On July 3, 2020, CEE Legal Matters reported that Cerha Hempel, working alongside Deloitte Legal in Germany, had advised Germany's GBTEC Software + Consulting AG on the acquisition of all shares in Avedos. CEEIHM spoke with Sven van Berge Henegouwen, Partner at GBTEC, to learn more about the deal.

Monika Sturm has been promoted to Equity Partner at Fellner Wratzfeld & Partner, bringing the total number of partners at the firm to ten.

Binder Groesswang and Bird & Bird have advised Blockpit on its acquisition of 21 Consulting.

Former PwC Legal Partner Lukas Roper has joined PHH's Corporate Practice, coming along with former PwC Legal Counsels Dominik Kurzmann and Evgeny Rodionov.

White & Case and Wolf Theiss have advised joint lead managers Barclays, MUFG, UniCredit Bank Austria, BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole CIB, J.P. Morgan, Societe Generale Corporate & Investment Banking, Bayern LB, DZ Bank AG, Helaba and SMBC Nikko on OMV Aktiengesellschaft's EUR 1.25 billion hybrid bonds issue. Weber & Co advised the issuer on the deal.

PHH has advised Bondi Consult on the sale of the "service hub" part of the TwentyOne commercial project in Vienna's Floridsdorf district to InterXion, a provider of cloud and carrier-neutral data center services. Gassauer-Fleissner Rechtsanwalte advised InterXion on the deal.

Herbst Kinsky has advised Presono GmbH on a media-for-equity deal with Seven Ventures Austria.

Former Dentons Partner Marcell Clark has joined CMS in Vienna.

Former Weber & Co Partner Christoph Moser will re-join Schoenherr at the beginning of 2021.

Rautner Rechtsanwalte has advised Windkraft Simonsfeld on a EUR 63 million financing deal with the European Investment Bank and Erste Bank.

As Europe begins a tentative re-opening following several difficult months of quarantining, social distancing, and working-from-home, we spoke to CMS’s Warsaw-based Employment Partner Katarzyna Dulewicz and Vienna-based Dispute Resolution Partner Daniela Karollus-Bruner for their perspective on the process.

The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the vulnerability of supply chains worldwide, creating an increased awareness of the need to protect critical domestic infrastructure. On April 3, 2020, the Austrian Parliament adopted a motion encouraging the Minister for Digital and Economic Affairs to put forward (“as soon as possible”) a government bill designed to protect companies in key industries from takeovers by third country entities. Eight weeks later the resulting bill was presented to the public.

DLA Piper has advised FFF Real Estate S a.r.l., a subsidiary of Luxembourg's FFF Fund I SCSp SICAV-RAIF fund, on financing for the acquisition and further development of a residential project in Hesperange in Luxembourg.

Baker McKenzie has advised Amplifier Game Invest on the acquisition of games developer Rare Earth Games and its team. The Freimueller, Obereder, Pilz firm advised Rare Earth Games founders Michael Borras, Peter Ehardt, and Helmut Hutterer.

Former Haslinger/Nagele Partner Michael Magerl and Associate Bettina Kranawetter have joined Schoenherr, and on September 1, 2020 Magerl will become Managing Partner of the firm's office in Linz.

The General Court (GC) of the European Union ruled in favour of Apple in the state aid case regarding Apple's Irish tax structure, annulling the 2016 decision of the European Commission (EC). As a result, Ireland is at present not obliged to reclaim the amount of EUR 13 billion from Apple. The decision is not yet final due to the EC's right to appeal.

In Austria, like in many other countries, the current restrictions due to the COVID-19 situation are causing extensive and opaque changes in social life and related legal issues. Although home office has become well established, it is still associated with limited opportunities for personal interaction. The situation raises many legal questions, one of which is how people can pragmatically conclude or sign a legally effective contract.

On March 11, 2020, CEE Legal Matters reported that Kinstellar had advised Austria’s European City Estates – a group of companies owned by the Austrian Humer Private Foundation – on its acquisition of the 22,000-square-meter Rosum office complex in Bratislava from Penta Real Estate, which was advised by Skubla & Partneri.