At the prestigious Europe Awards of the internationally recognised International Financial Law Review (IFLR), DORDA has received the award "Austrian law firm of the year". This is one of the most important awards for internationally active business law firms.

With the Europe Awards, IFLR recognises the most innovative cross-border deals, teams and firms of the year. Decisive here are trend-setting solutions that shape the market and set new standards. We are therefore very pleased that DORDA prevailed in the strong competition as "Austrian Law Firm of the Year".

One particular highlight was the outstanding advice given to the Sazka Group in the international takeover battle for control of Casinos Austria (CASAG), led by DORDA partner Jürgen Kittel.

As IFLR Commercial Editor James Wilson points out: "The deal is widely reported to have been one of the longest takeover battles in Austrian M&A history. The deal team closed on multiple share purchase agreements and shepherd the transaction through several shareholder disagreements and intense scrutiny, notably in the context of foreign investment rules. It will remain a reference point for M&A in Austria."

In addition to Sazka, DORDA advised on numerous other cross-border transactions in 2020. Particularly noteworthy are the EUR 1.65 billion capital increase of ams AG, led by Andreas Mayr, Tibor Varga and Christoph Brogyányi, Greiner´s acquisition of the foam specialist Eurofoam managed by Martin Brodey and Christian Ritschka, as well as PFI Portfolio Immobilien´s acquisition of the Polz winery, in course of an out-of-court restructuring under the guidance of Felix Hörlsberger.

The winners of the IFLR Europe Awards were recognised at a virtual ceremony on 29 April 2021.