Christian Knauder

Christian Knauder-Sima

Counsel
We like his work style, very down to earth and knowledgeable. He does not get stressed, although times are sometimes stressful.
Client, Legal 500 EMEA 2020
About

Christian Knauder-Sima is an experienced corporate and capital markets lawyer, advising clients mainly in the fields of corporate law, capital markets and securities law, M&A and all related areas of law, with a special focus also on aspects of financial market regulation.

Christian has extensive experience in structuring and implementing financing and capital market transactions (debt and equity) as well as M&A transactions, both on a national and international level. Clients also regularly seek his advice on complex corporate restructurings, on questions relating to directors' duties, corporate governance and ESG as well as on takeover and stock exchange law issues.

Christian regularly writes and speaks on private business law topics. He has been a lecturer at the Department of Business Law of the University of Vienna as well as at the University of Applied Sciences Campus Vienna and other institutions for many years, with the main focus of his lecturer and research activities in the areas of corporate, group and capital markets law. His most recent publication is the commentary on the Austrian Payment Services Act 2018, in which Christian, as co-editor and co-author, deals with fundamental civil law issues of payment transactions as well as regulatory requirements for payment institutions.

Professional QualificationsRechtsanwalt registered with Rechtsanwaltskammer Wien

EXPERIENCE

  • Advising PORR AG as issuer in the course of a nearly EUR125m capital increase by way of a rights offering and a rump placement: Successful structuring and implementation of this capital increase as the only public subscription rights offering of shares under the Prospectus Regulation in Austria in 2021.
  • Advising PORR AG on the issuance of a nearly EUR50m hybrid bond with simultaneous exchange offer (tender offer) for the EUR125m hybrid bond 2017-2022.
  • Advising UBM Development AG, a Vienna-based real estate developer, on the successful issuance of its first EUR100m sustainability-linked hybrid bond 2021.
  • Advising UBM Development AG, a Vienna-based real estate developer, on the successful issuance of its first EUR150m sustainability-linked bond 2021. This was the first placement of a sustainability-related retail bond in the eurozone.
  • Advising Chinese listed Jiecang Group on its EUR80m acquisition of Austrian headquartered international Logicdata Group.
  • Advising Erste Group Bank AG (in its capacity as underwriter and sole global coordinator) as underwriters' counsel on the EUR50m green bond issue of S IMMO AG under the EUR300m issuance program of Austrian listed S IMMO AG.
  • Advising Caroo Mobility GmbH, a sustainable car sharing start-up, on the issuance of the Eloop token. The Eloop Token is used to purchase e-vehicles of the Eloop car sharing fleet, investors get the opportunity to also use the e-cars themselves with the investment.
  • Supporting UBM Development AG in an exchange offer for old bonds and the parallel issue of a new EUR120m bond: This was the first capital market transaction to be carried out with a prospectus based on the new European prospectus regime.
  • Advising inter alia PORR AG and Warimpex on the implementation of share buyback programmes.
  • Advising Erste Group Bank AG, SEB, Credit Agricole and Deutsche Bank in their capacity as joint lead managers and dealers for the EUR500m bond issuance under the EUR1bn debt issuance programme by voestalpine AG.
Languages
  • German
  • English
  • Italian
  • Slovenian
Education
  • University of Vienna, Dr. iur., 2006
  • University of Vienna, Mag. iur., 2001

Awards

  • Recommended for Capital Markets in Austria, Legal 500 EMEA, 2024

Publications

Monographs and Compilations
  • Weilinger/Knauder/Miernicki (Hrsg), Commentary on the Austrian Payment Services Act 2018, Manz, 2022
  • Knauder/Marzi/Temmel (Hrsg), Compendium Economic Contracts, LexisNexis, 2017
  • Knauder, Water Framework Directive and selected issues of privatisation and liberalisation in laws pertaining to water, LexisNexis 2007
Press Releases
Selected Publications
  • Knauder, Legal Framework of the Group – Definition of the Group and Basic Terms, in Ruhm/Kerbl/Bernwieser (Hrsg), The Group in Corporate and Tax Law, Linde, 2021
  • Knauder/Sima, Corporate Group Law, in Hausmaninger/Gratzl/Justich (Hrsg), Compendium Stock Corporation Act2, LexisNexis, 2017
  • Weilinger/Knauder, Commenting on specific provisions of the Austrian Payment Services Act, in Weilinger/Knauder/Miernicki (Hrsg), Commentary on the Austrian Payment Services Act 2018, Manz, 2022
  • Weilinger/Knauder, Commenting on specific provisions of the Austrian Consumer Payment Account Act, in Weilinger (Hrsg), Commentary on the Austrian Consumer Payment Account Act, Manz, 2016
  • Weilinger/Knauder, Commenting on specific provisions of the Austrian Limited Liability Companies Act, in Straube/Ratka/Rauter (Hrsg), Commentary on the Austrian Limited Liability Companies Act, Manz, 2015
  • Knauder, Information rights and obligations of (individual) shareholders in M&A-transactions, in Althuber/Schopper (Hrsg), Compendium Asset Purchase and Due Diligence, Band I: Legal2, LexisNexis 2015
  • Knauder/Sima, Legal relationships in the preparation of corporate transactions2, in Knauder/Marzi/Temmel (Hrsg), Compendium Economic Contracts, LexisNexis, 2013
  • Althuber/Knauder/Prechtl-Aigner, Cross-border reorganizations in selected countries: Austria, in Beck'sches Compendium on International Reorganizations, C.H.Beck, 2013
  • Knauder, Commenting on specific provisions of the Austrian Stock Exchange Act, in Temmel (Hrsg), Commentary on the Austrian Stock Exchange Act, LexisNexis, 2011

TEACHING AND LECTURE ACTIVITIES

  • Many years of lecturing and examining at the Faculty of Business, Economics and Statistics of the University of Vienna (Private law, Corporate law, Group law, Capital Markets law, Accounting), first as assistant professor and now as lecturer
  • Lecturer at the Faculty of Laws of the University of Vienna (Business law, Corporate law), 2005-2012
  • Lecturer at University of Applied Sciences Campus Wien (Corporate law)
  • Lecturer at the University of Applied Sciences Wiener Neustadt (Business law), 2012-2013
  • Lecturer at other educational and training institutions: Austrian Notarial Academy, TÜV Nord Academy
  • Research activities at the Department of Business Law at the Faculty of Business, Economics and Statistics, University of Vienna, focusing on corporate and capital markets law
  • Research as part of his doctoral thesis in the areas of public (international) and European law as well as public commercial law

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