Austrian M & A, Takeover Law - Latest Developments

Since the 1999 Austrian Takeover Act came into force there have been 31 public offers in Austria including 13 mandatory offers and 18 voluntary offers, seven of which were so-called anticipatory mandatory offers. Although the number of public tender offers launched in 2004 and the first quarter of 2005 was down to 6, these included 2 offers with substantial transaction volumes, namely Siemens’ offer for VA Tech with a transaction volume of USD 1.2 billion (EUR 0.95 billion) and ÖVAG’s offer for the speciality bank Investkredit with a total transaction volume of USD 0.9 billion (EUR 0.7 billion). These offers also included novel features, namely the introduction of a new offer condition during the offer term against simultaneous waiver of other conditions and the approval by the Takeover Commission of a conversion of an anticipatory mandatory offer into a mandatory offer. Moreover, in February 2005, the Takeover Commission issued a landmark ruling in the matter Böhler-Uddeholm on