PRESS RELEASE OBI/BAUMAX – CLOSING OF THE LARGEST DISTRESSED M&A TRANSACTION IN AUSTRIA AND CEE TO DATE WOLF THEISS ADVISES OBI ON THE TAKEOVER OF 67 BAUMAX STORES Vienna, November 3 2015 - On 31 October 2015, OBI took over the operations of 67 bauMax stores in Austria, the Czech Republic, the Slovak Republic and Slovenia by means of a series of asset deal transactions. 2,700 bauMax WOLF THEISS Rechtsanwälte Schubertring 6 employees who form part of the acquired business units have been taken on 1010 Vienna Austria by OBI. T +43 1 515 10 F +43 1 515 10 25 Properties rented by OBI in the Slovak Republic and Slovenia as part of the [email protected] www.wolftheiss.com transaction were acquired by Supernova by way of a simultaneous transaction; stores rented on a long-term basis by OBI in Austria are likewise expected to be acquired by Supernova before Christmas. For the past 12 months, Wolf Theiss has been providing OBI with advice on all legal matters concerning the transaction and its structuring in Austria, the Slovak Republic, the Czech Republic and Slovenia. This includes obtaining merger clearance approvals from the European Commission (for the Czech Republic, the Slovak Republic and Slovenia) and from the Austrian Competition Authorities. "We are delighted that Wolf Theiss could support OBI in this major expansion. The acquisition of a large part of bauMax is one of the largest and most technically complex distressed M&A transactions in Austria and Central Europe," says Horst Ebhardt, who along with a multi-national team of lawyers coordinated the acquisition for OBI. Wolf Theiss Team Members: Austria: Corporate Law, M&A: Horst Ebhardt, Partner, Hartwig Kienast, Partner, Michael Lind, Partner, Katrin Stauber, Senior Associate, Jiayan Zhu, Associate, Markus Reinfeld, Associate Real Estate Law: Karl Binder, Partner, Peter Oberlechner, Partner, Karl Koller, Partner, Birgit Kraml, Counsel, Jakob Jelinek, Associate Antitrust Law: Günter Bauer, Partner, Jochen Anweiler, Counsel, Robert Wagner, Senior Associate, Judith Grimm, Associate, Florian Prischl, Associate. Insolvency Law: Eva Spiegel, Partnerin Intellectual Property Law: Georg Kresbach, Partner, Roland Marko, Partner, Paulina Pomorski, Associate ALBANIA AUSTRIA BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA BULGARIA CROATIA CZECH REPUBLIC HUNGARY POLAND ROMANIA SERBIA SLOVAK REPUBLIC SLOVENIA UKRAINE Labour Law: Ralf Peschek, Partner, Matthias Unterrieder, Partner, Walter Pöschl, Senior Associate Public Law: Kurt Retter, Partner, Wolfram Schachinger, Senior Associate, Sandra Spitzer, Associate, Mario Laimgruber, Associate, Tax Law: Benjamin Twardosz, Partner Acquisition Financing: Ingrid Riedlmayer, Counsel Czech Republic: Tomáš Rychlý; Partner, Libor Prokeš, Counsel, Petr Syrovátko, Counsel, Jan Kotous, Senior Associate, Anna Diblíková , Associate, Pavel Srb, Associate, Kateřina Kulhánková, Associate, Lenka Kučerová, Associate Slovenia: Markus Bruckmüller, Partner, Laura Štruc, Partnerin, Teja Balažic, Associate, Petra Jermol, Associate, Neja Nastran, Associate, Peter Zorin, Associate, Slovak Republic: Lenka Šubeníková, Counsel, Marián Šulík, Associate, Martin Ontkovič, Associate Find out more at: www.wolftheiss.com ABOUT WOLF THEISS Founded in 1957, Wolf Theiss is one of the leading European law firms in Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe with a focus on international business law. With 320 lawyers in 13 offices located in Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine, Wolf Theiss represents local and international industrial, trade and service companies, as well as banks and insurance companies. Combining law and business, Wolf Theiss develops comprehensive and constructive solutions on the basis of legal, fiscal and business know-how. Contact: Barbara Fürchtegott Public Relations & Communications Manager Wolf Theiss Rechtsanwälte / Attorneys-at-Law Schubertring 6, 1010 Wien Österreich Tel.: +43 1 51510 / 3808 E-Mail: [email protected] Mehr Informationen unter: www.wolftheiss.com 2 .