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Lawin has advised the Lithuanian government on the incorporation of the RB Rail joint venture company with Latvia and Estonia.

The firm reports that representatives of all three Baltic states met in Riga on October 28 to establish the company, which will be responsible for coordinating, administrating, and implementing the Rail Baltica project – the construction of a European gauge railway connecting three Baltic States. The railway will stretch from the Lithuanian-Polish border to Tallinn.  

According to a statement on the Rail Baltica website, “the intention of the Rail Baltic project is to fully integrate Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in a track gauge of 1,435 mm railway transport system widely used in Europe. The Rail Baltic axis Warszawa – Kaunas – Riga – Tallinn is set as the 27th priority project by Euopean Commission in 2004.”

Another quote on the website, though unattributed, explains the purpose of the project: “The proposed modern and eco-friendly high-speed Rail Baltic railway is to connect Estonia with the European Union as well as with the neighboring Latvia and Lithuania. This new international rail connection is an important step towards developing our transportation capacities. “

Lawin advised the representatives of Lithuania, and concluded the related shareholders’ agreement. The firm’s team consisted of Managing Partner Rolandas Valiunas, Partners Ramunas Petravicius and Dovile Burgiene, as well as Senior Associate Ausra Brazauskiene, Associate Lina Jonikaite, and others.  

The Sysouev, Bondar & Khrapoutski law office and BPS-Sberbank have entered into a cooperation agreement providing customers of BPS-Sberbank a discount on the firm’s legal services.

According to a statement released by the firm, “benefits depend on the extent of the client’s business and include: significant discounts on the whole range of legal services; free legal audits; free mailout of legislative acts; free participation in seminars, trainings, round tables, business lunches, training sessions on selected legal issues, etc.; other personal benefits, which can be found in departments of BPS-Sberbank or in our law office.” The firm also clarifies that the terms of the agreement apply only to legal entities with annual equivalent revenue of more than USD 2 million.

BPS-Sberbank was established in 1923 and is one of the oldest banks in Belarus. The largest shareholder in the bank is JSC Sberbank (from Russia). According to a SB&K press release, “BPS-Sberbank provides a wild range of banking services, including investment banking, trade financing, and consulting services to legal entities and business owners.”

Herbst Kinsky has advised Locca lost&found services through the entry of a new investor via a participation contract. 

Locca specializes in the development, manufacturing, and production of small locating and communication devices (with built-in AGPS, GSM, Bluetooth low energy, FSK, and WiFi technology), which work in combination with a smartphone application to allow customers to locate and monitor their belongings and loved ones — which the company claims will allow them to “make sure everybody and everything is protected at any time.” 

The Herbst Kinsky team was led by Partner Philipp Kinsky and Paul Droschl-Enzi.

Skrastins & Dzenis has reported that the Court of Justice of the European Union (Third Chamber) has granted its client flyLal’s request for a preliminary ruling under Article 267 TFEU from the Augstakas Tiesas Senats (in Latvia). 

According to S&D, “the principal question to be decided was whether the request for recognition and enforcement of a Lithuanian court judgment ordering provisional measures in a damages case caused by alleged Competition law violation by Riga International Airport and Air Baltic Corporation AS, can be qualified as a civil and commercial matter, thus falling within the scope of the Brussels I Regulation and enforceable in Latvia under the provisions of the said regulation.”

The Court answered the questions “in a way that supports position of our client, flyLAL,” and now the case returns for a final decision by the Supreme court of the Republic of Latvia. 

Skrastins and Dzenis represented flyLAL-Lithuanian Airlines AS in all instances of Latvian courts, as well as in the Court of Justice of the European Union.

Studnicki Pleszka Cwiakalski Gorski has advised Serinus Energy Inc., in the process of the admission and introduction of 38,479,608 shares to public trading on the regulated market organized by the Warsaw Stock Exchange. 

Calgary-based Serinus Energy is an international oil and gas exploration and production company dual listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange and the Toronto Stock Exchange. The company’s portfolio consists of 12 operated licenses in 4 countries. The main shareholder is Kulczyk Investments, an international investment house founded by Polish businessman Jan Kulczyk.

SPCG’s team drew up the prospectus and represented Serinus Energy in proceedings before the Polish Financial Supervision Authority for approval of the prospectus and in additional proceedings before the National Depositary for Securities and the Warsaw Stock Exchange. The SPCG team was led by Partner Artur Zapala, and included Associates Ewa Mazurkiewicz, Agnieszka Jozwiak, Justyna Dzik and Hubert Andziak.

Sorainen has reported that on September 9 the Board of the Foreign Investors’ Council in Estonia (FICE) appointed Paul Kunnap, a Senior Associate with the firm, head of the Board’s taxation and legal issues working group. 

   

Paul Kunnap (sorainein.com) 

The FICE is a lobby group representing the Austrian, Danish, Finnish, German-Baltic, Dutch, Norwegian and Swedish Chambers of Commerce, Business Clubs and Marketing Offices in Estonia. Together, the nine countries represented in FICE account for more than 80% of total foreign direct investment in Estonia. 

Two other working groups were formed to analyze labor and education issues topical for foreign investors. The working groups are tasked with performing an in-depth analysis of each subject from the perspective of foreign investors, inviting field experts to participate in working group meetings, and coming up with useful suggestions for officials and the Estonian government. 

The kick-off meeting of the taxation and legal issues working group led by Kunnap took place on October 13. Kunnap said of his new responsibility that: “Considering the complex situation that Estonia and the whole region are facing today, steps need to be taken to make Estonia more attractive for foreign investors. A favorable tax system and a reliable and efficient legal framework form an important part of an investment-friendly business environment. It seems that much can be done in this area, and participation in the FICE taxation and legal issues working group creates opportunities for putting forward constructive proposals.” 

Wolf Theiss has advised the minority shareholders of the ibis acam private educational institution — the My Family Private Foundation and Johannes Lampert Education and Consulting GmbH — when the majority stake of Constellation Capital was acquired by the German Quadriga Capital private equity fund (a deal originally reported on by CEE Legal Matters on October 21, 2014).  

According to Wolf Theiss, the ibis group was founded in 1981 and is now the leading private education provider for vocational education and training. More than 50,000 people per year are trained by the company, which has 80 offices in Austria and Germany. 

Clifford Chance has advised the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in relation to a senior secured loan of USD 15 million to PJSC “Obolon,” one of the largest Ukrainian producers of beer, soft drinks, and locally extracted natural mineral water. Obolon has been operating on the Ukrainian market for more than 30 years. 

Obolon and the EBRD have collaborated since 1997, when the bank lent Obolon USD 40 million to boost its beer-production capacity. In 2004 the EBRD loaned the brewery USD 10 million, and in 2009 the EBRD loaned Obolon another USD 50 million.

The Clifford Chance team leading this most recent transition was led by Managing Partner Jared Grubb, with support from Senior Associate Nadiya Shylienkova and Junior Associate Taras Stadniichuk.

Janis Lagzdins has left Eversheds Bitans to lead PricewaterhouseCoopers Legal in Latvia. 

   

Janis Lagzdins 

Eversheds Bitans itself got its start as the firm associated with PWC a decade ago, though it separated from the firm when the Enron bankruptcy put great pressure on the Big 4 accounting firms to spin off their teams providing legal advice to clients. “So,” Lagzdins says with a laugh, “I can say I’m starting again at the beginning with PWC.”

Lagzdins initially joined PWC as Head of Legal in July. The post had previously been held by Estonian Karl Paadam, who led the Latvian team as well as its Talinn counterpart. Paadum now focuses on the Estonian office, and on his regional role as Head of PwC Legal Baltics. In August PWC Legal became independent of PWC, and Lagzdins’ title changed as well, to Managing Partner. Lagzdins minimizes the change, however, saying it’s a formality more than anything else. He explains that PWC Legal is “like a separate entity, but at the same time [remains] very integrated into the network of PWC.” As a result, he emphasizes, “we are working shoulder to shoulder with our tax consultant, assurance, and advisory colleagues.”

Although Lagzdins describes PWC Legal in Estonia as a “full service” firm (except for general civic litigation), he feels the association with PWC is a strength. He says, “we have a lot of clients from PWC, and a lot of clients in cooperation with the tax team for reorganizations and restructurings, so therefore we are in a good position in the market right now, because in Latvia most firms just offer legal assistance, and clients have to search for separate tax advice. So in that way we are one step in front of our competition.

Lagzdins currently manages a team of 5 lawyers, but he says he expects to add two more senior associates before the end of this year, and he hopes to had another 2 in 2015.