Austria/CEE: Schoenherr leads the 2018 M&A legal market in Austria

Based on the comprehensive Mergermarket deal data for 2018*, Schoenherr is No 1 in both the number and the value of qualifying M&A transactions in Austria. Leading business intelligence provider Mergermarket compiled M&A transaction information from 2018, including details of the financial and legal advisors involved.

According to Mergermarket's ranking criteria, Schoenherr outperformed the other 144 law firms in the ranking by advising on 16 Austria-related deals worth a combined USD 4.593bn. In addition, Schoenherr also scored an excellent Mergermarket ranking in its CEE jurisdictions.

"For 2018 we are again looking back on an outstanding performance of our team in the M&A market. We are proud that we once again advised on most m&a transactions, including both high end and mid-market transactions, in Austria," said Alexander Popp, Schoenherr partner and head of the corporate/m&a practice group.

In December 2018, Mergermarket awarded Schoenherr as "Austrian M&A Legal Adviser of the Year", highlighting several prominent M&A transactions where Schoenherr acted as legal advisor. These included the take-over of German-Austrian residential real estate group BUWOG by German Vonovia, the largest public M&A transaction in Austria in 2017-18.

Leading M&A advisor in Austria & CEE

Schoenherr advised on a number of high profile M&A transactions in Austria and CEE in 2018, including:

• BUWOG on the public takeover bid of Vonovia (EUR 3.4 bn) and the subsequent squeeze out and delisting of BUWOG from the Vienna, Frankfurt and Warsaw Stock Exchanges;
• Advent on the acquisition of GE Jenbacher from General Electric (deal value of overall transaction EUR 2.8bn)
• Starwood Capital on the acquisition of a core shareholding in CA Immo (EUR 757.9m);
• KKR on the sale of United Group to BC Partners
• Telenor on the sale of the Central Eastern European telecoms operations to PPF Group Partners (deal value of overall transaction EUR 2.8bn).

*Mergermarket / Global & Regional M&A Report 2018, p. 45 Austria league table by value and deal count