Austria: Schoenherr advises Credendo on the cross-border merger of their Austrian stock company into a Belgian group company

Schoenherr advised Credendo on the cross-border merger of their Austrian stock company into a Belgian group company to give evidence of Credendo's strong specialisation as a provider of guarantees and specialised trade credit insurance, excess-of-loss and top-up cover, and single-risk policies. This complex reorganisation of the Credendo's group Austrian business required expertise from various legal areas and therefore the coordination of several Schoenherr teams, in particular corporate, tax, regulatory and employment, i.e. as special care needed to be taken on exit taxation in relation to the remaining branch of the acquiring Belgian company, as well as the separation of the existing Swiss branch and the management of the regulatory proceedings in several CEE countries.

Credendo is one of Europe's largest credit insurance groups, based in Belgium with locations in 14 countries across Europe. Credendo is active in all segments of trade credit and political risk insurance, providing a range of products that cover risks worldwide. Credendo collected a total value of EUR 330m in insurance premiums and the value of their insured transactions was EUR 87bln in 2018.

The Schoenherr team advising on the transaction was led by Roman Perner (partner) and Michael Marschall (attorney at law) and further consisted of Stefanie Aichhorn-Wöss (counsel), Gabriel Ebner (associate), Matthias Pressler (leading the regulatory aspects of the transaction) and Henri Bellando (associate). The tax team was headed by Marco Thorbauer (attorney at law) who was supported by Tobias Hayden (associate).