Austria: Schoenherr advises FirmenABC shareholders on exit to Austrian consortium

The shareholders entered into a share purchase agreement with the investors INVEST AG and Industrieliegenschaftenverwaltung AG (ILAG), for the acquisition of all shares in the FirmenABC Group in Austria and Germany. The share purchase agreement was signed on 22 December 2022 and closing is subject to approval by the Austrian Federal Competition Authority and the German Federal Cartel Office. Schoenherr advised the 11 shareholders of FirmenABC Group throughout the auction process as well as on all legal matters regarding the transaction, including the negotiation of the share purchase agreement as well as the pre-closing restructuring in Austria and Germany.

The German law aspects were managed jointly with the German law firm ZINGER STRACHWITZ Rechtsanwälte Partnerschaft (Dr Thomas Graf Strachwitz).

FirmenABC.at is operated by FirmenABC Marketing GmbH. Based in Eugendorf near Salzburg, Austria, the company was founded in 2005 by Klaus Rebernig and Manfred Gansch. Its 150 employees currently support more than 11,000 customers. As the leading referral marketing agency for small and medium-sized enterprises in the German-speaking region, FirmenABC presents and portrays reputable companies from all sectors.

The Schoenherr team was led by Roman Perner (partner) and Michael Marschall (attorney at law), and included Lukas Pirringer and Tobias Hayden (both associates).  

Raiffeisenbank International AG acted as financial advisor to FirmenABC. The buyers were advised by Wildmoser/Koch and TRACC Legal.