act legal firm WMWP is partner of the Association of Austrian In-house Lawyers

act legal firm WMWP Attorney is a front runner partner of the VUJ and is looking forward to a successful cooperation.

The Association of Austrian In-house Lawyers is the first association for in-house lawyers in Austria with the aim to bring together the interests of the Austrian in-house lawyers and to act as representation body. The VUJ intends to establish a professional profile for in-house lawyers and to develop it further by taking into account the continuously changing circumstances.

For act legal firm WMWP it is an additional important step as corporate law firm ensuring to be at the pulse of the in-house lawyer’s day-to-day practice and we are fully committed to support VUJ’s success.

act legal firm WMWP Lead Legal Advisor on acquisition of Afaktor

act legal firm WMWP supported A.B.S. Global Factoring AG as lead legal advisor on the acquisition of Afaktor d.o.o, a Slovenian factoring company. With this transaction Abanka d.d., the purchaser, could successfully complete the sale of its factoring subsidiary to a strategic investor.

A.B.S. Global Factoring AG is one of the largest factoring groups in Germany with subsidiaries in Austria, Switzerland and Sweden.

Real estate deal: the seller counts on act legal firm AC Tischendorf

Six of the 12 Telekom-objects of the DT 12 portfolio have found new owners. 

The six office properties were sold to four different purchasers: An Austrian real estate AG purchased two office builings in Berlin and Düren rented to the Telekom. The private investor VGS bought a vacant property in Kiel together with Laren Consulting, a real estate service provider from Kiel. The developer P&P Group from Fürth ensured a vacant property in Nürnberg. The real estate investor Quartier 13 from Magdeburg purchased two properties in Magdeburg, one rented to Telekom, the other to the federal state Sachsen-Anhalt. 

The rentable area of the six sold office properties is about 92.000 m². CR Investment conducted the sale on behalf of the investor Summit Real Estate Holdings in cooperation with the credit servicer Hatfield Philips International. With them, the foundations were layed for a successful conclusion of the refinancing related to the six remaining Telekom properties of the DT 12 portfolio that Summit will be keeping.

Mandate’s background: act legal firm AC Tischendorf works as a kind of outsourced legal department for Summit and has successfully carried out several real estate transactions for Summit in the past. Such as the purchase of an office property from Redevco in Mörfelden, Waldecker Straße 5-13, with about 17.000 m² rentable area.

act legal firm AC Tischendorf advises Bisnode

act legal firm AC Tischendorf advises and represents Bisnode (Partner of Dun &Bradstreet in Germany), one of the leading credit agencies for company information worldwide, in court in more than 200 investor lawsuits and 700 additional disputes related to the financial service provider Future Business /Infinus („Fubus“). The insolvency proceeding of Fubus is regarded as one of the most complex one of the German post-war history with 40.000 involved investors.

Due to the extent of the mass procedures as well as because of the specific issues in relation to capital markets law, the mandate is highly complex. It includes the differentiation of ratings in terms of the (new) rating regulationon credit scoring, including issues of damage compensation.

act legal firm BSWW is recommended in two top international legal rankings

We are pleased to announce that act legal firm BSWW and its lawyers have been recognized in two top international legal rankings – Legal 500 and Chambers Europe.

Our practices recommended by Legal 500 include:
• Commercial, corporate and M&A
• Real Estate and Construction
• Dispute resolution
• Capital markets (debt)
• Employment
• Intellectual Property
• Tax
• Banking and Finance

Marek Wojnar, Jacek Bieniak, Marta Kosiedowska and Giuseppe La Rosa have been recommended individually in Commercial, Corporate and M&A. Moreover, Marek Wojnar has been recognized in Intellectual Property and Michał Wielhorski in Tax.

Legal 500 states: “At BSWW Legal & Tax, Giuseppe La Rosa and managing partner Jacek Bieniak assisted Cartotecnica Goldprint with setting up a company in Poland. Marta Kosiedowska advised GS Investments on a €2.7m share sale by the majority shareholder of an affiliated company. Marek Wojnar is also recommended.”

Chambers Europe has recognized act legal firm BSWW Legal & Tax in the Real Estate practice. What is more, Michał Wielhorski has been ranked as one of the leading estate lawyers in Poland.
According to Chambers Clients value our team’s business acumen. „They are very helpful, available when needed and adopt a business approach to solving problems,” a client reports, while another praises them as „communicative and business-oriented lawyers”.

Chambers refers that “Michał Wielhorski frequently advises developers on commercial and office projects. He recently assisted ECC Group with the development of the Nowa Stacja shopping centre project. Clients praise him as „business-oriented and effective”.

act legal firm MPH was recommended in the Slovak competition

act legal firm MPH advocates is an award-winning company. Our awards prove that we provide legal services on a high professional level. In 2017 MPH advocates scored a win in the category Telecommunications, IT Law in the competition Law Firm of the Year. 

Recommendations as “highly recommended” and “recommended“ were received in overall 4 categories, namely:

• Restructuring and Insolvency

• Tax Law

• Litigation

• Public Procurement

Buma constructs 3 new buildings as part of DOT Office in Kraków

act legal Poland advises Buma Group on the construction of new office buildings. In total, DOT Office is about to feature over 100,000 m² of modern A-class office space, of which 63,000 m² has already been developed.

Buma Group is completing the ninth building of DOT office complex located in the Special Economic Zone named Kraków Technology Park,” says Michał Wielhorski, Managing Partner at act legal Poland (BSWW).

Business operations in the complex can be run on preferential conditions. DOT Office’s neighbors are research and scientific units of the Jagiellonian University, as well as independent international business institutions. There is also a surface parking lot nearby, operating in the “Park & Ride” model, as well as a strategic public transport hub, Czerwone Maki, with an option to quickly reach the city center by tram. The developer pays a lot of attention to external areas – there are relax zones between the buildings, allowing employees to rest among green plants. DOT Office has a kindergarten, clinic, fitness club, hair salon, grocery store, bakery, cafe, several restaurants, newsstand, ATM, parcel pick-up/drop-off point and bike parking racks.

For years, we have been supporting Buma Group in a comprehensive range of legal aspects of its investment projects – from transaction-related issues, through financing, to leasing,” says Michał Wielhorski.

act legal Poland assisted Buma Group in acquisition of land for DOT Office project (legal due diligence, transaction advisory), development and financing (construction and investment credit facilities). It is now supporting the Client in the leasing process.

The law firm’s team is led by Michał Wielhorski, Managing Partner, who runs the law firm’s real estate practice. Leasing services are provided by Alicja Sołtyszewska, Partner, specializing in lease agreements.

BSWW has also performed legal consulting services with respect to other office complexes developed by Buma Group: Green Office (21,300 m2), Tertium Business Park (39,900 m2), Aleja Pokoju 5 (13,000 m2) and Quattro Business Park (48,800 m2). The law firm is also handling two ongoing projects, Cu Office (23,500 m2) and Wadowicka 3 (31,200 m2). The scope of legal advisory covers the whole investment cycle.

Situs revitalizes and sells big office complex in Bonn

Situs, an international leading credit service supplier and real estate advisor, fully revitalized the vacant office complex and then sold it to Sofidy, a fund company in Paris.

The office complex in the centre of Bonn was built in the mid 1990’s and comprises 14.307 m² and 429 parking lots. The building now houses three renowned tenants: Deutsche Post, Bundesanstalt für Immobilienaufgaben (Bima) and BMW – all having signed long-term tenancy agreements.

The team at act legal Germany was headed by Dr. Tara Kamiyar-Müller.

DRESTATE sells „Osram-Höfe“ for EUR 225 million


act legal Germany advises Deutsche Real Estate Group (“Drestate”) on the sale of Carée Seestraße in Berlin to Cording Real Estate Group GmbH. The listed commercial property, also known as “Osram-Höfe”, covers around 64,700 m² in Berlin’s Wedding district and was sold for EUR 225 million.

The property was built in 1880 and was formerly used as an industrial building for light bulb production by Osram, a German manufacturer. The office building with its brick stone facade and high ceiling heights of between four and six metres has an occupancy rate of 82% and has Berlin’s Charité, one of the largest university hospitals in Europe, as largest tenant with 8,500 m².

The transaction was structured as an asset deal. One of the main difficulties besides the volume of the transaction was the change of ownership taking place only on 31 December 2019 after full payment of the purchase price. So far, this has been the biggest property sale in Drestate’s history.

act legal Germany’s team was headed by Dr. Tara Kamiyar-Müller (Managing Partner) and Dr. Matthias Müller, MBA (Partner) supported by Jessica Zenz-Spitzweg. act legal Germany advises Drestate regularly in all aspects of real estate law, including ongoing real estate administration and transactions.

Soenke Benn from Ebner Stolz was responsible for the tax advice on seller side. The buyer was advised by Clifford Chance and Cushman & Wakefield.