Austria: Schoenherr advises Erste Group on 300m share buyback and capital reduction

After obtaining the requisite authorisation from its shareholders in March 2023 and subsequent approval from the ECB in August 2023, Erste Group repurchased 8,887,092 shares (ISIN AT0000652011) corresponding to EUR 300m over a six-month period on the market. The company subsequently cancelled the respective treasury shares and successfully completed the reduction of its share capital with effect as of 24 February 2024.

Erste Group is one of the largest financial services providers in Central and Eastern Europe. Founded in 1819, Erste Group has 45,886 employees in 1,974 branches in seven countries serving over 16 million customers. The company's shares are traded on the Vienna, Prague and Bucharest stock exchanges with a current market cap of EUR 17bln.

The Schoenherr team advising Erste Group on all corporate, capital markets and regulatory aspects of the transaction was led by Sascha Schulz (partner), who was supported by Volker Weiss (partner), Matthias Pressler (counsel) and Roland Misic (associate).