CEE Legal Matters

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  • Avellum Partners Advises Ferrexpo on Acquisition of Rail Facilities

    Avellum Partners Advises Ferrexpo on Acquisition of Rail Facilities

    Avellum Partners has announced that it acted as Ukrainian legal counsel to Ferrexpo (acting through its Ferrexpo Yeristovo Mining subsidiary) in connection with the acquisition of an electrified railway of over two kilometers long and a power line.

    According to Avellum Partners, “the purpose of the acquisition is to decrease the cost of ore transportation.” The transaction value exceeded UAH 6,000,000 (approximately EUR 364,000).

    Ferrexpo’s resource base is the largest iron ore deposit in Europe with approximately 20 billion tons of ore. The company is the largest producer of pellets in the CIS and the 5th largest supplier of pellets to the global steel industry.

    The Avellum Partners team was led by Partner Kostiantyn Likarchuk, with “significant support” provided by Associates Yuriy Nechayev, Oleksandr Polonyk, and Yuriy Zaremba.

    In August, the same firm advised Ferrexpo in connection with three export financing credits, including a USD 14.5 million credit provided by Private Export Funding Corporation (PEFCO) to Ferrexpo’s Ukrainian subsidiary Ferrexpo Yeristovo Mining and a USD 15.8 million credit provided by PEFCO to Ferrexpo’s Ukrainian subsidiary Ferrexpo Belanovo GOK (reported on by CEE Legal Matters on August 14, 2014).

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  • Lidings Reports New Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Clients

    Lidings Reports New Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Clients

    Lidings reports that it has been engaged to advise Actelion, a large Swiss biopharmaceutical manufacturer, and Grindex, a leading Latvian pharmaceutical company.

    According to Lidings Partner Andrey Zelenin, “One of the important things to acknowledge when advising pharmaceutical companies is the wide range of legal issues your clients are facing in their day to day activities. By way of an example, both clients mentioned above placed their requests for legal counsel following increase in their marketing efforts in the Russian market. Our advice in these cases covered interaction with medical representatives and practical effects of the applicable restrictions, as well as advice on entering into co-marketing agreements with another company well-represented in Russia.”

    Actelion Pharmaceuticals was founded in December 1997 and has its headquarters near Basel in Switzerland. The company specializes in orphan diseases, and its scientists were among the first to work in the field of endothelian receptor antagonists. Actelion has has 29 affiliates around the world, including in the United States, Canada, Brazil, Australia, Japan, Switzerland, and a number of EU countries. 

    Grindeks is the leading pharmaceutical company in the Baltic States. Main fields of action are research, development, manufacturing, and sales of original products, generics, and active pharmaceutical ingredients. The company specializes in the heart and cardiovascular systems, and CNS and anti-cancer medication therapeutic groups. The Grindeks Group consists of 4 subsidiary companies in Latvia, Estonia and Russia, with representative offices in 13 countries. Products are exported to 59 countries, and export comprises 95% of the company’s total turnover. The main markets are the Baltic States, Russia and other CIS countries, Germany, the Netherlands, Japan, and the United States. 

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  • FWP Advises on WEB Windenergie Hybrid Bond Issue

    FWP Advises on WEB Windenergie Hybrid Bond Issue

    Fellner Wratzfeld & Partner has advised WEB Windenergie on what the firm describes as the first issue of a hybrid bond by an Austrian wind energy provider.

    In parallel with the hybrid bond issue, the company is offering a “classic” corporate bond with fixed maturity and fixed interest. FWP handled both the preparation of the offer prospectus and the approval procedure with the Financial Market Authority.

    WEB Windenergie was created in 1995 from funds provided by some 100 private citizens committed to wind energy, and opened its first wind power plant in Michelbach near St. Polten in Lower Austria. At the moment, WEB Windenergie operates a total of 182 wind energy, 11 photovoltaic, and 3 small hydroelectric power plants, supplying 183,345 households with electricity.

    FWP Partner Christian Thaler led the firm’s transaction team in the project.

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  • CMS Advises on Sale of LBBW Bank Czech Republic

    CMS has advised Landesbank Baden-Wurttemberg (LBBW) on the sale of its Czech subsidiary, LBBW Bank CZ, to Expobank from Russia. The purchase price was not made public.

    LBBW Bank CZ is a mid-size universal bank with 18 branches in the Czech Republic. The bank has operated in the market since 1991 and was acquired by LBBW in September 2008. 

    The transaction was led by CMS Stuttgart corporate Partners Claus Peter Fabian and Thomas Meyding. The CMS Prague team advising on Czech aspects was headed by Corporate Partner Helen Rodwell and included Partners Pavla Kreckova, Lukas Janicek, and Mark Segall, Senior Associate Patrik Przyhoda, Associate Miroslav Kovar, and Junior Associate Pavel Drimal.

    Editorial Note: Dentons has confirmed that it advised Expobank on its successful acquisition of LBBW Bank from German Landesbank Baden-Wurttemberg. The Dentons team was led from Moscow by Partner Alexei Knyazhev and Senior Associate Vladislav Bromberg, and from Prague by Partner Petr Kotab and Associate Jan Hrivnak, with assistance from Berlin-based Partners Peter Mayer and Hermann Meller, Counsel Daniel Barth, and Associates Michael Valentin and Martin Schwenkel.

  • Havel, Holasek takes Former DLA Country MP

    Havel, Holasek & Partners announced that Peter Valert, former Managing Partner of the Czech office of DLA Piper, will join its management team.   

       

    Peter Valert

    Valert, along with Jaroslav Havel, will be responsible for developing the practice in international legal services, replacing in Jan Holasek. 

    Valert has over 19 years of legal experience, having spent the last eight with DLA Piper (the last six of which, he acted as the Country Managing Partner). Within DLA Piper, he also led the IT/IP advisory group for the entire CEE region. Prior to DLA Piper, he worked for more than eleven years at the Prague office of CMS Cameron McKenna, five as a partner and two as the managing partner, of its Bulgarian office. 

    The largest Czech-Slovak law firm, Havel, Holásek & Partners, continues to strengthen its management team. After three new senior associates recently joined from DLA Piper, American lawyer Peter Valert comes to Havel, Holásek & Partners from his position as managing partner at DLA Piper for the Czech Republic. Peter is a prominent expert in common law, and specialises primarily in IT/IP law, and public sector law. Peter also has extensive experience in commercial law, mergers and acquisitions, private equity, and international arbitration. At Havel, Holásek & Partners, along with Jaroslav Havel, Peter will be responsible for developing practice in international legal services, replacing Jan Holásek.  

    Earlier this year, Havel, Holasek & Partners hired former Norton Rose Fulbright Partner Pavel Kvicala and members of his team, following the shut-down of the Norton Rose Prague office (reported on by CEE Legal Matters on June 11, 2014). Currently, the Czech firm reports having 25 partners and more than 170 lawyers. 

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  • Bostina si Asociatii Advises on RBS Portfolio Acquisition

    Bostina si Asociatii Advises on RBS Portfolio Acquisition

    Bostina si Asociatii will be providing legal assistance to Unicredit Tiriac Bank with regards to obtaining clearance from the Romanian Competition Council on the acquisition of the RBS Bank client portfolio (reported on by CEE Legal Matters on August 6, 2014). 

    The transaction involves a portfolio of aggregate assets of around EUR 260 million and corporate deposits of around EUR 315 million approximately EUR 575 million. The RBS Bank client portfolio includes over 500 mid-sized and large, local and international companies, as well as public and financial institutions. 

    The transaction will be finalized after the necessary write-off from the Competition Council. 

    The Bostina si Asociatii team advising Unicredit Tiriac Bank will be lead by Partner Laura Mocanu, the head of the Privatization and Competition practice. 

    This article is powered by our friends at LegalMarketing.ro. You can find the original full article here (Romanian).

     

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  • DLA Piper Announces Merger with Haskovcova & Co

    DLA Piper Announces Merger with Haskovcova & Co

    DLA Piper has announced its merger with Czech law firm, Haskovcova & Co. , as of 1 September 2014. 

    As a result of the merger, a total of two partners and seven lawyers are joining the Prague office of DLA Piper. Haskovcova & Co.’s, former Managing Partner, Thu Nga Haskovcova, will be come the Country Managing Partner of the international firm. The second partner addition, Petra Sabatka, will head the Litigation & Regulatory group.

    Krzysztof Wiater, DLA Piper’s CEE Regional Managing Partner stated: “This merger is a strategic move for both firms. The overarching goal is to channel the strengths of both previously existing firms into a newly established partnership, offering a full range of first class services to our clients in the Czech Republic and throughout the CEE region.” 

    According to DLA Piper’s press-release, “Prague is a key part of the firm’s presence in the CEE region, delivering quality legal services to both local and international clients in areas such as mergers and acquisitions, real estate, general corporate law, finance, labour law, intellectual property and technology, and competition law.” Following the merger, the firm will also offer tax advisory services.

    Haskovcova added: “This is a monumental step for us. We are delighted at the prospect of this new venture, and I am confident that DLA Piper Prague will become a more competitive player in the CEE legal market.”

    The merger follows the Czech market exit of two international firms earlier this year: Norton Rose (reported on by CEE Legal Matters on April 24, 2014) and Hogan Lovells (reported on by CEE Legal Matters on May 14, 2014). Difficult market conditions were cited as the reason for the exit.    

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  • CMS Advises Lenders on USD 400 Million Pre-export Financing for Kernel Group

    CMS Advises Lenders on USD 400 Million Pre-export Financing for Kernel Group

    CMS has advised ING and UniCredit as coordinators, and lenders Citibank, BNP Paribas, Natixis, Rabobank, Arab Bank and Banque de Commerce et de Placements (BCP) on a USD 400 million pre-export financing for Kernel Group, Ukraine’s leading agribusiness.

    The financing will be used to purchase sunflower seeds for the production of sunflower oil.

    The lenders provided a secured revolving facility of up to USD 400 million which is secured by the assignment of export receivables and pledge of commodities and guarantees from Kernel’s key trading and operational companies. Due to its size and complexity, CMS claims, “it is likely to be regarded as the flagship agricultural commodity financing in CEE/CIS for this year.”

    Prague-based CMS Partner Mark Segall, who led the transaction, commented: “Despite the uncertain political situation, Ukraine’ s sunflower oil exports have continued to attract the support of international lenders this year, demonstrating sustained confidence in the Ukrainian agricultural sector. By financing through Kernel’s Swiss and British Virgin Islands subsidiaries the transaction represented a classic off-shore commodity trade structure used in many other Ukrainian PXFs. CMS is pleased to have advised lenders to Kernel for the third successive year.”

    The multi-jurisdictional CMS team was led by Segall, and included Partners Kaspar Landolt, Gunther Hanslik, and Vivian Walry, Seniors Associates Andrew Hinstridge and Vyacheslav Ovechkin, and Associates Lucy Mosedale, Ross Douglas, Tetyana Mikhailenko, Andrea Ferchl, and Mark Cagienard, Kai Ruckelshausen, Nicolas Gerique, and Andreia Mihai. 

    Harneys provided BVI advice.

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  • Mazars Names New MP in Romania

    Mazars has announced that Tax Partner Rene Schob is replacing Jean-Pierre Vigroux as Managing Partner of the the firm’s Romanian office, effective as of September 1, 2014.

       

    Rene Schob (vebidoo.com)

    In addition to his new role, Schob also leads the Tax Advisory Department of Mazars. He has over 16 years in Tax and Finance, and his background includes a role as Managing Partner of the professional services firm Adevaris — which he co-founded — before the firm merged with Mazars in 2013. He has also worked as a Project Management Advisor with a Big Four firm and as a director in corporate planning and controlling with a Swiss stock listed company. His field of expertise includes Romanian and international taxation, with an emphasis on direct taxation, M&A, and corporate finance. He is a Swiss national, and a graduate of the University of Applied Sciences in St.Gallen, Switzerland. In Romania, he is a well-known expert for foreign — and particularly German-speaking — investors. 

    A statement released by Mazars, included Schob’s comment on his new appointment: “It is an honor, a responsibility and a challenge for me to follow Jean-Pierre’s leadership at Mazars. He is a landmark of the professional services’ development in the last 20 years in Romania.  I thank Jean-Pierre and my partner colleagues for the trust they have in me. Expectations raised with regards to Mazars’ current stage of development in Romania are high as we continue to strengthen our market position following the recent merger. I am convinced that today’s changing economic environment creates many opportunities for us that we aim to take. Companies need integrated, complex and diverse advisory solutions to respond adequately to the continuous changes. It will be our role to provide sustainable high-quality services to our clients irrespective of their business’ size or stage of development.”

    And Vigroux expressed his gratitude to the firm as well: “Mazars gave me the opportunity to come back to Romania six years ago and I am extremely grateful to this firm for this return to my country of adoption. The achievements I believe I can be proud of and obviously owe them to the whole Mazars team are the improvement of the service quality and market position. Mazars is seen today as a top quality firm, which was hardly the case in 2008. This statement is not the expression of some form of subjective self-satisfaction, but a fact proven every day by our clients’ feedback and our competitors’ respect. We have won our place in the First League of the audit and consulting industry – a good reason to feel recognized and respected. With over 150 professional staff, Mazars is now a strong player in all its core businesses: audit, accounting, and tax advisory and provides specialized support to investors from the two major economies of the EU, the German and the French ones. This makes a sound basis to which René has already brought his invaluable contribution and on which he will continue to grow the firm with his vision, energy and enthusiasm.”

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  • Former W&C Partners Open Firm in Prague

    It’s not quite possible for a firm led by three long-time White & Case partners in an office off Wenceslas Square in the Czech capital to qualify as “under the radar,” but there’s no denying that the new BODAKH law firm has chosen a quiet approach.   

       

    Ivo Barta

    Although the office in the Czech capital has been open for business for over 6 months, the partners have yet to issue a public announcement or press release, host a launch party, or otherwise advertise their new firm. The firm doesn’t yet even have a functioning website. But the three former White & Case partners who founded and lead the firm claim that its quiet progress through the first few months of operation belies surprising success.

    The firm is the brainchild of friends and W&C partners Jakub Dostal and Petr Kuhn — who both left the firm after 15 years to open the BADOKH office in February of this year — and Ivo Barta (who left White & Case after 18 years in August). And the unique name — Barta says that “we didn’t want to have the name in the traditional style” — reflects the partners’ shared commitment to a new model. The three are committed to creating a firm with a “Human Face” — specializing in like-minded and self-motivated lawyers working with enthusiasm and commitment. According to Kuhn, “we want to have a friendly and open atmosphere with a good work-life balance.”

    Barta emphasizes that he and his colleagues appreciated the lessons they learned at White & Case. “We all came from a similar culture, and there are things about that culture we value and want to build upon.” Kuhn agrees: “We wanted to do things differently, and after 15 years at one firm, you either need to accommodate yourself to the restrictions inevitable in a large international firm or go do something on your own.” 

    The three partners believe their model gives them a flexibility and ability to move quickly that’s simply not possible at a large international firm. At the moment the firm has 16 fee-earners (with three more scheduled to arrive by the end of the year), including the three partners whose initials give the firm its memorable moniker, and another three profit-sharing partners. The partners aim to position BADOKH for the space in-between the international law firms and the local Czech firms — offering their cross-border and ILF experience, but at a lower fee. Barto explains that, “we’re selling two things: skill & integrity. And our clients are getting them at a better rate than the international law firms.” He claims that — despite the lack of a substantial marketing push — he and his colleagues  are already being contacted regularly by potential clients who had been unable or unwilling to pay those international law firm fees, and who are eager to take advantage of the new alternative.

    “So it’s going well then?”, they are asked. “Oh yes,” Kuhn smiles. “Better than well. From my perspective, it’s been a great success.”