Law firms within Adriala have together with CERHA HEMPEL and K&L Gates Italy advised the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), London, on the conversion of an indirect participation into a direct participation in the listed Addiko Bank AG. The conversion was affected by means of a distribution in kind provided to the EBRD in the form of a participation held by an indirect holding company. The direct participation was acquired on 4 March 2020 by transferring 1,638,443 shares in Addiko Bank AG (8.4% of its share capital) to EBRD’s securities account.
The Addiko Group is a banking group in Central and Southeastern Europe (CSEE), specialising in providing services to consumers and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). It consists of Addiko Bank AG, with its registered office in Vienna, and six subsidiary banks licensed to operate in five countries in the CSEE region: Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro. The Addiko Group provides services to approximately 0.8 million customers in the CSEE region via a network of six subsidiary banks and modern digital banking distribution channels. The balance sheet total of Addiko Bank was approximately EUR 6 billion as of 31 December 2019.
EBRD is the Bank for Reconstruction and Development, founded on 15 April 1991 and owned by 69 countries on five continents and the European Union and EIB. It pursues the objectives of a multilateral development bank.
K&L Gates Italy was responsible for coordinating the transaction as a whole for EBRD. CERHA HEMPEL was advising EBRD in Austria. The law firms within Adriala network, namely BOPA Bojanovic Partners (Serbia), Law firm Kavčič, Bračun & Partners, o.p., d.o.o. (Slovenia), Madirazza & Partners Attorneys at Law LLP (Croatia), Prelević Law Firm (Montenegro) and Baroš, Bičakčić & Partners (Bosnia and Hercegovina) acted for EBRD in the CSEE region. Advent International Corporation was advised by a team at Freshfields Austria.
The transaction was complex because of the need to reconcile issues under stock exchange and takeover law in an international context.
For more information please see the official press release from EBRD: https://www.ebrd.com/news/2020/ebrd-reorganises-its-share-ownership-in-addiko-bank.html