IMMOFINANZ AG is the first Austrian listed company to perform a spin-off. Under the spin-off, it parted with 51% of its shares in BUWOG AG. IMMOFINANZ shareholders automatically became BUWOG shareholders, receiving one BUWOG share in their securities accounts for every 20 shares they held in IMMOFINANZ. At the time of listing, the market capitalisation of BUWOG was just under EUR 1.4 billion. The spin-off was preceded by the acquisition of the residential real estate portfolio of BUWOG AG in Northern Germany for EUR 928 million. This acquisition was partly financed by the issuance of a EUR 260 million convertible bond of BUWOG AG.
In total, 51% of the 99,613,479 shares in BUWOG AG are now held in free float. BUWOG shares are listed on the Frankfurt, Vienna and Warsaw stock exchanges. The portfolio of BUWOG AG includes assets worth in excess of EUR 3.5 billion.
British investment bank Barclays acted as the lead financial advisor for the spin-off. The bank consortium also consisted of Erste Bank Group, Baader Bank, Erste Securities Polska, Berenberg and Raiffeisen Centrobank.
CHSH drafted the capital market prospectus for the listing of the BUWOG shares in Frankfurt, Vienna and Warsaw and advised on the issuance of the EUR 260 million convertible bond of BUWOG AG. Furthermore, CHSH was also responsible for coordinating the stock exchange listing in Vienna, Frankfurt and Warsaw and advised IMMOFINANZ AG in connection with a bridging loan.
The team at CHSH was comprised of partners Volker Glas and Thomas Zivny and attorney Gernot Wilfling. IMMOFINANZ AG was advised as to corporate law by bpv Hügel, with Clifford Chance acting as international advisor. The bank consortium was advised as to Austrian law by Binder Größwang, with Linklaters acting as international advisor.