CEE Legal Matters

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  • DLA Piper and Allen & Overy Advise on Ziraat Bank on Debut Issuance of Notes

    DLA Piper has advised Ziraat Bank in its successful debut issuance of USD 750 million 4.250 notes due 2019 under the bank’s Medium Term Note (MTN) program.

    The firm had also advised the bank — Turkey’s largest bank by deposits and number of branches — on the establishment of the program in May 2014. Allen & Overy advised Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, and JP Morgan as Joint Lead Managers.

    The DLA Piper team that advised Ziraat Bank on matters of both US and English law was led by Partner George Barboutis, the Head of US securities for EMEA, and included Senior Associate Alexander Kolmakov and Associate Elizabeth Clare from the firm’s London office. The team advising Ziraat Bank on matters of Turkish law at YKK  — the Turkish arm of DLA Piper — was led by Partner Ekin Gokkilic, and included Associate Ceren Berispek.

    The Allen & Overy team advising the Joint Lead Managers was led by Partners Sachin Dave and Jonathan Melton, with support from Counsel Thomas Wilson, Associates May Chiu, Alana McCurley, and Jiah Ham.

     

  • Mannheimer Swarling Advises on Divestment of AF Group’s Russian Subsidiary

    Mannheimer Swartling has advised AF on its divestment of its Russian subsidiary Lonas Technologia to AlmazInvest, a Russian private equity firm.

    The transaction was conducted as a controlled auction.  

    The AF Group is a European technical consulting company offering qualified services and solutions for industrial processes, infrastructure projects, and the development of products and IT systems for clients. The AF Group has approximately 6,000 employees and had a 2013 turnover of approximately SEK 8.3 billion. AF is listed on NASDAQ OMX Stockholm.

    Evli Bank in Moscow acted as financial advisor to AF in the transaction. The Mannheimer Swartling team was led by Parter Fredrik Svensson and included Senior Associate Evgeniy Tarasov and Associates Alexey Rotar and Svetlana Eliseeva.

     

  • Sorainen Latvia Advises on Sale of Damme Shopping Centre

    Sorainen Latvia has advised Plesko Real Estate on the sale of the Damme Shopping Centre, located in Riga, Latvia.

    The property has a gross leasable area of 12,912 square meters. Plesko Real Estate is a subsidiary of the Swedish food retailing group ICA, which operates in the Baltics through the Rimi brand.

    According to Sorainen, “the transaction involved separating the Damme Shopping Centre business from the other businesses of Plesko Real Estate by establishing a new company, and the subsequent sale of that company to Norwegian company New Agenda Partners.” The firm also described the transaction as “one of the largest in the real estate industry in Latvia this year.”

    M&A aspects of the transaction were handled by a team led by Senior Associate Janis Bite, while real estate aspects were handled by a team led by Partner Girts Ruda. 

     

  • Gorodissky & Partners Attorney Awarded Honorary Diploma by Russian Ministry

    Gorodissky & Partners has announced that Ekaterinburg-based Partner Sergey Egorov was awarded an Honorary Diploma at the Russian Ministry of Industry and Science of the Sverdlovsk region for “long service and considerable donation to the development of the Sverdlovsk region industry.”

    Egorogov is a Patent and Trademark attorney at the firm, and has a degree in mechanical engineering. He began his career at the Urals Compressor Factory. In 1988 he joined the Ekaterinburg City Administration and then the Government of Sverdlovsk oblast. Since June 2001 he has been the Director of Gorodissky & Partners’ Ekaterinburg office.

     

  • Dentons Confirms Return of Old Friend in Romania

    Dentons’ Bucharest office has confirmed that Partner Perry Zizzi — who practiced with legacy Salans in Bucharest from 2003-2007, well before that firm merged into the new Dentons — has returned to the fold.  

    Zizzi leaves Clifford Chance in Bucharest after almost 7 years at that firm. Dentons reports that Zizzi, “will lead the Bucharest banking & finance group and will be a core member of the real estate team, covering Europe and beyond.”

    Zizzi has nearly 19 years of experience practising law in the US, Latin America, Western Europe and the emerging markets of Central and Eastern Europe. He has advised on numerous real estate development, financing, acquisition and leasing transactions. 

    Dentons’ Bucharest Managing Partner Anda Todor commented: “I am very pleased to welcome Perry back to the firm. His return marks yet another step in Dentons Bucharest’s growth strategy, which saw the arrival of a new competition team in April. Perry’s previous experience with the firm and his strong reputation for legal excellence make him a great fit with our existing practice and a valuable addition to the team.”

    Zizzi reports similar enthusiasm: “I’m delighted to be returning to Dentons. The firm’s dynamic approach is keenly attuned to the rapidly evolving demands of its clients making Dentons the market-leading choice. I am very much looking forward to contributing to the firms ambitious goals for growth in the region and building on the existing success of the team going forward.”

    Zizzi’s move was first reported by CEE Legal Matters on July 10, 2014. He was featured as the “Expat on the Ground” in the April 2014 issue of CEE Legal Matters, readable here.

     

  • Partner Moves from Chads to CMS in Kiev

    CMS Cameron McKenna has announced that Dispute Resolution Partner Olga Vorozhbyt joined the firm’s Kiev office on July 1, 2014, to develop the office’s litigation and compliance practice.  

    Olga Vorozhbyt

    Vorozhbyt previously headed the Disputes Resolution practice at the Kiev office of Chadbourne & Parke. 

    Vorozhbyt graduated from Kiev’s National Taras Shevchenko University in 2002, and spent five years with Baker & McKenzie before moving to Chadbourne in 2010. According to CMS, her experience “includes pre-trial negotiations, representation of clients at all levels in Ukrainian courts, as well as in arbitration proceedings both in Ukraine and abroad. Her expertise also includes settling corporate conflicts and advising clients on problematic dismissals; she advises foreign and local clients on compliance-related matters including internal and external FCPA-driven investigations, as well the mitigation of violations in Ukraine of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the UK Bribery Act.”

     

  • Integrites Advises Credit Bank Center

    Integrites has advised the Credit Bank Center with regard to improvement of investment attractiveness and protection from the risks connected with changes in the client’s corporate structure.

    According to the firm, the advice addressed “the mandatory requirements of Ukrainian legislation applicable to banks in respect of their corporate structure and the list of the mandatory conditions on optimization of corporate structure.” 

    The firm also performed a corporate audit of the Credit Bank Center and made recommendations regarding the elimination of potential risks. The team working on the matter included Counsel Denys Kytsenko and Senior Associate Aleksei Kominarets, both working under the guidance of Senior Partner Vyacheslav Korchev.

     

     

  • Bondoc & Asociatii Advises Fondul Proprietatea on Sale of Shareholding in Transelectrica

    Bondoc & Asociatii has assisted Fondul Proprietatea in its sale of the 13.5% stock of shares it held in Transelectrica.

    According to Bondoc & Asociatii, “the sale took place through a private placement, Fondul Proprietatea transferring this way a number of 9,895,212 shares held in Transelectrica’s share for a total amount of RON 212.6 million.”

    Fondul Proprietatea is a joint stock company operating as a closed–end investment fund without a set lifetime, incorporated in Romania. According to its website, the fund was initially created by the Romanian Government in December 2005, “to indemnify persons whose assets were abusively expropriated by the communist regime (especially in cases when restitution in kind would not be possible) by granting shares in Fondul Proprietatea to the respective persons proportionate to their loss.”

    Transelectrica is a publicly-traded electricity transmission system operator in Romania. In addition to the 13.5% of the shares held until recently by Fondul Proprietatea, 58.69% of the shares are held by the Romanian Ministry of Economy and Commerce, with the remaining 27.81% floated on the Bucharest Stock Exchange or held by other investors. 

    The Bondoc & Asociatii team was led by Managing Partner Lucian Bondoc, who was assisted by Managing Counsel Simona Petrisor.

     

     

  • Dvorak Hager & Partners Adds New Managing Attorney

    Dvorak Hager & Partners has hired lawyer Marek Bomba, who joins the firm as Managing Attorney. Bomba specializes in corporate, competition, and contract law. 

    Before joining Dvorak Hager & Partners, Bomba worked for ten years at Balcar Polansky Eversheds as a member of their Company/Commercial team, the last five as a Senior Associate.  In 2011 and 2012, Bomba led that firm’s Bratislava office.

     

  • OHIM Launches Forecasting Tool

    The Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM), the body that registers the Community Trade Marks in the European Union, announced the launch of its new “Forecasting” tool. 

    This advanced IP prediction system, which was developed within the framework of the Cooperation Fund and the European Observatory on Infringements of Intellectual Property Rights (‘Observatory’), enables IP Offices to generate reliable forecasts of trade mark and design filings using the latest available technologies. The result of a five-year research project, Forecasting will provide participating IP Offices with what the OHIM describes as “a better understanding about the underlying factors behind the evolution of trade marks and designs filings. It will support strategic planning and the optimal allocation of resources of participating Offices.”

    Set up in 2010, the Cooperation Fund has created and developed IT solutions for use across the intellectual property landscape. Some tools support examiners, some are aimed at business, and some have been built for the enforcement community. The Observatory is a network of experts and specialist stakeholders. Its objectives are to: a) Provide evidence-based contributions and data to enable EU policymakers to shape effective IP enforcement policies and to support innovation and creativity; b) Provide data, tools and databases to support the fight against IP infringement; c) Provide knowledge and learning programs for IP and enforcement authorities as well as for businesses and IP practitioners; d) Develop initiatives to help innovators, creators and businesses (especially SMEs) protect their IP rights; and e) Design campaigns to raise awareness of the value of IP and the negative consequences of IP infringement.