Austrian law firms are showing renewed interest in the previously floundering CEE market, says Caroline Hill

As the CEE region begins to show signs of recovery, Austrian firms may once again be analysing how to position themselves to best capture more of the emerging work. Austrian firms that last year took a hit through their presence in the wider region are starting to feel the benefits once more.

Of the most recent Austrian deals to hit the headlines – and there have been a few – a notable majority have included a primary or secondary CEE aspect, including Apax's €1.3bn (£1.1bn) January buyout of clothing retailer Takko from Advent International, which saw leading CEE duo Wolf Theiss and Schoenherr act for Apax and Advent respectively. Both firms have offices throughout the CEE and have long positioned themselves as regional, not Austrian, firms.

Schoenherr has had a significant run of heavyweight mandates. In December, corporate partner Christian Herbst led a team advising Moscow's Rasperia on the repurchase of a 17% stake in construction group Strabag with a price tag of €373m (£323m). In the same month, Herbst headed a deal for NASDAQ-listed Silgan Holdings on the acquisition of CEE food can manufacturer Vogel & Noot Holding. The latter transaction was valued at around €250m (£217m).

Herbst confirms the trend behind the deal tables: there is an increase in transactional work in CEE, he says, particularly in energy and telecoms and where private equity is "back in the game".

Of course, it is not all about CEE. Top-tier firm Dorda Brugger Jordis this year advised on a $1.5bn (£611m) Austrian project bond financing and Wolf Theiss a €1bn (£867m) capital increase for Austrian electricity producer Verbund. Meanwhile, Dorda Brugger is quietly positioning itself to capture emerging markets work from China and India, capitalising on Austria's low tax base and proximity to the rest of Europe. Turkey, too, has gifted both top-tier firm Cerha Hempel Spiegelfeld Hlawati and Schoenherr with headline roles advising Austrian energy group OMV on its corporate dealings with Turkey's Petrol Ofisi.

Dorda Brugger, which relies on its 'best friends' network in the CEE, remains deeply committed to its strategy. The firm had, says M&A partner Martin Brodey, a "surprisingly good year last year" and cut backs on costs and a good performance in litigation and support areas saw it achieve a profit.

Equally entrenched in its opposing view is Wolf Theiss, despite the fact that at the height of the recession it saw markets such as Romania drop off by 90%. Corporate partner Dieter Spranz says: "Of course it's true that during the crisis there were times that we looked at the situation carefully and with some concern; it was not clear if the downward trend would continue and if you have seen an office where activity is 90% down, it is clear you need to consider your options."

Wolf Theiss' belief that the CEE market must come back – at times stretched to the limit – is now coming good as the firm shows double-digit growth compared with the same period last year.

Despite the early and possibly fragile stages of recovery, CEE firms are again having to consider how to reward top regional partners and in November last year Schoenherr made its first equity promotions outside of its Vienna base, with five partner appointments across its Prague, Bucharest and Belgrade offices.

According to Herbst, any risks of opening up the equity to partners in lower profit centres is minimised by waiting until the offices are sufficiently established and stable, a practice also adhered to by Wolf Theiss. "The difficulty is that each of the markets in the CEE is different, and in terms of compensation a strict lockstep may not be the best solution for that – but we have not introduced a system that will discriminate against equity partners in CEE," Herbst says.

Other key appointments in the region have seen Wolf Theiss shake up its management, replacing the sole managing partner role with a three-partner board comprised of Erik Steger, Richard Wolf and Nikolaus Paul. Steger will be the main point of contact and give up most of his fee-earning work while Wolf and Paul are expected to divide their time around 70/30 fee earning/management.

At DLA Piper Weiss-Tessbach in Vienna, meanwhile, the office that appeared to be left reeling by a shake-up of its CEE management structure and the departures of five partners in February last year is enjoying a significant increase in profit on this time last year. Vienna ran the firm's nine-office CEE practice until last year when it was devolved to hand more power to individual office heads.

The move is, according to office head Claudine Vartian, a logical next step. Much like the rest of Vienna, Vartian is confident in her firm's strategy: "Poland has no relation to Austria, so why should you run their office?" she asks.