Wolf Theiss advises Allianz in its acquisition of a minority stake of Gas Connect Austria

Vienna, 23 September 2016 – OMV has signed an agreement selling a 49% minority stake of Gas Connect Austria (GCA) to a consortium of Allianz and Snam. Wolf Theiss advised Allianz throughout the entire transaction – including due diligence, contract negotiations and the signing, which took place on 22 September. Additionally, Wolf Theiss advised the entire consortium in aspects relating to acquisition finance.

OMV chose the consortium as the result of a bidding process that began in the first quarter of 2016.

Among the Wolf Theiss team of advisers to Allianz, under the co-lead of Partners Horst Ebhardt and Christian Mikosch, were Jiayan Zhu, Associate, Felix Breitwieser, Associate (all Corporate/M&A), Kurt Retter, Partner (Regulatory), Eva Spiegel, Partner (Dispute Resolution), Gabriele Hintsteiner, Senior Associate (Dispute Resolution), Matthias Unterrieder, Partner (Employment), Karl Koller, Partner (Real Estate), Benjamin Twardosz, Partner (Tax) and Gerhard Dilger, Consultant (Banking & Finance).

Günter Bauer, Head of the Practice Group Competition & Antitrust, and his team will now handle the merger control notification on behalf of the Allianz Group.

Andreas Schmid, Partner (Banking & Finance) led the team advising the consortium of Allianz and Snam on the acquisition financing. His team consisted of Counsel Marcell Nemeth as well as Senior Associate Barbara Jakubowics and Associate Georg Harer, all also in the Practice Group Banking & Finance.

Snam was represented by Binder Grösswang. The Allianz Corporation consulted the gas sector experts at Starlinger Mayer Rechtsanwälte for the preparation of the due diligence.

Allianz Capital Partners (ACP), the alternative asset managers at Allianz Group, carried out the transaction on behalf of Austrian and German Allianz insurance companies. Jacques Röder, Head of Legal – Direct Investments and Nadine Rinck managed in-house legal aspects of the transaction for ACP.

“We are delighted to have advised Allianz Group in the largest infrastructure transaction in Austria this year,” said Wolf Theiss Partner Horst Ebhardt.

Partner Christian Mikosch added, “The success of our work for Allianz is the result of collaboration within a well-coordinated team of specialists in the areas of M&A and infrastructure financing. The collaboration with Binder Grösswang and Starlinger Mayer was also exceptionally collegial and efficient, which made this project something special.”