The Legal 500

Within Banking and finance, Schoenherr is a second tier firm,

Schoenherr has ‘excellent know-how’ and recently advised the arranger Raiffeisen Bank International on the debt financing of US-based energy investor Contour Global’s acquisition of the Bulgarian Maritza thermal power plant from an Italian company. On the lender side, it acted for a banking syndicate on the €13.5bn restructuring of Continental Group. Peter Feyl, Martin Ebner and Ursula Rath are recommended.

Within Capital markets, Schoenherr is a second tier firm,

Peter Feyl leads Schoenherr’s underwriter-oriented practice, which recently advised a syndicate of international banks as joint bookrunners on Sappi Papier Holding’s high yield notes issuance.

Within Central and Eastern Europe, Schoenherr is a first tier firm,

Schoenherr’s ‘unique selling point is its full coverage in the CEE region combined with a service quality you would normally only expect in highly developed legal markets’, says one client. The team recently advised Nokia Siemens Networks on the $975m acquisition of Motorola’s network operations in Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Ukraine. Christian Herbst and Markus Piuk are the main contacts, and Alexander Popp is ‘strong in energy and telecoms’.

Within Corporate and M&A, Schoenherr is a first tier firm,

Schoenherr is ‘very responsive and advice is always to the point’. It has a great track record advising blue-chip clients on M&A, and recently advised Volkswagen on its €3.5bn merger with Porsche. Other standout deals included representing Volksbanken AG (ÖVAG) on the sale of its CEE operations to Russia’s Sberbank. Alexander Popp adopts a ‘hands-on approach and is creative in finding solutions’, and Markus Piuk is also recommended.

Within Dispute resolution, Schoenherr is a second tier firm,

Schoenherr recently represented Republika Srpska in ICC arbitration proceedings relating to an energy investment in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Practice head Gerold Zeiler is recommended for arbitration, as is Wolfgang Höller for litigation.

Within EU and competition , Schoenherr is a first tier firm,

Schoenherr’s ‘invaluable’ team provides ‘hands-on support within short timeframes’. The team recently advised Raiffeisen Bank International in clearance for its acquisition of a majority stake in Polbank, and advised Siemens and VA Tech Group in infringement proceedings before the European Courts. Practice head Hanno Wollmann is ‘superb’ – ‘a brilliant antitrust lawyer and an economic expert’. Franz Urlesberger is ‘a competent contact if you need one-stop-shop competition advice in the CEE region’. Volker Weiss is also recommended.

Within Employment , Schoenherr is a third tier firm,

Schoenherr mainly advises the firm’s existing clients on employment issues resulting from M&A, but also successfully defended a financial consultancy company in several long-running court cases concerning the termination of a senior consultant’s contract. Practice head Hans Georg Laimer is recommended.

Within IT and telecommunications, Schoenherr is a second tier firm,

Schoenherr’s telecoms team recently advised France Télécom on its acquisition of Austrian mobile provider One and private equity fund Mid Europa Partners. Other clients include AT&T, Verizon Communications and Nortel. Christian Schmelz is recommended.

Within Insolvency and corporate recovery, Schoenherr is a first tier firm,

Schoenherr provides ‘quick response times and excellent know-how’, and has been busy advising financial institutions over the past two years. Wolfgang Höller leads the team, which recently advised foreign institutional bondholders of Vienna-listed A-Tec during its restructuring. It continues to advise Morgan Stanley Real Estate on its restructuring and refinancing of European hotel projects and the sale of its Austrian assets.

Within Intellectual property and media, Schoenherr is a first tier firm,

Schoenherr is ‘good value for money and efficient at managing cases with implications in other jurisdictions’, and ‘always thinks outside the box’. This experienced team recently successfully concluded a 12-year trade mark dispute between its client Anheuser-Busch and Czech Budweiser Budvar National Corporation. Guido Kucsko’s ‘knowledge of IP in Austria is second to none’, Christian Hauer is recommended for trade mark and unfair competition cases, and Christian Schumacher is also well regarded.

Within Legal market overview,

The redundancies that have hit Western European firms hard are much less evident in Austria, and many of the larger players are as ambitious as ever. CHSH Cerha Hempel Spiegelfeld Hlawati, Wolf Theiss and Schoenherr still dominate across the CEE, although the mid-tier Vienna firms also attract a share of these mandates.

Within Real estate and construction, Schoenherr is a third tier firm,

Schoenherr’s ‘very knowledgeable’ team advised Morgan Stanley Real Estate Funds on the sale of the Austrian part of its €450m Danube hotel property portfolio to a Lebanese investor. Other standout matters included advising Post Immobilien on selling several properties through a public auction. Peter Madl is recommended.

Within Tax, Schoenherr is a second tier firm,

Schoenherr has good experience advising on tax aspects of cross-border deals. It advised a consortium of 200 senior lenders led by RBS on the Austrian tax aspects of the €2bn debt restructuring of European Directories Group. Practice heads Peter Feyl and Herbert Buzanich are recommended.