CEE Legal Matters

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  • SORAINEN Estonia Advises on Apollo Cinema Purchase of Solaris Cinema

    SORAINEN Estonia Advises on Apollo Cinema Purchase of Solaris Cinema

    SORAINEN Estonia has advised Apollo Cinema in purchasing Solaris Cinema from Solaris Property Partners.

    Solaris Cinema is one of the two biggest multiplex cinemas in Estonia, with 7 screens in the Solaris shopping center, located in the Talinn city center. Apollo Cinema is part of the Apollo Holding group, which — in addition to cinemas — operates the Apollo bookstore chain (which it acquired from Rautakirja in 2012). Apollo Cinema was founded in 2012, and in May 2014 the group opened its first cinema, with 3 screens and 420 seats in Parnu.

    “A cinema is a cinema and the recipe to offer good experience is simple – the best movies, high technical quality, and good service. We have ambitious plans for Apollo Cinema but it is too soon to reveal them,” commented Mauri Dorbek, the chairman of the board of Apollo Cinema. 

    SORAINEN advised Apollo Cinema on the share purchase transaction and lease agreement negotiations with the Solaris shopping center, as well as obtaining approval from the Estonian Competition Authority. The SORAINEN team included Partner Toomas Prangli, Senior Associate Paul Kunnap, and Associates Mari Matjus and Juulika Aavik.

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  • Eversheds Hires New Head of M&A in Poland

    Wierzbowski Eversheds has added Partner Ewa Szlachetka to the firm’s Warsaw office, where she will head the firm’s M&A practice.   

       

    Ewa Szlachetka

    Szlachetka specializes in corporate law and mergers and acquisitions, including acquisitions of public companies and restructuring of capital groups. She also handles transactions by private equity and venture capital funds. Before joining Wierzbowski Eversheds, Ewa Szlachetka headed the M&A team at the GESSEL law firm.

    She is a graduate of the Faculty of Law and Administration at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan. She also studied at the British Law Centre operated by the University of Warsaw in conjunction with the University of Cambridge. She completed her postgraduate studies in international commercial law at the University of Kent in Canterbury, England, where she earned an LL.M. with distinction in 1999. 

    According to Krzysztof Wierzbowski, Managing Partner of Wierzbowski Eversheds: “While continuing our work on international transactions, including within the Eversheds network, we have decided to increase our activity on the local SME market, where we perceive opportunities for growth of our business as the number of local M&A deals is steadily growing. We are confident that bringing onboard such an experienced expert as Ewa Szlachetka will strengthen and solidify the position of our law firm on the M&A market.” 

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  • Herbst Kinsky Advises Flatout Technologies on Financing Round

    Herbst Kinsky Advises Flatout Technologies on Financing Round

    Herbst Kinsky has advised Flatout Technologies in a financing round totaling EUR 200,000.

    The financing was executed by several business angels in the form of convertible loans.

    Flatout, which was founded in Austria in 2013, specializes in the control and sale of home automation via cloud solutions. The company’s goal is to provide energy efficient, safe and comfortable housing.

    Herbst Kinsky´s team was led by Phillip Kinsky and Florian Steinhart.

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  • Baker & McKenzie Advises EBRD on USD130 Million Syndicated Facility for Nibulon

    Baker & McKenzie has provided advice on English and Ukrainian matters related to the EBRD’s new syndicated facility of up to USD 130 million for Nibulon, Ukraine’s leading grain trader, for the ongoing crop harvesting and marketing season.

    The facility will replace the syndicated loan of USD125 million facility signed in 2012, which expired in June 2014.

    The transaction will help Nibulon address working capital needs associated with crop origination, primary processing, transport and storage in the current environment of reduced availability of external funding in Ukraine.

    The Firm’s team was led by Baker & McKenzie Partners Ihor Olekhov and Michael Foundethakis, with support from Kiev-based Associates Maksym Hlotov, Victoria Ischenko, and Ganna Smyrnova.

  • Guner Promotes New Partner

    Guner Promotes New Partner

    The Guner Law Firm in Turkey has promoted Banking and Project Finance lawyer Omer Erdogan to Partner, effective as of July 1. In addition to his Finance expertise Erdogan has general corporate, TMT, and IP experience. 

    Erdogan initially joined the Guner Law Office when it was associated with Dentons Wilde Sapte in 2007, and stayed with the firm until 2010, when he joined the Cetinkaya Law Firm (the Turkish arm of Kinstellar). After two and a half years there he rejoined Guner as a Managing Associate in May, 2013. 

    Erdogan received his Bachelor of Laws from Istanbul University in 2004, and obtained an LL.M. from Stockholm University in 2006.

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  • SORAINEN Advises Gasum on Sale of Estonian Operations to Alexela Energia

    SORAINEN Advises Gasum on Sale of Estonian Operations to Alexela Energia

    SORAINEN Estonia has advised Gasum Energiapalvelut in selling its Estonian business Gasum Eesti to Alexela Energia, part of the Alexela Group. According to Gasum Vice President Jarko Alanko, “this arrangement supports Gasum’s strategy of focusing on the development of the gas market in Finland and the Nordic countries.”  

    Gasum Eesti (previously called Gaasienergia) is a subsidiary of Gasum Energiapalvelut. Gasum Eesti sells and distributes natural gas to small and medium-sized enterprises and residential customers in the areas of Rapla and Tabasalu. The company owns and maintains a 62 km gas distribution network. Revenue of Gasum Eesti in 2013 was around EUR 2 million. 

    The transaction is expected to be completed by September or October 2014, when approval by the Estonian competition authority is provided. 

    SORAINEN advised Gasum in all phases of the transaction, including preparation for auction, collecting documentation, and drafting and negotiating the sales contract. The SORAINEN team included Partner Toomas Prangli, Specialist Counsel Kadri Kallas, Associate Kaspar Endrikson, and Legal Assistant Triin Tigane. Gasum’s financial advisor for the transaction was Porta Finance. 

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  • Dentons Advises Starwood Capital Group on Ghelamco Office Portfolio Acquisition

    Dentons has advised Starwood Capital Group on its entry into the Polish office market with the acquisition of a portfolio of three prime office complexes from the Ghelamco real estate developer.

    Starwood Capital Group’s Polish portfolio previously consisted of a network of hotels across the country. 

    The portfolio includes two properties located in the business districts of Warsaw, T-Mobile Office Park and Lopuszanska Business Park, and one in southern Poland, Katowice Business Point, situated in the Katowice city center. The portfolio comprises 78,000 square meters of gross leasable area as well as over 2,000 parking spaces. The Warsaw buildings were constructed last year, and the one in Katowice in 2010. According to Dentons, all are virtually 100 percent occupied.

    The Dentons team was led by Warsaw-based Partner Maciej Ryniewicz, and included Associates Krzysztof Marzynski, Joanna Czaplicka, and Marta Wozniak, as well as Counsel Gabriel Olearnik.

    Evan Lazar, Co-Chairman of the Global Real Estate Group at Dentons, said: “Last year our Real Estate team advised Starwood on the largest office transaction in the Czech Republic ever – its acquisition of The Park, a 12-building business complex in Prague from Aberdeen Asset Management Deutschland AG. We are pleased that Starwood again has chosen us to continue to advise and assist them in new markets.”

  • August Issue Out Now

    The August issue of CEE Legal Matters is out now! Subscribers waiting eagerly for the issue to appear in their mailbox can, in the interim, access it electronically on the CEE Legal Matters website, while non-subscribers will have to wait another two months to access the magazine’s valuable content.

       

    You can access the full August issue here.

    And valuable it is. The August issue is the biggest yet, full of insightful analysis, unmatched regional coverage, and regular and new features designed to inform and entertain.

    The Market Spotlight in the August issue falls on the Czech Republic, the country of Kafka and Pilsner, the Velvet Revolution and the Charles Bridge. Included in the Market Spotlight is a Guest Editorial from the owner and Managing Partner of a growing Czech law firm. It includes a special report on the country’s ability to adequately prepare its law students for a career in commercial law firms, featuring the thoughts and perspectives on the subject of academics, practitioners, and several soon-to-graduate law students. A number of those leading Czech practitioners also report on the state of the Czech legal market in key sectors and practice areas for our brand-new Market Spotlight feature. Our Expat on the Market Q&A is with Jonathan Weinberg, White & Case’s senior English law Banking and Finance Partner in CEEA. And, in our Inside Insight feature, a number of high profile General Counsel from Accenture, Ezpada, and Siemens in the Czech Republic provide perspective and insight on their roles as well.

    Experts Review focuses on key challenges and obstacles foreign investors are likely to face in each CEE market. This is our most extensive and revealing Experts Review feature to date, and the analysis provided by the contributors will be useful to anyone preparing CEE market entry.

    The issue also features a thorough exploration of the EBRD’s significant role in CEE, and a special Guest Editorial from the Deputy General Counsel of the Bank. 

    There’s so much more. Subscribers will enjoy an interview with the Counsel & Manager of the Legal Department, IBM Russia/CIS, and appreciate a Q&A with a market-leading legal recruiter about the needs and opportunities in the Polish legal market. The Top Sites feature focuses on the best law firm websites in the Czech Republic and Greece. The ever-more-popular Summary of Deals illustrates the large deals being done across the region. And the Frame focuses on the surprising amount of lateral movement in CEE this summer, and the one international firm that’s growing in the region while so many of its competitors close up shop and withdraw.

    All this, and more … for subscribers. Isn’t it time you became one as well?

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  • Greenberg Traurig Advises Amstar in Purchase of Luxury Warsaw Residential Tower

    Greenberg Traurig Advises Amstar in Purchase of Luxury Warsaw Residential Tower

    Greenberg Traurig has advised US-based private equity investor Amstar in its first Joint Venture in Poland; a purchase, made in combination with the Polish development company BBI Development, of the luxury Zlota 44 residential tower located in the city center of Warsaw.

    The tower, which a Greenberg Traurig press release described as “iconic”, was designed by architect Daniel Libeskind. Unconfirmed reports put the purchase price at PLN 260 million (approximately EUR 65.5).

    Zlota 44 is primarily residential space, reaching 192 meters (54 stories) into the sky. The name of the skyscraper comes from the building’s pre-WWII address, which was completely destroyed by the Nazis. 

    Jason Lucas, President of Amstar Global Advisers, noted that “Amstar is expanding its Emerging European investments westward from Russia and Turkey into Poland in order to capture opportunities in one of Europe’s most vibrant real estate markets. The off-market acquisition of Zlota 44 was the ideal opportunity to acquire a high-quality project at a significant discount to replacement cost.”

    The Greenberg Traurig team on the deal was led by new Partner Eric Rosedale, the firm’s Head of International Real Estate.

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  • Kachkin & Partners Advising on First PPP in Leningrad Region

    Kachkin & Partners Advising on First PPP in Leningrad Region

    Kachkin and Partners has been selected by the Committee for Economic Development and Investment in the Leningrad Region to provide what the firm calls “comprehensive support services” for the first PPP in the region: the creation of the “Regional Center for Medical Rehabilitation.”

    The firm will integrate the contributions of the various medical, marketing, technical, and financial consultants. In addition, the firm will prepare a draft agreement for the tender for the concession agreement for the reconstruction of the existing facilities and the construction of new facilities in the hospital complex in the community of Communar. 

    Kachkin & Partners Managing Partner Denis Kachkin explained that: “It should be noted that this pilot PPP project for the Leningrad region is, in fact, one of the first public-private partnership in Russia, where the investor accepts the operational risks associated with medical services. We are pleased to continue to work on the creation of a rehabilitation center and are willing to make every effort to bring this truly significant social project to fruition.”

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