Thomas Schirmer

Partner, Dr. Mag., LL.M. (Tulane)

Thomas Schirmer is a partner in the Corporate/M&A Team and has more than 25 years of experience in advising on domestic and cross-border transactions. His clients include Austrian and foreign strategic investors, private equity funds, state and pension sponsors and financial institutions. He also practices company law and advises boards of directors, supervisory boards and shareholders.

He focuses on

  • acquisition and disposal of (mostly) Austrian-based companies
  • private equity and venture capital investments
  • joint ventures, syndications and shareholder agreements
  • start-ups and financing rounds
  • asset deals and cross-border contracts
  • international auction proceedings

Thomas is listed as a "market leader" in the 2023 edition of the IFLR1000 Edition. JUVE (Edition Austria 2022) counts him among the leading names for Corporate/M&A in Austria. He is also listed as a leading lawyer in the Corporate/M&A area by Chambers Global 2023 and The Legal500 EMEA 2022. 

Thomas started his career with Binder Grösswang in 1995, where he was made partner in 2000. Between 2012 and 2020, he was managing the firm as Co-Managing Partner. Thomas studied law (Dr. iur. 1994; Mag. iur. 1989) and business sciences (Mag. rer. soc. oec. 1991) in Innsbruck and obtained a postgraduate degree (LL.M.) at the Tulane University Law School in New Orleans in 1993. He has been licensed as a lawyer in Austria since 1998.

Thomas is deputy chairman of the supervisory board of CPB Software AG, supervisory board member of Trimetis AG, managing director of NOVA Chemicals Holding GmbH and managing director of IPIC Holdings GmbH and Susana GmbH.  He was Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Six Payment Services Austria GmbH from 2013-2018 and of gamma II Beteiligungs-AG and ilab24 Mittelstandsfinanzierungs AG from 2012-2017. He is also a member of the Corporate and M&A Law Committee and the Banking Law Committee of the International Bar Association (IBA), of which he was also Chairman.

  • Advising Mubadala on the sale of a 39% stake in Borealis AG to OMV AG
  • Advising BNP Paribas/Arval Group on the acquisition of Unicredit Fleetmanagement GmbH from UniCredit Bank Austria
  • Advising Danaher Corporation on the acquisition of a minority interest in SUS GmbH
  • Advising FedEx Corporation on the acquisition of a stake in Hermes Group
  • Advising BEXITY GmbH on a management-buy-out sale of its Czech subsidiary European Contracts Logistics auch 
  • Advising Mutares SE & Co KGaA and ist subsidiary BEXITY GmbH on the acquisition of the entire transport logistics and warehouse business from Q Logistics, a 100% subsidiary of ÖBB Holding AG
  • Advising Gilde Buy Out Partners on the sale of Powerlines Group to Engie S.A.
  • Advising CANAL+ on the acquisition of M7, one of the largest independent pay-TV companies in Europe
  • Advising TechTalk on the sale of SpecFlow to the California-based Tricentis group
  • Advising Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe on the acquisition and on the subsequent sale of their stake in AIM Holding SCA and its subsidiaries to SimCorp
  • Advising Indorama Ventures Public Company Limited on the acquisition of 100% of the shares in the Schoeller Group
  • Advising Greenbriar Equity Group on the acquisition of Frauscher Sensor Technology Group and on the subsequent sale to Delachaux S.A.
  • Advising Emirates NBD Bank on the acquisition of Turkish DenizBank A.S. and its Austrian subsidiary DenizBank AG from Sberbank
  • Advising the Canada Pension Plan in the acquisition of Sportradar AG
  • Advising ARDIAN in the acquisition of the Competence Call Center Group from Silverfleet Capital
  • Advising SIX Group in splitting off the issuing business of SIX Payment Services (formerly Pay Life Bank AG) with subsequent sale to easybank/BAWAG P.S.K.
  • Advising Castic Capital in the acquisition of a majority shareholding in inet-logistics from Gebrüder Weiss
  • Advising the Verwaltungsgenossenschaft der start:gruppe in the sale of all shares in start:bausparkasse and IMMO-BANK to BAWAG P.S.K.
  •  Advising ImmobilienScout24 in the acquisition of the Austrian real estate platforms Immosuma GmbH, IMMOBILIEN.NET and immodirekt.at, as well as advising Autoscout24 in the acquisition of gebrauchtwagen.at
  • Advising Wendel SA in the acquisition of Constantia Flexibels from One Global Equity (volume: € 2.3 billion) and subsequent split-off of the label business area and its sale to Multi-Color Corporation
  • Advising Mann + Hummel in the acquisition of Jack Filter Gruppe
  • Advising Aalberts Industries in the acquisition of Ventrex Automotive (Graz)
  • Advising ARDIAN in the acquisition of ESIM Chemicals GmbH from DPx Fine Chemicals Austria and later sale to SUN Capital
  • Advising ARDIAN in the acquisition of GANTNER Holding
  • Advising Contour Global in the acquisition of several wind farms and photovoltaic facilities in Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia from Raiffeisen Group
  • Advising IPIC and aabar Investments PJSC (by now Mubadala), state-owned fund from Abu Dhabi, in acquisition and structuring of various industrial shareholdings, incl. Borealis AG, AMI AG, Daimler AG, MAN Ferrostaal AG, Atlantia S.p.A, NOVA Chemicals Canada and OMV

Thomas Schirmer is a partner in the Corporate/M&A Team and has more than 25 years of experience in advising on domestic and cross-border transactions. His clients include Austrian and foreign strategic investors, private equity funds, state and pension sponsors and financial institutions. He also practices company law and advises boards of directors, supervisory boards and shareholders.

He focuses on

  • acquisition and disposal of (mostly) Austrian-based companies
  • private equity and venture capital investments
  • joint ventures, syndications and shareholder agreements
  • start-ups and financing rounds
  • asset deals and cross-border contracts
  • international auction proceedings

Thomas is listed as a "market leader" in the 2023 edition of the IFLR1000 Edition. JUVE (Edition Austria 2022) counts him among the leading names for Corporate/M&A in Austria. He is also listed as a leading lawyer in the Corporate/M&A area by Chambers Global 2023 and The Legal500 EMEA 2022. 

Thomas started his career with Binder Grösswang in 1995, where he was made partner in 2000. Between 2012 and 2020, he was managing the firm as Co-Managing Partner. Thomas studied law (Dr. iur. 1994; Mag. iur. 1989) and business sciences (Mag. rer. soc. oec. 1991) in Innsbruck and obtained a postgraduate degree (LL.M.) at the Tulane University Law School in New Orleans in 1993. He has been licensed as a lawyer in Austria since 1998.

Thomas is deputy chairman of the supervisory board of CPB Software AG, supervisory board member of Trimetis AG, managing director of NOVA Chemicals Holding GmbH and managing director of IPIC Holdings GmbH and Susana GmbH.  He was Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Six Payment Services Austria GmbH from 2013-2018 and of gamma II Beteiligungs-AG and ilab24 Mittelstandsfinanzierungs AG from 2012-2017. He is also a member of the Corporate and M&A Law Committee and the Banking Law Committee of the International Bar Association (IBA), of which he was also Chairman.

  • Advising Mubadala on the sale of a 39% stake in Borealis AG to OMV AG
  • Advising BNP Paribas/Arval Group on the acquisition of Unicredit Fleetmanagement GmbH from UniCredit Bank Austria
  • Advising Danaher Corporation on the acquisition of a minority interest in SUS GmbH
  • Advising FedEx Corporation on the acquisition of a stake in Hermes Group
  • Advising BEXITY GmbH on a management-buy-out sale of its Czech subsidiary European Contracts Logistics auch 
  • Advising Mutares SE & Co KGaA and ist subsidiary BEXITY GmbH on the acquisition of the entire transport logistics and warehouse business from Q Logistics, a 100% subsidiary of ÖBB Holding AG
  • Advising Gilde Buy Out Partners on the sale of Powerlines Group to Engie S.A.
  • Advising CANAL+ on the acquisition of M7, one of the largest independent pay-TV companies in Europe
  • Advising TechTalk on the sale of SpecFlow to the California-based Tricentis group
  • Advising Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe on the acquisition and on the subsequent sale of their stake in AIM Holding SCA and its subsidiaries to SimCorp
  • Advising Indorama Ventures Public Company Limited on the acquisition of 100% of the shares in the Schoeller Group
  • Advising Greenbriar Equity Group on the acquisition of Frauscher Sensor Technology Group and on the subsequent sale to Delachaux S.A.
  • Advising Emirates NBD Bank on the acquisition of Turkish DenizBank A.S. and its Austrian subsidiary DenizBank AG from Sberbank
  • Advising the Canada Pension Plan in the acquisition of Sportradar AG
  • Advising ARDIAN in the acquisition of the Competence Call Center Group from Silverfleet Capital
  • Advising SIX Group in splitting off the issuing business of SIX Payment Services (formerly Pay Life Bank AG) with subsequent sale to easybank/BAWAG P.S.K.
  • Advising Castic Capital in the acquisition of a majority shareholding in inet-logistics from Gebrüder Weiss
  • Advising the Verwaltungsgenossenschaft der start:gruppe in the sale of all shares in start:bausparkasse and IMMO-BANK to BAWAG P.S.K.
  •  Advising ImmobilienScout24 in the acquisition of the Austrian real estate platforms Immosuma GmbH, IMMOBILIEN.NET and immodirekt.at, as well as advising Autoscout24 in the acquisition of gebrauchtwagen.at
  • Advising Wendel SA in the acquisition of Constantia Flexibels from One Global Equity (volume: € 2.3 billion) and subsequent split-off of the label business area and its sale to Multi-Color Corporation
  • Advising Mann + Hummel in the acquisition of Jack Filter Gruppe
  • Advising Aalberts Industries in the acquisition of Ventrex Automotive (Graz)
  • Advising ARDIAN in the acquisition of ESIM Chemicals GmbH from DPx Fine Chemicals Austria and later sale to SUN Capital
  • Advising ARDIAN in the acquisition of GANTNER Holding
  • Advising Contour Global in the acquisition of several wind farms and photovoltaic facilities in Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia from Raiffeisen Group
  • Advising IPIC and aabar Investments PJSC (by now Mubadala), state-owned fund from Abu Dhabi, in acquisition and structuring of various industrial shareholdings, incl. Borealis AG, AMI AG, Daimler AG, MAN Ferrostaal AG, Atlantia S.p.A, NOVA Chemicals Canada and OMV
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