic on litigation and arbitration. In-person court and arbitration hearings have become problematic, if not impossible, and the importance of certain boilerplate contract clauses has skyrocketed. Zsolt Okanyi, Global Head of Dispute Resolution at CMS, Malgorzata Surdek, Head of Dispute Resolution at CMS Poland, and Daniela Karollus Bruner, Head of Dispute Resolution at CMS Austria, evaluate the current situation.

Schoenherr has advised joint lead managers DZ Bank, Erste Group, Helaba, and Raiffeisen Bank International on the successful issue of notes by Upper Austrian-based Oberbank Aktiengesellschaft, which was advised by Wolf Theiss.

“The political situation in Austria is as stable as it ever was,” says Eisenberger & Herzog Partner Marco Steiner. “Everybody’s eyes are pointed towards the government’s handling of the crisis, especially given that we are right now in a third lockdown. However, the government will need to get right on with its reform agenda as soon as the crisis begins to die down.”

Tax specialist Clemens Willvonseder will become Partner at Binder Groesswang’s on February 1, 2021.