BNP Paribas’s Sale of Hello Bank to BAWAG

BAWAG Group acquired Hello Bank!, Austria’s largest online broker, from French financing group BNP Paribas. Fellner Wratzfeld & Partner (fwp) advised BAWAG, while Binder Grösswang advised the seller. The deal was signed on 22 July and is expected to be closed by the end of 2021.

Hello Bank! has been a leader in Austria’s online brokerage market for more than 25 years, with a base of around 80,000 customers and over €8 billion in assets under management. The bank handled more than 1.8 million securities transactions in Austria as per year-end 2020.

The fwp team was headed by partners Markus Fellner (Corporate/M&A, Banking) and Paul Luiki (Corporate/M&A) and comprised Roswitha Seekirchner (Corporate/M&A), Peter Stiegler (Corporate/M&A), Mario Burger (Corporate/M&A), Martin Navara (Corporate/M&A), Roman Schlemaier (Corporate/M&A), Julia Berger (Corporate), Elisabeth Fischer-Schwarz (Banking), Lukas Flener (Anti-Trust Law), Gregor Schett (Retail Consumer Law) and Veronika Seronova (Retail Consumer Law), who were once again able to demonstrate outstanding expertise in complex Corporate/M&A deals subject to banking regulation.