About

As a corporate lawyer Willibald deals mostly in large M&A transactions, usually involving more than one jurisdiction. He is known for his expertise in the CEE and CIS regions and his work usually involves a mix of local laws.

Willibald’s core skills lie in negotiating transactions and structuring complex matters. Clients appreciate his implementation skills and his talent of finding innovative solutions whenever required. He frequently leads large teams and has the particular strength of identifying and drawing on the best people for each project wherever they might be located. He is often involved in the negotiations for joint ventures – a typical example would involve understanding markets, carrying out due diligence, negotiating contracts and gaining approvals from regulators and cartel offices in ten jurisdictions.

He joined us in 1981 and was made a partner in 1987. In the 2011 lawyer/law firm ranking of the Austrian magazine Format Willibald was ranked as the number one CEE expert and as the number one lawyer in Austria overall. He is consistently ranked as a leading CEE lawyer in all major legal directories.
 
Willibald is also our country partner for Turkey.

Recent deals/Highlights

• Sberbank, Russia’s largest bank, in its acquisition of ten leading CEE banks
• EVN, an Austrian-based utilities group, on numerous energy projects including the concession agreement and main tendering for three hydropower plants in Albania
• Ringier, a major Swiss media group, on the formation of a 50/50 joint venture with Axel Springer, Berlin, to combine their CEE media activities, which will create the largest media group in CEE
   

Qualifications and education

Rechtsanwalt (Austria)
 

Languages

German and English