newsletter American Chamber of Commerce in Austria UPCOMING EVENTS TTIP Podiumsdiskussion Donnerstag, 12. Februar 11:30 Uhr LECTURE ”The Internet of Everything Cloud & Digitalization and their Impact“ Thursday, February 12th 6.30 p.m. AmCham Talks Freitag, 20. Februar 08:15 Uhr Nr.01/15 how low can the euro go? After a decade of a ‘strong’ Euro, the European Central Bank (ECB) on the 22nd of January ﬁred their last weapon. ‘The Big Bazooka’ is used in market jargon for the quantitative easing measures the ECB implemented. What will be the impact of these measures? Is €1.140 Billion of additional liquidity enough to boost economic growth and ﬁght deﬂationary tendencies? It has worked in the USA but will it work for Europe? The answers to some of the questions above will come in time. However, other facts that need to be taken into consideration are addressed below. Firstly, it is not necessarily the case that quantitative easing in Europe will have the same effects that the Federal Reserve created. We are looking at two very different economies. The US is a market based economy where capital markets are by far the most important source of funding for corporations. In Europe, capital markets are also an essential part of the whole economy but bank credit is far more important for corporations. Another major difference between these two economic areas is the private sector. Private pension plans and retirement portfolios (stocks and bonds) are an integrated part of US society. In Europe, investment and private pension plans are of limited importance for individuals. Therefore, one can argue that securities purchased by the Federal Reserve have a direct impact on the economy and private net worth. Secondly, the mandate of the ECB is not primarily to promote economic growth. The main target of the ECB is managing inﬂation. The target levels are around 2 percent. Thirdly, the European debt crisis is not over. Greece will negotiate to restructure their debt. This is guaranteed after Syriza won in the Greek National election recently. This might possibly change the behavior of other Euro countries in terms of the reform process necessary to stay internationally competitive. These are only three points that highlight the complex situation that we have in Europe at the moment. The US economy is growing and also the job market is picking up ﬁnally. Currently, there are no signs that the momentum generated will run out of steam any time soon. The only question is when the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates and how a strong USD will affect that. In summary, we have a lot of challenges and uncertainties in Europe. The US economy is in a far better shape and interest rates will rise at some point in the future. Rates in Europe will stay at low levels for a prolonged period. We expect markets to react very sensitively to economic data releases and so markets will remain volatile for some time to come. For EUR/USD, it will be very difﬁcult to trade above 1.2500 and the focus is clearly on the downside. It might not be unreasonable to expect levels of 1.0000 and 0.9000 which bring the rates back to where the Euro stood at its launch. Western Union International Bank GmbH has based the opinions expressed herein on information generally available to the public. Western Union International Bank GmbH makes no warranty concerning the accuracy of this information and speciﬁcally disclaims any liability whatsoever for any loss arising from trading decisions based on the opinions expressed and information contained herein. Gerhard Scharinger, Western Union Business Solutions, Western Union International Bank, Schubertring 11, 1010 Vienna U.S. Economy Goods and Services Deficit Down The U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, through the Department of Commerce, announced that the goods and services deﬁcit was $39.0 billion in November, down $3.2 billion from $42.2 billion in October, revised. November exports were $196.4 billion, $2.0 billion less than October exports. November imports were $235.4 billion, $5.2 billion less than October imports. Unemployment Rate down Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 252,000 in December, and the unemployment rate declined to 5.6 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. Job gains occurred in professional and business services, construction, food services and drinking places, health care, and manufacturing. Gdp increased Producer Price Index Down The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the Producer Price Index for ﬁnal demand fell 0.3 percent in December, seasonally adjusted, Final demand prices decreased 0.2 percent in November and advanced 0.2 percent in October. Real gross domestic product - the value of the production of goods and services in the United States, adjusted for price changes increased at an annual rate of 5.0 percent in the third quarter of 2014, according to the „third“ estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the second quarter, real GDP increased 4.6 percent. The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® (LEI) for the U.S. increased 0.5 percent in December to 121.1 (2010 = 100), following a 0.4 percent increase in November, and a 0.6 percent increase in October. “December’s gain in the LEI was driven by a majority of its components, suggesting the short-term outlook is getting brighter and the economy continues to build momentum,” said Ataman Ozyildirim, Economist at The Conference Board. “Still, a lack of growth in residential construction and average weekly hours in manufacturing remains a concern. Current economic conditions measured by the coincident indicators show employment and income gains are helping to keep the U.S. economy on a solid expansionary path despite some weakness in industrial production.” United States Economic Data Industrial Production up Consumer Price decreased Industrial production decreased 0.1 percent in December after rising 1.3 percent in November. The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) declined 0.4 percent in December on a seasonally adjusted basis, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. The decrease in December reﬂected a sharp drop in the output of utilities, as warmerthan-usual temperatures reduced demand for heating; excluding utilities, industrial production rose 0.7 percent. Over the last 12 months, the all items index increased 0.8 percent before seasonal adjustment. %* Period GDP +5.0 Q3 14 Industrial Prod. -0.1 Dec. 14 Consumer Prices - 0.4 Dec. 14 Producer Prices - 0.3 Dec. 14 Leading Indicators +0.5 Dec. 14 Unemployment -0.2 Dec. 14 Def. bn $ 39.0 Nov. 14 *change previous period Please send us your press releases: ([email protected]) News from our Members Binder Grösswang Binder Grösswang advises Wendel on the acquisition of Constantia Flexibles Wendel Group, one of Europe’s leading listed investment ﬁrms, is to acquire a majority interest in Constantia Flexibles, one of the world leaders in ﬂexible packaging. Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP and Binder Grösswang represented Wendel as legal advisors. Binder Grösswang was Austrian Counsel and coordinated legal advice in Russia, Poland, Turkey, Romania, the Czech Republic and Malaysia and advised on IP-law throughout all involved countries. DHl Deutsche Post DHL and Eurotours launch joint travel offer Deutsche Post DHL is going into the tourism business. Together with Eurotours, a renowned international tourism enterprise, Deutsche Post DHL now offers its customers individual and attractive vacation packages. Eurotours will act as the tour operator in this cooperation. Under a single brand name – “Post Reisen” – customers will ﬁnd a wide variety of holiday travel and city tour packages as well as adventure trips and cruises. Special focus is placed on holiday destinations in Germany and the neighboring Alps regions. The Deutsche Post Postbus will be used for bus tours within Germany. “Post Reisen” is a direct sales travel offer, meaning vacation packages can be booked via the Internet or by calling the Eurotours Post Reisen Call Center. Customers beneﬁt from low prices, which are made possible because “Post Reisen” sells directly to end customers. Gebrüder Weiss Gebrüder Weiss opens new location in Russia Gebrüder Weiss opens its own location in Moscow at the start of the new year. The new team in the Russian capital, currently consisting of nine employees, will then be offering services in the area of air and sea freight, land transports and multimodal solutions, logistics and project business. The new location will consist of three branches, one in the centre of Moscow, one at Sheremetyevo airport and another at Domodedovo airport. For European and Asian companies, Russia ranks among the most important markets worldwide. With the new location, Gebrüder Weiss is consolidating its established network and will be closing a geographical gap between its branches in Europe and Asia. „For our customers, Russia is an important market with enormous development potential. With its experienced employees, Gebrüder Weiss will be offering its complete range of services locally with a direct link to its global branch network,“ says Vojislav Jevtic, Regional Management Air & Sea Asia at Gebrüder Weiss. Schoellerbank For the tenth consecutive time, Schoellerbank has achieved the highest distinction in asset management Hans-Kaspar von Schönfels, Editor-in-chief of the Elite Report: “Schoellerbank offers its customers exactly what is in demand today: attention, competence and reliability. And on fair terms. Moreover, the private Austrian bank scores high marks with its considerable investment achievements and its performance often surpasses the industry average.This combination of personal commitment and predictive intelligence is one of the reasons why we have once again placed them at the top of our list of asset managers.“ UPS UPS expands three European contract logistics facilities UPS announced three international facility expansions driven by growing demand from retail and high-tech customers. The newly expanded facilities are located in Krefeld and Butzbach, Germany and Venlo, Netherlands. „We continue to expand our contract logistics reach and capabilities in Europe to serve the growing demands of our B2B and B2C customers,“ said Harld Peters, vice president of UPS Contract Logistics Europe. wolf theiss Wolf Theiss advises private equity fund Advent on the acquisition of Hypo Alpe Adria´s SEE network One Austrian banking holding, six SEE banks and three leasing companies in the region with total assets of EUR 8.4 billion: The SEE network of state-owned Hypo Alpe Adria was acquired by US private equity fund Advent International together with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). Wolf Theiss advised on the buy-side in six jurisdictions. It is one of the biggest transactions in the banking sector since 2008. One day before Christmas, the signing of ﬁnal and binding contracts to sell and transfer the Balkan banks from state-owned Hypo Alpe Adria to USinvestor Advent International and EBRD was announced. Culture Jasper Johns January 13 - April 26, 2015 Upper Belvedere 1030 Vienna The Belvedere announces Jasper Johns: Regrets, an exhibition of new work by Jasper Johns (American, b. 1930). Having emerged as a leading voice in American art in the late-1950s with paintings of iconic motifs such as ﬂags, targets, and numbers, Johns has since developed a body of work of extraordinary narrative complexity and technical virtuosity. During his career, Johns has created some of the most important and compelling works of modern times. This exhibition premieres the artist’s most recent body of work, developed over the last year and a half, and includes approximately 30 objects: two paintings, as well as drawings and prints. Venus in Fur by David Ives January 26 – March 7, 2015 Vienna’s English Theatre 1080 Vienna Directed by Adrienne Ferguson Designed by Lothar Hüttling David Ives’ dark comedy centres on a frustrated playwright and director, Thomas Novachek, attempting to cast the leading role in his stage adaptation of the famous novella „Venus in Furs”. When young actress, Vanda Jordan, arrives several hours late for her audition, Thomas is less than impressed. But she convinces him to let her audition for the part of Wanda, with the director/writer reading the part of Severin von Kushemski. Much happens during this dynamic reading, as lightning ﬂashes and thunder crashes outside. Vanda shows astonishing insights into the novel and her character, and she performs what is in effect a terriﬁc audition. They both become caught up in the characters they are reading. Venus in Fur is a mesmerising, erotic game of submission and domination, blurring the lines between fantasy and reality. Venus in Fur was adapted for the screen by Roman Polanski in 2012 and ﬁlmed with his wife Emmanuelle Seigner. Shreck The Musical March 16 - March 22,2015 Stadthalle Vienna Based on the Oscar-winning DreamWorks Animation ﬁlm, Shrek The Musical is a TONY Award-winning fairy tale adventure featuring all new songs from Jeanine Tesori (Thoroughly Modern Millie, Caroline or Change) and a book by David LindsayAbaire. It is the story of everyone’s favorite ogre who goes on a life-changing adventure. Joined by a wise-cracking donkey, this unlikely hero ﬁghts a fearsome dragon, rescues a lively princess and learns that friendship and love aren’t only found in fairy tales. Shrek The Musical is part romance, part twisted fairy tale and great fun for everyone! Events TTIP Podiumsdiskussion Past Events Gallery AmCham Talks on January 23rd with Stefan Tscheppe, General Manager, Weingut Esterházy on ”new wolrd - old world - wine wolrd“ „Die Transatlantische Handels- und Investitionspartnerschaft (TTIP)“ Chancen, Perspektiven und Risiken für Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft in Europa, Deutschland und Österreich mit Volker Boufﬁer Maximilian Schöberl Norbert B. Lessing DI Dr. Wolfgang Pirklhuber Donnerstag, 12. Februar 11:30 Uhr Raiffeisen Zentralbank Österreich Sky Conference 1030 Wien Lecture ”The Internet of Everything Cloud & Digitalization and their Impact“ Ing. Martin Katzer, Managing Director, T-Systems Austria Thursday, February 12th 6.30 p.m. Clubrooms of the Austro-American Society Stallburggasse 2 1010 Vienna AmCham Talks AGRANA´s „Greek Success“ in den USA Sprecher: Dipl.-Ing. Johann MARIHART, CEO Agrana Freitag, 20. Februar 08:15 Uhr Hilton Vienna Plaza 1010 Wien Past Events Gallery Business cocktail on January 22nd A big thank you to our sponsor Steigenberger Hotel Herrenhof, we had a wonderfull time! AmCham News – Career Magdalena Arnezeder hat die Leitung der Rechtsabteilung der Erste Asset Management und der Erste-Sparinvest übernommen. Herbert Pimmer bisher Senatspräsident des OGH, steht ab sofort den Mandanten von Dorda Brugger Jordis als Berater zur Verfügung. Er wird die Gesellschaftsrechtund Zivilprozessrecht-Teams als „Of Counsel“ unterstützen. Tobias Eichhorn ist neuer Business Lead Oncology bei Pfizer Austria. Er leitet künftig als Cluster Lead unter anderen die Länder Schweiz, Slowakei,Tschechien,Mazedonien,Montenegro,Albanien und Moldawien. Dr. Nikolaus Pitkowitz Gründungspartner von Graf & Pitkowitz, übernimmt mit 1.1. den Vorsitz der Real Estate Section der International Bar Association, einer der größten weltweiten Vereinigungen der Immobilienrechtsexperten. Christoph Hilkesberger verstärkt ab sofort wieder den Banking & Finance Desk von Dorda Brugger Jordis. Er ist Experte für Bankrecht und Finanzierung, Gesellschaftsrecht und Umstrukturierungen. Robert Wippel ist neuer Anwalt bei Binder Grösswang und verstärkt das Finance-Team. Er ist spezialisiert auf die Bereiche: Bankrecht und Finanzierungen, Strukturierte Finanzierungen, Projektfinanzierungen und Restrukturierungen Roland Kreutz ist mit Jänner neuer Head of Sales für das Geschäftsfeld „Consumer Data“ bei Bisnode Austria. Er ist seit über 15 Jahren im Risikomanagement tätig. Thomas Wegeler wurde zum neuen General Manager European Channels Group von Xerox Austria ernannt. Impressum Medieninhaber, Herausgeber und Redaktion: Amerikanische Handelskammer in Österreich A-1090 Wien, Porzellangasse 39/7, Tel: +43 (0) 1 319 57 51, Fax: +43 (0) 1 319 57 51-15, [email protected], www.amcham.at Für den Inhalt verantwortlich: Mag. Daniela Homan, Redaktion: Carina Walch, Juliane Vatter Redaktionskomitee: Dr. Patricia A. Helletzgruber, Hans J. Prochaska, Leo Zuliani, Grafik: Simone Leonhartsberger, Komo Wien, Hersteller: Druckerei Seitz, 2231 Strasshof