Linklaters, Freshfields, Bittera, Kohlrusz & Toth, and Herbert Smith Freehills have advised AviAlliance and co-shareholders on the sale of Budapest Airport to a consortium consisting of Hungarian state-owned Corvinus Zrt and French co-investor Vinci Airports for a total purchase price of EUR 3.1 billion and net debt of EUR 1.2 billion. CMS advised Corvinus. Kinstellar, working with Orrick, advised Vinci Airports. Wolf Theiss, working with Latham & Watkins, advised the lenders on financing the transaction.
AviAlliance is a private airport investor and manager. It has been invested in the Budapest airport since 2007. Corvinus Zrt. is an investment vehicle of the Hungarian Ministry for National Economy.
According to Wolf Theiss, "Corvinus will acquire an 80% stake of the Budapest airport concession and Vinci Airports will acquire the remaining 20% stake and become the airport operator."
The Linklaters team included London-based Partners David Martin, Ross Schloeffel, and Subir Rajadhyaksha and Associate Katie Rivers, Duesseldorf-based Partners Achim Kirchfeld, Christoph Barth, and Julian Boehmer, Counsel Sebastian Klingen, Managing Associates Kristina Willmes and Sebastian Ploetz, and Associate Lea Schuermann, Frankfurt-based Partner Julia Grothaus, Managing Associate Hannes Ingwersen, and Associate Julia Funke, and Berlin-based Partner Jan Endler and Managing Associate Rico Kassmann.
The Freshfields team included Duesseldorf-based Partners Simone Kaempfer and Daniel Travers and Principal Associate Marcel Michaelis as well as London-based Partner Ben Morgan and Associate Fiona McHugh.
The Wolf Theiss team included Managing Partner Zoltan Faludi, Partner Janos Toth, Counsel Melinda Pelikan, Senior Associate Gergely Szaloki, and Associate Laszlo Lovas, Kinga Kajcsos, Timea Csajagi, Viktoria Horvath, Lilla Lantai, and Virag Locsei.
The Kinstellar team included Partners Annamaria Csenterics and Peter Voros, Managing Associates Mate Nagy, Peter Gullai, and Daniel Peter, Associates Gergely Liptak, Fanni Oroszi, Bertalan Vanya, Alexandra Cseri, Judit Sos, and Szabolcs Szilagyi, and Junior Associate Viktoria Karnyaczki.
The Orrick team included Partners Yves Lepage, Christophe Lefort, Patrick Hubert, Werner Brickwedde, Foucaud Jaulin, and Paul Loisel, Managing Associates Marc Diab Maalouf, Adil Kourtih, Ahmed Boulahcen, and Carole Schertzinger, and Associate Camille Heissat.
The Bittera, Kohlrusz & Toth team included Partners Csaba Bittera and Peter Toth and Attorneys at Law Zsolt Slujtner and Zoe Szekeli.
The CMS team included Managing Partner Erika Papp, Partners Andreas Koehler, Aniko Kircsi, Eszter Torok, and Dora Petranyi, Senior Counsel Zoltan Poronyi, Counsel Arpad Lantos, Senior Associates Sandor Kovacs, Dorottya Varga-Giesz, and Aranka Nagy, Junior Associates Marton Lazar and Marton Angyal, and further team members from London and Brussels.
Editor's Note: After this article was published KCG Partners announced it also advised Corvinus Zrt. on the deal. The KCG team was led by Managing Partner Eszter Kamocsay-Berta and included Founding Partners Gabriella Galik, Rita Parkanyi, and Levente Csengery, Partner Laszlo Madak, Attorney at Law Balint Zsoldos, and Associates Reka Fulop and Tamas Zsiros.
Subsequently, CEE Legal Matters learned PK Law Office also advised Corvinus Zrt.
