Client Alert

Wolf Theiss M&A Partner Florian Kusznier has contributed the Austrian chapter to Lexology's 2021 "Getting the Deal Through – Public M&A" guide, summarizing M&A transactional requirements and procedures governing publicly listed companies. The chapter covers areas including structures and applicable law, filings and disclosure, and directors' and shareholders' duties and rights...

The global economy has been disrupted in an unprecedented manner and similar to the disruptions to the global economy, the Austrian economy has also suffered as a result of the covid-19 crisis. In particular, experienced and crisis-proof strategic buyers with cash reserves or an intact stock price are waiting to use high-profile collapses and are eager to purchase distressed targets at favourable valuations. In the coming months we expect an increase in distressed transactions and transactions involving the sale of non-core assets. Our Distressed M&A is a guide to law and regulation governing the sale of businesses in financial distress. Topics covered include the market climate and legal framework; transaction structures and the sale process: the critical areas for due diligence; financing; relevant documentation; and regulatory approval and dispute resolution....

Last week the European Commission published new “standard contractual clauses” under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) for data transfers to countries outside of the European Union. The Commission aimed to reflect the technological and legal developments after the Schrems II decision of the CJEU and offer instruments for more complex processing chains. Any existing […]...

Directive (EU) 2019/1 to empower the competition authorities of the Member States to be more effective enforcers (the “Directive“) is having a significant impact on the uniform application of EU antitrust rules. Slovak lawmakers viewed their obligation to implement the Directive as an opportunity to adopt the entirely new Act No. 187/2021 on the Protection […]...

On 6 March 2018, the Administrative Supreme Court (NSA) issued the first ruling concerning taxation of income made from trading bitcoins by individuals (case II FSK 488/16). According to this ruling, income made by individuals from trading bitcoins is subject to taxation in Poland as it involves trading property rights subject to the progressive tax […]...

The Austrian chapter in the Asset Tracing and Recovery Review provides an overview of the most relevant provisions under Austrian law with respect to the recovery of assets deprived through fraudulent conduct. It focuses on the interaction of legal rights and remedies in civil and criminal proceedings regarding inter alia obtaining evidence, seizure of assets […]...

The Austrian Council of Ministers recently resolved a ministerial proposal which would allow for bonds and investment certificates to be represented by digital global certificates rather than physical paper global certificates. The digital global certificates will possess the same securities law functions as physical global certificates. Banking and finance expert Alexander Haas of Wolf Theiss […]...

Die Einführung von Wertrechten in das österreichische Wertpapierrecht bildet die Grundlage für den Einsatz innovativer Technologien am österreichischen Kapitalmarkt für die digitale Emission und Übertragung von Wertpapieren. Die Blockchain-Technologie weist dabei als Register für die Schaffung und Übertragung von Wertrechten und für die Überleitung zu einem (alternativen) Registersystem ideale Voraussetzungen auf....

In order to transpose BRRD2 into Czech law, an amendment to the Czech Crisis Resolution Act and other acts is currently entering scrutiny at a second reading at the Czech Chamber of Deputies. It is expected that the Czech Parliament will expedite the legislative process to ensure transposition of the BRRD2 into Czech law as […]...

On 22 February 2021, the ministerial draft of the Restructuring and Insolvency Directive Implementation Act was published, which marks a turning point for pre-insolvency restructuring law in Austria. The code allows the restructuring of a company even against the will of individual creditors, which could in the past lead to the failure of a consensual, […]...

Das Bundesministerium für Finanzen hat einen Gesetzesentwurf samt Materialien, mit dem insb. ein Bundesgesetz über Pfandbriefe (Pfandbriefgesetz) erlassen wird, zur Begutachtung versandt. Der Gesetzesentwurf umfasst nicht nur die Umsetzung der Richtlinie (EU) 2019/2162 (Covered Bond Richtlinie), sondern hat die Schaffung einer einheitlichen Rechtsgrundlage für gedeckte Schuldverschreibungen zum Ziel, indem die drei bestehenden nationalen Rechtsgrundlagen (Hypothekenbankgesetz […]...

Important changes were introduced in the Hungarian legal system in February 2021 which have a significant impact on energy trading. The core amendments include the following, but important questions remained unanswered about the provisions. The category of “limited power trading license” was removed from the Hungarian Electricity Act. The statutory regulatory fee of energy traders […]...