Capital Markets

WEBER & CO. advises issuers and financial institutions based on a profound understanding of economic interests in all areas of equity and debt capital market financings. This in particular includes issuances of shares, secured and unsecured bonds, convertible bonds, ABS and tier 1 capital instruments, hybrid notes as well as new instruments at the junction between security, investment and currency (ICO, token).

A major focus of our law firm is the work on equity capital market (ECM) transactions including initial public offerings (IPO), capital increases against cash or contribution in kind, technical stock exchange listings as well as accelerated book buildings. Our areas of service particularly include the corporate law implementation of the financing measure, the structuring of a transaction (including cross border structures), the processing of a legal due diligence examination, the drafting of offering circulars and prospectuses, the drafting and negotiation of all required agreements (e.g. subscription and underwriting agreements), the support in finding the suitable stock exchange listing as well as the preparation of marketing and road show exercises.

In the area of debt capital markets (DCM) partners of WEBER & CO. are leading experts in Austria for the structuring of innovative new products and instruments and were heavily involved in the establishment of covered bond structures pursuant to the Austrian Notes Trustee Act (Kuratorengesetz – KurG). In addition, issuers as well as managers benefit from the comprehensive expertise of our law firm in the area of corporate bond, covered bond, mortgage linked bond as well as subordinated bond (hybrid) transactions. Additionally, our involvement in several high-yield bond issuances guarantees extensive expertise in the structuring and issue process for such instruments.

WEBER & CO. is Listing Partner of the Vienna Stock Exchange (Wiener Börse) and supports issuers in the IPO process. In addition, our firm also acts as Capital Market Coach (CMC) for the direct market plus of the Vienna Stock Exchange. As a Capital Market Coach our firm supports small and mid-size companies in their listing process on the direct market plus and the first year following their listing. This in particular includes advising and assisting on the issuer’s compliance with post-listing requirements.

Loan agreements, Schuldscheindarlehen (bonded loans)

In addition to our capital market capabilities, private debt finance transactions (loan agreements) constitute a major area of practice of our corporate finance department. We regularly advise borrowers and lenders on syndicate loan transactions, refinancing, financial restructurings, acquisition and project finance transactions as well as direct lending structures. Our expertise in particular also covers the implementation of Austrian law governed security structures for high-volume finance transactions as well as regular advice on bonded loan borrowings (Schuldscheindarlehen) as Austrian counsel.

Stock exchange law

In addition to transactional advice, WEBER & CO. also assists clients after the completion of an ECM or DCM transaction in relation to post-listing matters under capital market laws, compliance and corporate law rules as well as stock exchange rules. This includes in particular aspects of on-going publication obligations as well as ad hoc disclosure (dissemination of inside information), major shareholding disclosure and managers’ transaction reporting, share buy backs as well the implementation of compliance measures against market abuse (insider transactions, market manipulation).