Binder Grösswang Advises on Formation of Joint Venture for Production of “TransANT”
For more than 50 years, Binder Grösswang has been ranked as one of the leading commercial law firms in Austria, advising on all aspects of commercial law with a strong focus on international issues. With offices in Vienna and Innsbruck, the firm has a total of more than 170 employees and provides counsel to renowned domestic and international companies of all business sectors and sizes.
An interdisciplinary Binder Grösswang team, advising at the interface of complex issues in corporate, state aid, antitrust and especially technology law (IP), supported ÖBB-Technische Services GmbH and the ÖBB Rail Cargo Group on the formation of “TransAnt”, a joint venture with voestalpine Stahl GmbH for the production of freight wagon innovation. The Binder Grösswang team was led by Christian Zwick (partner, corporate/M&A) together with Moritz Salzgeber (attorney at law, corporate/M&A). The other team members were Andreas Hable (partner, corporate/M&A), Johannes Barbist (partner, regulatory), Regina Kröll (attorney at law, regulatory), Michael Horak (counsel, IP/IT), Philipp Spring (attorney at law, IP/IT), Clemens Willvonseder (attorney at law, tax), Erik Pinetz (associate, tax law) Manuela Wenger (associate, tax) and Florian Dollenz (associate, corporate/M&A).
Voestalpine Stahl GmbH was advised by Schönherr. The cross-border Schönherr team was led by Thomas Kulnigg (partner). Counsel on German merger control aspects was Gleiss Lutz.
About the Joint Venture:
The purpose of the joint venture between ÖBB-Technische Services GmbH, a subsidiary of the ÖBB Rail Cargo Group, and voestalpine Stahl GmbH is to create market capacities in the area of innovative and cost-efficient freight wagons and maintain the necessary agility across group boundaries. The objective of the project company, in which each partner holds a 50 percent stake, is to pool the activities of the two groups, beginning with a preparation phase for the planning and project development of the innovative TransAnt freight wagon concept TransANT. The talks and negotiations began last year and were continued throughout the spring lockdown of 2020 until the signing successfully took place in the summer of this year. Now that merger control clearances have been obtained, the joint venture is currently entering the preparation phase.
Rail Cargo Group: Güterverkehr der ÖBB
With 9,340 employees, subsidiaries throughout Europe, and turnover of some EUR 2.3 billion, the Rail Cargo Group is among the leading railway logistics companies in Europe. Together with strong partners, the Rail Cargo Group operates a comprehensive network of end-to-end logistics throughout Europe and extending to Asia. It connects European metropolises and ports with prosperous economic centres of Russia, Turkey, and even as far as China. The operations of the Rail Cargo Group are led by its top company Rail Cargo Austria AG.
The voestalpine Group
In its business sectors, voestalpine is one of the world-wide leading steel and technology groups, with a unique combination of materials and processing expertise. The globally operating group, which has been listed on the Vienna Stock Exchange since 1995, comprises around 500 companies and locations in more than 50 countries on all five continents. With its top-quality products and system solutions, voestalpine is a leading partner to the automotive and consumer goods industries as well as the aerospace and oil & gas industries, and is also the world market leader in railway systems, tool steel and special steel sections. The voestalpine group is fully committed to the global climate goals and is working intensively to develop technologies that will allow it to decarbonize and reduce its CO2 emissions over the long term. In the 2019/2020 business year, voestalpine achieved turnover of EUR 12.7 billion with an EBITDA of EUR 1.2 billion. The group employs around 49,000 persons worldwide.