Binder Grösswang Advises Veolia on Establishment of Joint Venture with Saubermacher

Binder Grösswang advised the French company Veolia Environment S.A., headquartered in Paris, on the formation of a joint venture with the Graz-based Saubermacher Dienstleistungs-AG.

The joint venture “pink robin” provides professional waste disposal for businesses (www.wastebox.biz ) and consumers (www.wastebox.at) in Austria, using an innovative app that connects customers and suppliers.

“The transaction was extremely demanding, given that we had to create a legal foundation for the global partnership of the two players,” relates lead partner Andreas Hable.

The chosen joint venture structure will, at the highest holding level, be headquartered in Austria, with a minority interest held by Veolia. In the individual countries, franchise agreements are being concluded with local joint venture companies, which will be controlled by Veolia. The transaction was signed on 3 May 2018. The closing is planned for June, once the approval of the competition authorities has been obtained.

With Veolia as a strong European partner with global presence (175,000 employees and EUR 25 billion in turnover), the business model, which was initiated by Saubermacher in Austria, will be rolled out first in Germany and subsequently in other countries.

The Binder Grösswang team, led by partner Andreas Hable (corporate/M&A) and Christian Zwick (senior associate), included Claudia Fochtmann (senior associate) and Daniel Schmidt (associate) for corporate issues; Ivo Rungg (partner) and Hellmuth Buchroitner (counsel) for IP; Horst Lukanec (partner) and Sabine Apfl-Trompeter (senior associate) for employment law and Johannes Barbist (partner) and Regina Kröll (associate) for regulatory matters.

Hogan Lovells advised Veolia on the merger applications.

Saubermacher’s counsel was CHSH, with Albert Birkner and Benedikt Spiegelfeld as lead partners.