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Tark Grunte Sutkiene has announced that it is supporting the first moot court for administrative proceedings in Latvia, providing — in the firm’s words — “the opportunity for law students to obtain new knowledge and play the role of parties in administrative proceedings.”

According to a statement released by the firm, “participation in the Moot Court Competition improves the skills of prospective and young lawyers in analyzing, arguing, and bringing forward reasoned arguments.”

This particular iteration of the moot court was dedicated to competition law, addressing issues related to prohibited agreements in public procurement proceedings concluded between members of an association, which is one of the violations most often found by the Competition Council in Latvia.

This moot court, like previous ones in Latvia, was organized by the ELSA Latvia association of law students.  The students’ performance was evaluated by, among others, TGS Associate Mara Stabulniece, who took part in the moot court as a judge.

The Turunc law firm in Turkey, working with Linklaters, has advised the Balfour Beatty infrastructure group in connection with its USD 1.242 billion sale of of all issued and outstanding capital stock of Parsons Brinckerhoff Group, its professional services division, to WSP Global. The purchase price was paid in cash.

Parsons Brinckerhoff is a multinational engineering and design firm with approximately 14,000 employees. The firm operates in the fields of strategic consulting, planning, engineering, construction management, and infrastructure/community planning. The company becomes a wholly owned independent subsidiary of WSP Global, which now becomes one the largest professional services firms in the world, with approximately 31,500 employees in 500 offices serving 39 countries. WSP and Parsons Brinckerhoff will continue to operate under their existing brands for an undetermined period of time.

Balfour Beatty Executive Chairman Steve Marshall said: “This sale represents a significant return on Balfour Beatty’s investment and a compelling level of value creation for shareholders. Following the sale, Balfour Beatty will be a simplified and more focused Group. It has  leading positions in the UK and US construction and infrastructure markets, all supported by a strong balance sheet.”

Pierre Shoiry, President and Chief Executive Officer of the new combined entity, was enthusiastic about his company’s purchase. “I am pleased with this acquisition, which reinforces our leadership position in the industry, with the ability to deliver more expertise and services to our client base across the world,” he said. “We will now focus on merging our respective businesses and on generating revenue synergies, such as, in the rail sector, where we see an opportunity to combine WSP’s expertise in above ground station and platform design, with Parsons Brinckerhoff’s expertise in tunnelling and underground technology; or in the aviation sector, where our expertise in land and air side are complementary.”

Barclays and CIBC acted as financial advisors to WSP in connection with the acquisition. 

The Turunc team consisted of Partner Kerem Turunc and Associate Elif Tulunay.

Vilau | Associates has announced that Marius Barladeanu joined its team on November 1 as Counsel and as the firm’s new Head of Real Estate and Construction.  

   

Marius Barladeanu

Prior to joining Vilau | Associates, Barladeanu was a Partner at Musat & Asociatii, a law firm that he joined in September 2003. Between 1999 and 2003 he was part of the CMS Cameron McKenna team in Bucharest. He graduated from the Faculty of Law of Bucharest University in 1997.

As coordinator of an interdisciplinary legal team at Musat & Asociatii, Marius Barladeanu handled corporate law matters (particularly mergers, spin-offs and acquisitions and shareholder rights), specific employment law and environmental matters, and measures specific to reorganization and winding up. He also provided legal assistance and representation in court and before arbitration panels in disputes referring to real estate claims, agricultural real estate claims, and restitution of properties abusively confiscated by the state, liability arising out of contractor agreements, lease, joint ventures, insurance of commodities, easement and receivables, enforcement of collaterals and guarantees.

The client portfolio managed by Barladeanu includes a number of national and multinational companies, financial institutions and investment funds operating in real estate, banking, telecom, media & IT, logistics & transport, forwarding, energy, and the manufacturing and sale of consumer goods.

Dragos Vilau, Managing Partner of Vilau | Associates, commented on the addition: “We are honored by Marius’s decision to join our team. This is a natural move and fits the policy of Vilau | Associates to impose a dynamic style of legal services, adjusted to the current requirements of our clients. In a way, Marius is returning home, joining colleagues he worked with from time to time points during his career. Vilau | Associates will not only benefit from his impressive real estate experience, but also from the input of an attorney experienced in mergers and acquisitions and corporate law.”

Barladeanu also expressed his enthusiasm. “My experience over the past 16 years, the numerous projects I contributed to and, particularly, my constant involvement in the coordination of interdisciplinary legal teams have ensured a high degree of professional maturity,” he said. “I am happy to join my colleagues and friends at Vilau | Associates and I am looking forward to achieving great performance together.” 

Vilau | Associates was created after Dragos Vilau, former Managing Partner of Vilau & Mitel, together with Partners Iuliana Dejescu, Ionut Lupsa, and Andrei Stefanovici, left Vilau & Mitel to start a new law firm (reported on by CEE Legal Matters on September 17, 2014).

White & Case has advised Energeticky a prumyslovy holding (EPH) on its agreement to buy Eggborough Power Limited (Eggborough), an acquisition which marks the group’s entry into the UK market. Linklaters acted for the shareholders of Eggborough. Transaction completion is subject to approval by the European Commission.

EPH is a leading Central European energy group operating mainly in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany, and Poland. The group includes 40 companies, employing more than 10,000 people, operating in coal extraction, electricity and heat production from conventional and renewable sources, electricity and heat distribution, electricity and gas trading and supply to end users.

Eggborough, which employs around 300 full time employees, is an independent power producer located in North Yorkshire. It owns the 2GW, coal-fired Eggborough Power Station which is comprised of four units that supply approximately four percent of the power in the UK, equivalent to powering around 3 million homes.

The White & Case team in London which advised EPH was led by Partners Ian Bagshaw, John Cunningham and Kirsti Massie with support from Associates Tom Cambidge and Jee Ha Kim.

The Linklaters team was led by partners Owen Clay and Jeremy Gewirtz.

Norton Rose Fulbright has announced that Piotr Milczarek has joined its Warsaw team, effective November 3.

   

Piotr Milczarek

Milczarek joined the corporate/M&A team as an Of Counsel and will head the Polish competition practice of the firm. Prior to joining Norton Rose Fulbright, he led the competition, regulation and consumer protection practice at PwC Legal, and prior to that worked at Clifford Chance and Soltysinski Kawecki & Szlezak.

Piotr Strawa, Partner and Head of the Warsaw office at Norton Rose Fulbright, commented: “With Piotr Milczarek joining us, we are gaining an experienced and highly motivated practitioner for our Polish team, thus increasing our ability to fulfil our clients’ growing demand for advice in the area of antitrust and competition, state aid and public procurement.”

Milczarek added: “I am delighted to join Norton Rose Fulbright and look forward to strengthening the practice.”

DLA Piper has advised PORR AG (PORR) on a EUR 250 million issuance programme and bond conversion.

According to Vienna-based Partner Christian Temmel, “the transaction was set up as a multi-unit exchange, which made it unique. Bonds issued in 2009 and in 2010 were exchanged in two new instruments, a new senior bond with a five-year term and a new subordinated hybrid bond structured as a perpetual bond.” He further stated: “As far as I know, the Austrian market has not yet seen any transaction of such a complex nature. We are very pleased that we have been appointed to advise on and develop the complex structure of this bond issue.”

Temmel served as the transaction lawyer for PORR. He also acted for Erste Group Bank AG as the sole arranger and deal manager. The offer was based on a prospectus approved by the Austrian FMA. Approximately EUR 70 million were exchanged into new issued bonds. 

Triniti has advised on on the formation of the Rail Baltic joint venture, a deal originally reported on by CEE Legal Matters on October 29, 2014.

According to the firm, the head office of the company resulting from the Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian holding companies association agreement of RB Rail AS will be located in Riga, Latvia and its principal activity will be design, construction and international marketing of the new 1,435 mm gauge railway. Through this project, the joint venture of the three Baltic states aims to develop the new passenger and cargo railway from Tallinn to the Lithuanian-Polish border. The Rail Baltic will be the largest joint project in the history of the Baltic countries.

Triniti advised the negotiations of the joint venture as a legal expert and provided advice on the registration of the new company in Latvia.

Triniti Estonian Partner Tonis Tamme explained: “The negotiations started in August 2013 and although they were long and at times difficult, it was also to be expected because the new railway already called “the Baltic project of the century” concerns all three Baltic States as well as Finland and Poland. Its complexity and cost (nearly 4 billion euros) make it a unique enterprise in this part of the world.”

The association negotiations of the Rail Baltic joint venture were advised by Triniti Estonian Partners Tamme and Ergo Blumfeldt, while legal matters concerning the founding procedures of the new company were co-ordinated by Latvian Partner Anri Leimanis.

Domanski Zakrzewski Palinka has advised the shareholders of Zaklady Chemiczne Bochem sp. z o.o. (Bochem) on its full takeover by Soudal. The value of the deal was not disclosed. 

Bochem was established in 1991 and initially produced adhesives for the shoe industry. Since then the company has registered significant growth by means of international expansion and extension of its product range. Today Bochem not only supplies a wide range of adhesives to various industries but has established a successful business unit for the production of modified starch for the drywall industry as well as a business unit for adhesive based lamination. The company has built a strong presence in Poland and exports approximately 40% of its turnover, mainly to countries in Central- and Eastern Europe. The 2 production units are situated in Pionki, 100km to the south of Warsaw.

According to a Soudal press release Bochem will continue to operate under its own name as a daughter company of the Soudal group and the current management will remain in place.

Vic Swerts, Founder and Chairman of Soudal stated: “The takeover of Bochem is an important step for us and offers us the opportunity to extend our core competences. Combined with the worldwide network of Soudal branches in 44 countries this will doubtlessly result in further growth in the coming years.”

DZP provided corporate/M&A and tax advise on the deal. The firm‘s assistance included organizing the bid submission process and participating in bid assessments, and providing support in negotiations with the buyer and in signing the share purchase agreement. The DZP team consisted of corporate/M&A Partner Piotr Andrzejczak, tax Partner Joanna Wierzejska, and Associate Jaroslaw Przybylski.

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has advised United Biscuits and its principal shareholders, Blackstone and PAI Partners, on the sale of United Biscuits to Yildiz Holding — which was represented by Linklaters and Yuksel Karkin Kucuk, the Turkish firm affiliated with DLA Piper. Taylor Wessing has also advised the management team of United Biscuits on the sale. YKK reports that the purchase price was USD 3 billion. United Biscuits was acquired by Blackstone and PAI Partners for more than USD 2.6 billion in 2006.

Yildiz fought off competition from Burton’s Biscuit Co. and Kellogg Co. to acquire United Biscuits, a leading manufacturer and marketer of cookies in the UK, which owns and operates 16 manufacturing facilities around Europe, has roots tracing back some 184 years. Yildiz — which also owns lker Biskuvi Sanayi and produces Godiva chocolates in Turkey —  will pay for the acquisition within 10 days, Yildiz Chairman Murat Ulker said. Yildiz will use bank loans to pay 40 percent of the acquisition price while the remainder will be financed with existing shares.  

Yildiz now becomes the third largest cookie-producer in the world. It will have a market of 100 countries with more than four billion potential customers after the acquisition. The company plans to grow in Latin America and Russia, the two big markets where Ulker and United Biscuits products aren’t yet sold. According to Cem Karakas, Yildiz’s Chief Financial Officer, once the brands are integrated, Yildiz will earn 75 percent of its cookie-unit income outside Turkey, compared to 40 percent now. The company is reportedly considering an initial public offering once the U.K. snack maker is integrated with its own cookie unit.   

PAI Partners is a major European private equity firm, and the largest PW investor headquartered in France. It claims to be “one of Europe’s oldest and most experienced investors with its origins dating back to the original investment business of Paribas, which started operations in 1872.” The firm “manages and advises dedicated private equity funds with a total equity value of EUR 6.9 billion. Since 1994, PAI has led 55 buyout investments in 10 European countries, for a value of almost EUR 36 billion.”  

Blackstone is an American multinational private equity, investment banking, alternative asset management and financial services corporation based in New York City. It was founded in 1985, and In 2007 it completed a USD 4 billion initial public offering to become one of the first major private equity firms to list shares in its management company on a public exchange. Blackstone is headquartered at 345 Park Avenue in New York City, with eight additional offices in the United States, as well as offices in London, Paris, Dusseldorf, Sydney, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, Madrid, Mumbai, and Dubai. As of 2011, Blackstone is the world’s fifth-largest private equity firm by committed capital. 

In addition to Linklaters and YKK, Yildiz was advised by HSBC Holdings and Istanbul-based Unlu & Co. in the transaction while Deloitte advised on due diligence and tax matters. 

In addition to Freshfields, Blackstone and PAI Partners were advised by Goldman Sachs Group and JP Morgan Chase & Co.  

Freshfields corporate London-based Partner Sundeep Kapila, who led the firm’s team working on the deal, commented: “The deal reaffirms our view that the options available for premier assets remains strong. The continued attraction of the capital markets and interest from established strategic players as well as global financial investors means, with the right handling, opportunities are still firmly out there. Bringing together these two highly complementary businesses is a great result all round for United Biscuits and their shareholders.” Kapila was assisted by Freshfields Associate Chetan Sheth.

The Taylor Wessing team comprised of private equity Partners Emma Danks and Martin Winter, tax Partner Ann Casey, and private equity Associate Rachel Greenhalgh.

The Linklaters team leaders advising Yildiz on the deal were corporate Partners London-based Nick Garland and Warsaw-based Daniel Cousens and, on the finance side, London banking Partners John Tucker and Robert Burt. The YKK team was led by Cuneyt Yuksel, Managing Partner and Head of Corporate, and Associates Ahmet Ozturk and Ozlem Altay.