Vienna, 3 April 2015. Fellner Wratzfeld & Partner Rechtsanwälte GmbH (fwp) represents HETA Asset Resolution AG (formerly HYPO Alpe-Adria Bank International AG) in connection with the judicial review proceedings before the Austrian Constitutional Court following the implementation of special Hypo legislation. The Constitutional Court has now rejected all individual applications filed by Austrian and international investors as inadmissible.

In preparation for the winding down of HETA Asset Resolution AG (HETA), the Austrian parliament, in the summer of 2014, passed a set of laws under which, among other things, the claims of certain (subordinate) creditors against HETA became null and void.

This prompted numerous creditors to file individual applications with the Constitutional Court aimed at having the special law repealed. fwp represented HETA as a party involved in these proceedings.

The intention of such legislation had been to ensure, in the interest of the Austrian taxpayers, that HETA’s assets were realised as best possible by making certain subordinate creditors share the costs of HETA’s being wound down.

In its March 2015 session, the Constitutional Court specifically addressed issues of admissibility; now, first rulings have been handed down which reject all individual applications filed by Austrian and international investors (among them Bayerische Landesbank) as inadmissible.

“We are pleased to assist our long-standing client in these high-profile proceedings by providing our top-level expertise in financing, in particular restructuring, and public commercial law. The first rulings of the Constitutional Court are an important milestone in ensuring the controlled and efficient winding down of HETA in the interest of the Austrian taxpayers”, says fwp partner Michael Hecht.