Articles

Special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) have become one of the most discussed topics in the equity market in recent years. These “blank cheque” companies are essentially a shell company formed by investors to raise money through an initial public offering (IPO) without having yet identified a specific acquisition target. In this article, you will learn: […]...

A look back at the last NPLs sales cycle In the previous cycle of non-performing loans (NPLs) sales after the global financial crisis of 2008, the region of CEE/SEE attracted substantial investor interest and maintained it for several years. Central, Eastern and Southeast Europe gradually gained experience in this regard, ranging from large portfolio tenders […]...

SECURITISATION ON THE RISE AGAIN Since securitisation products played a significant role in the US subprime mortgage crisis, European securitisation markets have remained restrained. In order to foster the capital markets and securitisation itself, a regulation for simple, transparent and standardised securitisation (STS-Regulation (EU) 2017/2042) has been adopted. The EU framework aims to serve as […]...

Lessons learned in CEE/SEE September 2021 – Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania FDI restrictions in Central and Eastern Europe In the context of the global pandemic which exposed the vulnerabilities of excessive reliance on externalised foreign supply chains, EU Member States (including many in the CEE/SEE region) have accelerated the adoption of local legislation aimed […]...

Deep changes in the global real estate market Panta rhei – „Everything flows“. When the Greek philosopher Heraclitus created this famous phrase around 500 B.C., it was certainly not the world of real estate that he had in mind. Nowadays, however, his quote aptly describes the developments that affect this critical investment class, which is […]...

A typical M&A closing highlights the need for and value add of instant payments:parties to the transaction with an acquisition finance element meet late in the evening to sign the documents and prepare everything for the closing. It is their plan that when the banking day starts the payments will be ordered and hopefully processed. […]...

Material scope significantly expanded Romania will soon enforce new national legislation implementing the Whistleblowing Directive1. The Romanian legislation draft will replace the existing mechanism applicable in the public sector and mandatory in publicinstitutions and state-owned companies2. As per the new draft law, the element of novelty relates to the extension of protection for whistleblowers to […]...

Hungary is in a special position at the European level, as it has almost a decade of experience in the application ofwhistleblowing systems and the protection of whistleblowers. In 2013, Hungary adopted the Act CLXV on complaints and public interest reporting (the “Act”).1 Therefore, the required implementation of the provisions of the EU Whistleblowing Directive […]...

The EU Whistleblowing Directive as a trigger With the clock ticking towards the deadline for implementing the EU Whistleblowing Directive1, the issues around its implementation and the surprising delay of Member States to take action have become one ofthe hot legal topics of summer. Recent surveys indicate that only a few of the Member States […]...

Brand new framework for OTT service providers The European Electronic Communications Code (EECC) was introduced in 2018 by EU Directive1. All EU Member States were obliged to implement the EECC by 21 December 2020, however, in practice, in many jurisdictions, the implementation procedures have still not been completed. Under the EECC, new obligations have been […]...

Untapping the Potential of Cross-Border E-Commerce A wider choice of products, at more competitive prices and a market of up to 70 million online cross-border buyers were promised by the European Commission1 when it touted its proposals for the Digital Content Directive2 andSale of Goods Directive3 back in December 2015. Almost six years and several […]...

Improving efficiency and transparency In 2018, Erste Group Bank AG carried out the first fully digital, paperless issue of a borrower’s loan note (Schuldscheindarlehen) via a blockchain platform in Europe. Wolf Theiss provided legal advice to Erste Group on this pioneering transaction. Since then, a number of such transactions have been carried out on “Dealfabrix”, […]...