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Vienna's Foreign and Bilateral Relations
Read the latest headlines about bilateral relations in the areas of economy, business, diplomacy, culture and tourism between Austria and its partners


Polbank: RBI wants to Lower Price

The Austrian Raiffeisen Bank International delays the closing of the acquisition. RBI negotiates over a reduction of the acquisition price.
December 27, 2011


CA Immo, Warimpex and UBM Open Airport City St. Petersburg

The Austrian real estate companies concluded the first phase of the office building and hotel project in direct vicinity of St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo 2 international airport.
December 23, 2011


Strabag Group Expands Range of Services with Structural Timber Engineering

The German subsidiary Züblin gains access to the field of timber construction through an acquisition.
December 23, 2011


Lenzing Group and smartfiber AG Intensify Their Cooperation

The Austrian fiber manufacturer takes over production of two specialty fibers from its German cooperation partner.
December 21, 2011


VBAG Sells Insurance Segment

The Austrian Volksbanken AG sells its stake in Victoria Volksbanken to Ergo Austria.
December 20, 2011


Major Order from Russia for Siemens Austria

The Russian railway company RZD reserves eight high-speed trains “Velaro RUS”. The order will be delivered in January 2014.
December 20, 2011


Gebrüder Weiss Builds New Branch in Czech Republic

In Jeneč, near Prague, the Austrian logistics supplier builds a new terminal with an office complex and cross-docking facilities. Investments amount to € 15m.
December 17, 2011


Plansee Group Sells PMG

The Austrian provider of metallurgically manufactured products sells the business division to a German asset management company.
December 16, 2011


Austria to Be By-Passed by South Stream Gas Pipeline

The rival project to Nabucco will not end at OMV’s Central European gas hub.
December 15, 2011


Pecik to Enlarge Activities in Telekom

The new core shareholder of Telekom Austria, Ronny Pecik, plans to acquire further shares. He will enter the supervisory board.
December 14, 2011


VIG and Zurich Fight for Polish Warta

According to the Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita, the Swiss Zurich and the Austrian Vienna Insurance Group are the favorites for the acquisition of Warta.
December 14, 2011


AUA Sharpens Austerity Measures

The Viennese business location Austrian Airlines, a subsidiary of Lufthansa, has to become cheaper, says Lufthansa´s CEO Franz.
December 14, 2011


Wolong Holds 98.8% in ATB Austria

The Chinese Wolong Group has almost finished its complete takeover of the former A-Tec subsidiary ATB.
December 13, 2011


Tannpapier Fears For its Existence

The Austrian manufacturer of cigarette papers suffers from the tightening of the EU-tobacco-directive.
December 13, 2011


Kaufhof: Investigations Cause Delay in Sale Process

Suspicions of money laundering against the Austrian real estate investor René Benko prevent the take-over for the time being.
December 13, 2011


Austria Fifth Richest Country in EU

GDP per capita in the Member States ranged from 44% to 271% of the EU27 average in 2010. Austria´s figure amounts to 126%.
December 13, 2011


Infineon to Invest in Austria

In spite of the weak economic forecasts, the German semiconductor producer wants to invest further in the Austrian business location.
December 12, 2011


Immofinanz Sells Project in Germany

The Austrian real estate group sells its stake in a project in Düsseldorf in order to grow in Russia and Poland.
December 12, 2011


Atrium Completes Acquisition of Shopping Centre in Poland

The Vienna-listed real estate company Atrium finished the acquisition of a € 55m project in the seventh largest city in Poland.
December 12, 2011


Difficult Search for Investors at Wall Street

Austrian companies try to find new investors in the U.S. The relatively small size of Vienna Stock Exchange and the euro-crisis make this difficult.
December 8, 2011


Kaufhof: Benko Offering € 2bn?

The Austrian investor decisively rejected reports that suggested this acquisition price. Metro’s CEO wants to obtain € 2-3bn.
December 8, 2011


Rating Agencies Are Seen As Threat

The governor of the Austrian Central Bank, Ewald Nowotny, attacks S&P. For the head of the economic research institute IHS, Bernhard Felderer, the negative outlook must be seen as a warning signal.
December 7, 2011


Benko Confirms Binding Offer

Both Metro Group and René Benko´s Signa Holding confirmed that a binding offer for Metro´s subsidiary Kaufhof has been put.
December 6, 2011


Increasing Gap in Incomes

Although Austria´s Gini coefficient is relatively low, the gap between high and low incomes becomes larger.
December 6, 2011


Kaufhof: Benko Is Preferred

According to the seller, the German Metro Group, the Austrian real estate investor has good odds. Benko will submit a binding offer soon.
December 5, 2011


Hypo Group: € 3.0bn Debts at BayernLB

The nationalized Hypo Group is still massively indebted at its former holding company, the German BayernLB. The loan will be due by the end of 2013.
December 3, 2011


Polish Financial Market Authority Claims RBI´s Quotation

The Vice-President of the Polish financial market authority, Wojciech Kwasniak, asks the Austrian Raiffeisen Bank International to quote in Warsaw, besides the listing in Vienna.
December 3, 2011


New Savings Package for Austrian Airlines

The Austrian carrier will not receive financial support from its parent company Lufthansa. Staff reductions are not ruled out any longer.
December 2, 2011


Strabag Finishes Largest Project in Company History

The Austrian construction company finished work on the A2 motorway in Poland ahead of schedule. The project had a total volume of € 1.3bn.
December 1, 2011


Wiedeking Joins Benko’s Signa Holding

The German manager becomes a member of the Austrian real estate group’s advisory board.
November 30, 2011


Austria’s Unemployment Rate Is the Lowest in the EU

The EU27 unemployment rate was 9.8% in October, compared with 9.7% in September 2011 and 9.6% in October 2010
November 30, 2011


VIG Acquires Polish Life Insurance Company Polisa

The Austrian insurance group rounds off its product portfolio in Poland. Polisa generated a premium volume of € 21m in 2010.
November 29, 2011


Austria to Pay for Failing Kyoto

By 2014, Austria will have to pay penalties because of the missed Kyoto targets. Payments could amount up to € 1.0bn.
November 28, 2011


Austria to Participate in Merkel´s Bond Plans?

According to the German Prime Minister Angela Merkel, triple-A countries should issue common “elite bonds”. Austria should take part.
November 28, 2011


Strabag delivers € 320m Steelworks in Russia

The Austrian construction company has finished its works in Russia. The factory will produce sheet steel in particular to manufacture pipes to be used in pipeline construction.
November 28, 2011


Share Repurchase at Palfinger

The Management Board of the Austrian crane manufacturer resolves to exercise its authorization to acquire own shares. The maximum contingent is € 10m.
November 26, 2011


Bewag Sells TV Station BKF

The regional energy provider and a Viennese publishing house have agreed on the sale. Closing is expected to take place in December.
November 25, 2011


Austrian & CEE Investor Conference 2011 in New York

15 companies from Austria and CEE will participate in the conference on 28 November.
November 25, 2011


Growing Capital Shortfall at Volksbanken Group

The Austrian bank will need another € 200m in order to comply with the EBA’s capital requirements. The price for the sale of VBI might be reduced to € 500m.
November 24, 2011


Uniqa Plans Sale of German Subsidiary Mannheimer

The Austrian insurance group’s new strategy brings increased concentration on Eastern European growth markets.
November 24, 2011


FCC Acquires Remaining Shares in Alpine

Supervisory board chairman Aluta-Oltyan will sell his 20% stake in Austria’s second largest construction company to the Spanish majority owner.
November 23, 2011


Drop in Revenue for SW Umwelttechnik

The Austrian technology group was particularly burdened by a decrease in quantities in Hungary. The loss on ordinary activities doubled from € -1.6m to € -3.3m.
November 23, 2011


Kapsch TrafficCom Reports Strong Growth

Revenues of the Austrian toll system supplier increased by 90%, EBIT more than doubled in the first half of the fiscal year 2011/12.
November 23, 2011


OMV Concludes New Syndicated Loans

The Austrian oil and gas company has signed two syndicated multi-currency credit facilities totaling € 1,680m, which replaces existing facilities maturing in 2012.
November 23, 2011


Strabag Confirms „Solid Outook“

The EBIT forecast of the Austrian construction group has been raised to € 340m. Net income is expected at € 185m.
November 21, 2011


CA Immo Invests in Munich

The Austrian real estate group purchased a 50% stake in the Skygarden project in Munich. The acquired property value amounts to around € 63m.
November 21, 2011


Kaufhof: Benko Has Good Odds

The Austrian real estate investor has high chances to acquire the German retail chain Kaufhof. The sale could be closed before Christmas.
November 19, 2011


AutoBank Achieves Further Growth

The Austrian specialist bank increased new business volume to € 59.6m. The operating result more than doubled and amounted to € 817,000.
November 18, 2011


Rosenbauer Reports Drop in Profit

The Austrian manufacturer of fire fighting vehicles registered record order intake of € 456m in the first nine months of the year. Revenues and EBIT came in lower than expected due to shipment delays.
November 18, 2011


Vienna Airport Issues Profit Warning

Non-recurring effects and impairment charges of € 74m have a negative effect on results for the first nine months of 2011; preliminary net profit for the period falls to € 20m.
November 18, 2011