Schoenherr CEE team awarded for Deal of the Year in Austria

The Austria Deal of the Year Award was presented for the Raiffeisen Bank International ("RBI") merger with Raiffeisen Zentralbank ("RZB"). Overall 20 Schoenherr specialists in banking regulatory and corporate/m&a from seven CEE countries were involved in the project.

This deal was awarded on the basis of its complexity, market significance, and innovation. The merger is considered to be the largest corporate reorganisation in the Austrian banking sector to date.

"We are delighted to be recognised by CEE Legal Matters for the outstanding advisory work that Schoenherr has conducted for the merger of RBI with RZB. Owing to the excellent RBI Legal Team and the great collaboration in our cross-border team, we were able to work on this complex mandate in an integrated fashion," explained Schoenherr Vienna corporate M&A partner Roman Perner, who was one of the lead partners in the matter and represented Schoenherr at the award ceremony. "This award illustrates that Schoenherr is not only strong in individual jurisdictions, but across the CEE region," concluded Perner.

Echoing the importance of highlighting top-notch legal expertise in the region, CEE Legal Matters Executive Editor David Stuckey stated: "We were honoured to have so many of these skilled and committed lawyers join us for this unique celebration in Prague and a pleasure to acknowledge the real value they bring both to their clients, the countries they work in, and CEE as a whole."

With 14 offices and four country desks in Austria and Central and Eastern Europe, Schoenherr often represents local and international companies in cross-border projects across the CEE region. Leveraging its strong regional footprint, Schoenherr recently advised UniCredit on establishing strategic bancassurance partnerships with Allianz and Generali in nine CEE jurisdictions.

Schoenherr was nominated this year in five "Deal of the Year" awards categories in Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania, and Slovenia. All nominated deals were high-profile transactions in the region, where Schoenherr's key competences in corporate/m&a and banking law played a critical role. At the awards ceremony, Schoenherr was represented by Roman Perner (partner, Vienna; corporate/m&a), Alexandra Doytchinova (partner, Sofia; corporate/m&a), Eva Škufca (partner, Ljubljana; eu & competition), and Stela Pavlova (associate, Sofia; corporate/m&a).

Prominent awards for leading legal advisors

The CEE Legal Matters Deal of the Year Awards acknowledge the legal advisors who have played leading roles in transactions in Central and Eastern Europe over the past year. Law firms are nominated based on deals submitted for consideration that were peer-reviewed in each qualifying country and shortlisted as final nominees. The awards were announced at the CEE Legal Matters Annual Banquet that concluded the international Dealer’s Choice law firm conference at the Czech National Bank in Prague.