The DORDA Digital Industries Group advised German investor DRS Investment SE on the successful acquisition of a majority stake in Aurena GmbH, a leading Austrian technology-focused auction service provider for the disposal of large quantities of goods. Aurena's founder, Karl Kühberger, will remain on board as a shareholder and will continue to manage the company's business.
The transaction has been signed and completed. The transaction value is confidential. The DORDA team was led by M&A partner Christian Ritschka, with main support from M&A principal associate Ulrich Weinstich and M&A associate Max Lesjak.
With the new partner on board, the existing management team will work together to push ahead with Aurena's further geographical expansion, particularly in Germany.
Since its foundation in 2012, Aurena has established itself as the market leader in Austria – a fully digitalized auction process and its own high-performance auction platform enable large quantities of goods to be auctioned in the shortest possible time. To date, over 12,700 auctions have been held. More than 180 employees work on auction projects in Austria and neighboring European countries.
DRS Investment SE is a private investment company focusing on software and technology-enabled services (‘tech-enabled services’). The investment focus is on scalable service platforms that enable operational excellence and sustainable value creation through the use of technology. Founded in 2017, DRS supports its portfolio companies in their long-term development.
In addition to DORDA, DRS Investment SE was also supported by Heuking Kühn Lüer Wojtek (Ulrich Weidemann) and GÖRG (Thomas Lange) in this cross-border transaction. Karl Kühberger was represented by Brandl Talos (Roman Rericha) and EHW (Achim Spengler, Jan-Henning Wyen).
The team of the DORDA Digital Industries Group also included partners Magdalena Brandstetter (real estate), Heinrich Kühnert (antitrust), Veit Öhlberger (contracts, arbitration), Bernhard Rieder (corporate), Nino Tlapak (data protection) and Tibor Varga (financing), as well as Counsel Alexandra Ciarnau (IT/IP) and principal associates Julia Landskron (corporate), Anna Martseva (insurance), Denise Runceanu (corporate), Florina Thenmayer (employment), Katrin Repic (regulatory), and associates Silvia Hanschur (IT/IP), Friedrich Kieweler (contracts, arbitration), Julia Moser (M&A), Maxie Müllbacher (real estate), Anna-Sophie Schwendinger (public law), Petra Sekanova (M&A), Julia Strass (employment) and Elisabeth Waglechner (insurance).