Green energy and ESG will be a significant focus in the coming year in Austria, with a slight upward trend expected in restructuring, alternative finance, and regulatory work, according to Wolf Theiss Banking & Finance Partner Andrea Gritsch.

Christopher Peitsch, Jakob Hartig, and Christoph Reiter have been promoted to Partners at Cerha Hempel in Austria.

Gide Turkish affiliate Ozdirekcan Dundar Senocak has advised the Turkiye Wealth Fund on its acquisition of Bereket Katilim insurance companies and the subsequent restructuring of TWF subsidiaries' takaful insurance operations.

In its recent decision in re Smusta a.s., the Supreme Court ruled on the possibility to avoid a corporate transformation in insolvency proceedings.

A draft of a preventive restructuring act is being discussed in the Czech legal environment to implement the EU directive on restructuring and insolvency (directive (EU) 2019/1023). The aim of the new legal regulation is to introduce an out-of-court restructuring model with shorter times to improve operations and the balance sheets of debtors in financial difficulties. Different forms of out-of-court restructuring are common and frequently used in many foreign jurisdictions, e.g. arrangements in England and Wales. Unlike insolvencies, in preventive restructuring the court is a “mere” supervisor supported by the restructuring trustee in certain situations.

Former Counsels Klaudia Fratczak-Kospin and Piotr Grabarczyk have been appointed as Partners with WKB.