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
VBAG: Sale of VBI to Be Closed in 2012
Contrary to the original schedule, the sale of the eastern European bank will not be closed by the end of the year.
December 29, 2011
Voestalpine Involved in Further Cartel
According to German newspaper reports, the Austrian steel producer is involved in another cartel in the rail market.
December 28, 2011
Rising Market Share for Porsche Holding
The Salzburg-bases Porsche Holding announces that more than every third sold car in Austria comes from the VW/Porsche Group.
December 28, 2011
Tourism: Slight Increase in Capacities
Austria offers 65 200 accomodation establishments and 1.09 million beds for tourists in 2011.
December 28, 2011
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
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