7. May 2025
This year’s 2nd Vienna M&A Day was all about energy projects. More than 100 lawyers, legal experts and M&A practitioners accepted the invitation of the hosts from PHH, Brandl Talos, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Kinstellar, Schoenherr, Wolf Theiss and the University of Vienna.
In 2024, investments in renewable energies, new technologies and energy projects were already seen as one of the drivers of the M&A market. A trend that could continue in 2025. ‘Green energy in particular is booming. A prime example of the rapidly growing energy market is the Austrian company Enery Energy, which has expanded in Eastern Europe and the Baltic States in recent years and wants to grow further,’ said Rainer Kaspar, Partner at PHH Rechtsanwält:innen and one of the initiators of the Vienna M&A Day in his opening speech. In his keynote speech, Enery CEO Richard König emphasised the challenges facing the energy sector between innovation, financing and regulation: ‘We need M&A advisors who know the energy market, have cross-border partnerships and think out of the box at the same time.’
Olivia Schauerhuber, Head of Corporate Development at Verbund, Klaus Kohlhuber, Head of Investment Management at EVN and Lukas Püspök, CEO at PÜSPÖK, also confirmed this in the subsequent discussion, which was moderated by Alexander Rakosi, Partner at CMS. Another challenge for the industry is regulation, which affects small companies just as much as large ones. In order to remain competitive, European partnerships are definitely needed.
Another highlight was the presentation by Oliver Bethell, Chief Technology Officer at Travers Smith, who offered exciting insights into the role of artificial intelligence in the transaction sector: ‘It was great to discuss today the progress we have made in developing and implementing AI software at Travers Smith and to share the learnings we have made along the way.’ His comments impressively demonstrated how technology, and AI in particular, is increasingly becoming an integral part of successful M&A strategies.
Other panellists included Christoph Appel, General Counsel Deutsche Telekom, Thomas Barth, University Assistant at the University of Economics, Veronika Böhm, Head of Transactional Risk Marsh Austria, Albert Birkner, Partner Cerha Hempel, Horst Ebhardt, Partner Kinstellar, Kai Fischer, Partner Cuatrecasas, Mario Gall, Partner EY Law, Gottfried Gassner, Partner Binder Grösswang, Konrad Gröller, Partner Freshfields, Christian Herbst, Partner Schoenherr, Gerhard Herrmann, Partner Baker McKenzie, Andreas Hoger, Partner Hengeler Müller, Jürgen Kittel, Partner Dorda, Klaus Kohlhuber, Head of Investment Management EVN, Richard König, CEO Enery, Florian Kusznier, Partner Wolf Theiss, Alexandra Nagle, Managing Director DC Advisory, Alexander Rakosi, Partner CMS, Roman Rericha, Partner Brandl Talos, Olivia Schauerhuber, Head of Corporate Development Verbund, Elvira Schmid, General Counsel Mayr-Melnhof, Miriam Simsa, Partner Schoenherr, Farid Sigari-Majd, Partner Freshfields, Katja Tautscher, General Counsel OMV, Chris Thomale, University Professor University of Vienna, Stefan Weileder, Partner Graf Isola, Venus Valentina Wong, Partner Wolf Theiss and Gerold Zeiler, Partner Zeiler.
