LeitnerLeitner is probably the strongest tax practice in Austria outside of the big-four. A number of their professionals are frequently singled out as leading practitioners in their field. Sabine Kirchmayr is mentioned for her capital markets work; ...
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LeitnerLeitner is probably the strongest tax practice in Austria outside of the big-four. A number of their professionals are frequently singled out as leading practitioners in their field. Sabine Kirchmayr is mentioned for her capital markets work; Gerald Gahleitner is seen as a leading practitioner in cross-border tax structuring work and Reinhard Leitner, head of international tax, is described as "a pope in the Austrian tax market".
The team has continued to expand its numbers this year. Andreas Theuerer has joined from Ernst & Young and Gregor Zorman has arrived from Wolf Theiss.
The group offers a full range of tax services including M&A, private equity, cross-border structuring, criminal tax law and transfer pricing. The group has seen an increase in M&A activity and has worked on a number of the biggest transactions in Austria this year. The group has represented a number of Austrian companies this year going outbound, particularly to Central and Eastern Europe.
The group advises across most of the major industries and has particularly experience in the energy, real estate and financial services sectors.
Herbert Greinecker leads a team at PwC of about 250 fee earners. The team has expanded this year especially in theLinz and Salzburg offices. The number of partners stays the same as last year, however, at 11. Kurt Lassacher has stepped up to partner this year, while Johannes Moertl has retired.
The group is strong across most areas of tax and is growing. Transfer pricing, M&A and international tax form the core of its work. The M&A department, headed by Bernd Hofmann has started to pick up again this year. The transfer pricing group, led by Greinecker,has also seen an increase in work as the authorities have become more aggressive.
Work this year includes advising a large client in the fashion industry on the acquisition of a retailer in a deal worth a few hundred million euros. The practice has a near 50-50 split between local clients and multinationals. The practice is especially strong in the telecommunications industry and has seen an increase of financial services work this year as the team built under Thomas Strobach has grown.
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