Schoenherr advises Toyota Motor Europe on acquisition of Toyota Frey Austria

Under an agreement executed on 20 December 2018, Frey Holding GmbH and Toyota Motor Europe agreed that TME will take full ownership and management of Toyota Frey Austria GmbH. Following Austrian merger control clearance, the transaction was closed on 28 February 2019.

TFA is now a subsidiary of TME and will operate under the name Toyota Austria GmbH.

Toyota Frey Retail GmbH will retain ownership and operational responsibility for the seven Toyota and two Lexus dealerships it currently owns in Austria.

TME oversees the wholesale and marketing of Toyota and Lexus vehicles, parts and accessories, and Toyota’s European manufacturing and engineering operations. Toyota directly employs around 20,000 people in Europe and has invested over EUR 9 billion since 1990. Toyota’s operations in Europe are supported by a network of 29 NMSCs across 53 countries, a total of around 3,000 sales outlets, and nine manufacturing plants.

Schoenherr advised Toyota Motor Europe on the transaction, including the acquisition agreement and due diligence in Austria. The Schoenherr team consisted of Christian Herbst (partner, Vienna, corporate/m&a), Volker Weiss (partner, Vienna, EU & competition), Maximilian Lang (counsel, Vienna, corporate/m&a), Teresa Waidmann (attorney, Vienna, labor & employment), Constantin Benes (attorney, Vienna, real estate), Sara Khalil (associate, Vienna, dispute resolution) and Nina Zafoschnig (associate, Vienna, regulatory).

The sellers of Toyota Frey Austria GmbH were advised by Schindler Attorneys at Law, Vienna.