Topic: Banking

act legal Czech Republic has been ranked in the IFLR1000 for 2023

Posted on by Gabriela Fuchsová

The prestigious rating agency IFLR1000 has ranked act legal Czech Republic (act Řanda Havel Legal) among notable law firms in the Czech Republic for the past 12 years. In 2023, once again act Řanda Havel Legal is one of the recommended law firms in the areas of Mergers & Acquisitions, Banking & Project Financing, Restructuring & Insolvency and Projects & Energy.

IFLR1000 carries out independent market research on the legal services market in the financial law sector and identifies leading law firms in individual countries and legal areas. act Řanda Havel Legal has repeatedly been ranked amongst established law firms active in the Czech Republic in financial law on an international scale.

Complete ratings here

Growth Strategy: act legal Germany advises innovative FinTech company fintus on Europe-wide expansion

Posted on by Jessica Zenz-Spitzweg

Last Friday, AnaCap Financial Partners, London („AnaCap„) – one of Europe’s leading private equity investors in the technology and financial services sector – signed a majority investment agreement with fintus GmbH („fintus„).

fintus is the leading low-code banking platform in Germany. Using low-code, banks react to changes within days instead of being dependent on long software development cycles. Since its foundation in 2017, fintus has successfully positioned itself as a provider with its Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform „fintus Suite” enabling the automation and transformation of banks and financial service providers. Founded in the heart of the financial metropolis Frankfurt am Main and without the support of financial investors, fintus was able to attract well-known customers early on. Today, a double-digit number of TIER 1-3 banks in Germany are already among the company’s customers.

AnaCap, based in London, has a long track record of successfully investing in FinTech companies in the DACH region. The investment in fintus was preceded, among other things, by the acquisition of WebID Solutions  in September of this year, which, among other things, is a technology partner of fintus.

The fintus management team led by founder Benjamin Hermanns will consistently drive forward its internationalization and expand its service portfolio with the strong financial partner AnaCap.

The implementation of the transaction is still subject to customary closing conditions.

Background info

act legal: with more than 300 professionals throughout Central Europe, act legal represents an attractive alternative to large international law firms by providing sophisticated national and international legal advice.

act legal Germany has been advising fintus since its foundation and has comprehensively advised fintus on all legal aspects regarding this complex transaction.

Advisors fintus

act legal Germany: Marcus Columbu (Finance, Lead), Dr. Fabian Brocke, LL.M., (Corporate/M&A, Lead); Dr. Thomas Block, MBA (Labor Law); Sarah Landsberg (Corporate/M&A).

IEG – Investment Banking Group: Mirko Heide, Patrick Schüler (Investment)

Berater AnaCap: Proskauer Rose und Norton Rose Fulbright (Law), GCA Altium (corporate finance)

act legal w Polsce doradza Adventum przy nabyciu budynku Mercedes-Benz

Posted on by Lisa Fortmüller

Adventum Group, grupa firm zarządzających funduszami inwestycyjnymi działająca na międzynarodowym rynku, zakupiła budynek Mercedes-Benz w Warszawie.

act BSWW legal & tax świadczyła kompleksowe usługi prawne na rzecz Adventum w zakresie całej transakcji. Doradztwo kancelarii obejmowało: badanie due diligence nieruchomości, przygotowanie dokumentacji transakcyjnej oraz wsparcie w procesie negocjacji.

Kancelaria świadczyła także usługi doradztwa prawnego w zakresie finansowania nabycia. Doradztwo kancelarii obejmowało wsparcie w procesie negocjacji umowy finansowania przyznanego przez Bayerische Landesbank.

Zespołem transakcyjnym kierowali Marta Kosiedowska (Partner) oraz Marek Wojnar (Partner Zarządzający). Zespołem due diligence kierowała Katarzyna Marzec (Partner).

Zespołem doradzającym w zakresie finansowania kierowała Marta Kosiedowska (Partner) przy wsparciu Mariusza Grochowskiego (Starszy Prawnik).

„Jest to już drugi budynek zakupiony przez Adventum w tym roku w Polsce. W czerwcu Grupa nabyła biurowiec Marynarska Point 1 w Warszawie. Z satysfakcją wspieraliśmy naszego Klienta we wszystkich zrealizowanych dotychczas transakcjach nabycia nieruchomości na polskim rynku. Adventum planuje nadal powiększać swoje portfolio w naszym kraju” – komentuje Marta Kosiedowska, Partner w act BSWW legal & tax.

„Cieszymy się z dynamicznego rozwoju naszego Klienta. Adventum nabyło pierwszą nieruchomość w Polsce w lipcu 2019 roku. Obecnie portfolio Grupy składa się z sześciu prestiżowych budynków biurowych zlokalizowanych w największych miastach w Polsce” – dodaje Marek Wojnar, Partner Zarządzający w act BSWW legal & tax.

Budynek Mercedes-Benz to nowoczesna przestrzeń biurowa, która od wielu lat jest główną siedzibą spółek z grupy Mercedes-Benz.

Adventum Group to grupa butikowych firm zarządzających funduszami inwestycyjnymi, skoncentrowana na środkowoeuropejskich inwestycjach w nieruchomości. Zespół funduszu to doświadczeni specjaliści w zakresie nieruchomości z kwalifikacjami CFA, NRW oraz MRICS i łącznym doświadczeniem inwestycyjnym ponad 70 lat. Do tej pory fundusz zrealizował inwestycje w regionie Europy Środkowo-Wschodniej o łącznej wartości 1,5 mld EUR.

WMWP placed in the IFLR1000 „Banking and Finance” ranking 2020/2021

Posted on by Jessica Zenz-Spitzweg

Our successful development of the banking and finance practice in recent years has now also led to international recognition. The placement in the current IFLR1000 Ranking 2020/2021.

This success is due to our satisfied clients and a strong team around Mag. Martin Mutz, Dr. Roman Hager and Mag. Franz Asseg.

Click here for the IFLR1000 Ranking.

WMWP act legal Austria rises further in the JUVE Banking and Finance Law Ranking 2021

Posted on by Jessica Zenz-Spitzweg

In recent years, WMWP has been working steadily to expand and develop the area of „Banking and Finance Law”. This was recently rewarded by JUVE, the magazine for business lawyers in Austria, with another star in the 2021 ranking.

The team around Mag. Martin Mutz, Dr. Roman Hager and Mag. Franz Asseg draws on an excellent network in the financial sector and many years of advising renowned institutions and banking mandates.

JUVE particularly emphasizes the expansion of the advisory spectrum, which, among other things, deals more intensively with regulatory issues, development of new business models in payment transactions and investments in renewable energy.

Click here for the JUVE Ranking 2021 / Banking and Finance Law.

Is your business in the Czech Republic adversely affected by coronavirus or respective preventive measures?

Posted on by Gabriela Fuchsová

Then, the Czech support loan program “COVID II” is just for you. The acceptance of applications for the program commences already tomorrow, on 2 April 2020. We will be happy to assist you with their express processing!

The Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic has announced another supporting loan program “COVID II”. It is designed to support small and medium enterprises and self-employed persons operating within the Czech Republic. Its purpose is to eliminate the impact of the coronavirus on the entrepreneurs in the Czech Republic. The program will enable access to operational financing. It is intended for those whose economic activities are restricted due to the coronavirus or related preventive measures.

The program has several advantages. The Czech-Moravian Guarantee and Development Bank will provide guarantee for commercial loans up to 80 % of the principal. It will also provide financial contributions to cover interests up to CZK 1 million. The guarantee period will be up to 3 years, free of charge. The maximum amount of the loan can be up to CZK 15 million.

Entrepreneurs can finance the costs of wages and energy, payments of rent, payments of supplier-customer invoices, pre-financing of receivables, or acquisition of material, inventory and other small assets.

The program is financed from the EU structural funds within the Operational Program Enterprise and Innovation for Competitiveness. Therefore, it is not intended for the implementation of projects in the capital city of Prague. However, applicants based in Prague may also apply if the funded establishment is located outside the capital city.

The program starts already on 2 April 2020. It can be expected that the funds from the program will run out rapidly. Therefore, we recommend to entrepreneurs to take fast action.

We offer you a legal assistance and representation in the express processing of documents and applications for receiving a guarantee for commercial loans. We offer our services for a special price of EUR 800 plus 0.25% from the amount of actually provided facility line (excluding VAT). We will be also pleased to provide you with legal assistance and representation in arranging commercial loans with the relevant banks. The price of these services is negotiated individually depending on the specific circumstances of the credit case.

If case of any questions regarding COVID II loan program, please do not hesitate to contact us. We will be happy to assist you.

Corona crisis special features of lending law from the banks’ perspective

Posted on by Jessica Zenz-Spitzweg

On the occasion of the drastic restrictions imposed by the corona virus, the German government today passed the law to mitigate the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic in civil, insolvency and criminal proceedings, which is to be passed by the Bundestag this week.

Changes by law

In addition to other temporary special provisions, the Act also contains a provision on a deferral of payment of at least three months for consumer loan agreements. Customers who are consumers and have concluded a consumer loan agreement with you before 15 March 2020 may suspend interest or repayment of principal amounts due between 1 April 2020 and 30 June 2020 for a period of three months. This is subject to the condition that the borrower suffers a loss of income due to the Corona crisis, which means that 'it is unreasonable to expect the borrower to perform its payments. After this three-month period has expired, the payment obligation resumes. The deferral of the repayment obligation thus leads to a postponement of the contractual end of the loan term.

What do you need to do?

We recommend that you carefully examine the reasons given by customers to justify a suspension of repayment. In addition, you should set out in writing the agreement with the customer on the deferral of payment and document it in a comprehensible manner, including the customer’s evidence provided.

To whom do these provisions apply?

So far, the above provision only applies to consumer loan agreements. The law also provides for the possibility of extending the regulations to micro enterprises (up to ten employees and annual turnover or annual balance sheet total of less than EUR 2 million each) in the short term. We will keep you informed of current developments in this regard and will be happy to assist you with individual questions.

No termination of loan agreements without compensation

Some resourceful borrowers in the area of real estate loans have already announced that they will extraordinarily terminate their interest-linked loans with reference to the Corona crisis and that they do not intend to pay an early repayment fee for this.
We would be pleased to support you in enforcing your claims against such customers that are not justified.