CEE Legal Matters

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  • Successful Cooperation Between the Austrian Embassy in Belgrade and JPM Jankovic Popovic Mitic

    JPM Jankovic Popovic Mitic has announced the January 28, 2014 signing of a new cooperation agreement with the Austrian Embassy in Belgrade.

    Johannes Eigner, the Ambassador of the Republic of Austria, and Nikola Jankovic, Senior Partner at JPM, thereby formally announced the continuation of their now-20 year relationship, which began in 1991 when the Austrian Embassy began taking advantage of JPM’s German-language capabilities. Under the new agreement, Mr. Jankovic remains the Austrian Embassy’s “attorney of trust”, and will continue advising the Embassy in all legal matters.

  • White & Case Helps Athletes Resolve Legal Disputes at Sochi Olympics

    White & Case is attending the Winter Olympics in Sochi to help athletes resolve any legal disputes which may arise during the games. 

    The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) opened a temporary office in Sochi where three cases brought by athletes who challenged their exclusion from particular events under the games’ quota allocations system have already been resolved.

    White & Case lawyers represented Austrian skier Daniela Bauer in the first case on a pro bono basis. Bauer claimed that she had met the qualification requirements and that a quota place had been promised to her.

    A panel chaired by Patrick Lafranchi of Switzerland, sitting with Canada’s Robert Decary QC and Matthew Mitten of the US, dismissed the application last week and found that the respondents had not discriminated against Bauer and that the federation had a legitimate sports performance justification for not recommending her nomination.

    However, the White & Case team was able to prove that Austria does not have a clear criteria for the selection of athletes to qualify to take part in the Olympics. The panel has subsequently recommended that the Austrian National Olympic committee change its rules to avoid any ambiguities in the future.

    White & Case Moscow-based Associates Anton Vasin, Alan Bayramkulov and Daria Vasilieva are on the ground in Sochi and, with the support from Counsel Pavel Boulatov in Moscow, are providing pro bono advice to athletes bringing claims before the CAS ad hoc division.

  • Dentons Hires New Of Counsel in Moscow

    Dentons announced that Mark Withey will join its Moscow office as Of Counsel.

    Withey previously worked with Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy. He specializes in advising on mergers & acquisitions (public and private), joint ventures/strategic alliances, private equity, equity capital markets, corporate re-organizations, and general corporate law matters.

    Florian Schneider, Managing Partner of the Moscow office, noted: “We are glad to have Mark in our team. Dentons clients now can benefit from our increased English law capacity in Russia.”

     

  • Squire Sanders and Cleary Gottleb Achieve Victory in American Court for Balkan Countries

    The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has affirmed a grant of summary judgment against a Serbian entity and in favor of the Republics of Croatia and Slovenia, represented by Squire Sanders and Dempsey and Cleary Gottlieb, respectively.

    The summary judgment requires that funds held at a New York bank in the name of the Federal Directorate of Supply and Procurement (FDSP), an entity organized under the laws of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY), be distributed to SFRY’s successor states according to percentages established in a multilateral treaty signed by the SFRY successor states in 2001 (the Succession Agreement). 

    The dispute arose when a Serbian entity claimed the right to receive all the funds as FDSP’s successor in interest under Serbian law. The Serbian entity unsuccessfully argued, among other things, that FDSP was a separately incorporated entity under SFRY law and not a government agency or department. The FDSP funds were frozen, pursuant to US presidential executive order, in 1992 during the Bosnian War. 

    Squire Sanders Partner Richard Mattiaccio led the team representing the Republic of Croatia, while Counsel Boaz Morag led the Cleary Gottlieb team representing Slovenia. The decision can be found at: Yugoimport v. Republic of Croatia, Republic of Slovenia, 11-1990-cv (2nd Cir. February 10, 2014).

    (Thanks to Shannon Miller for assisting with this item).

  • Integrites Successfully Defends Philip Morris in Ukrainian Tax Dispute

    Integrites has successfully defended the interests of Philip Morris Ukraine (the largest producer of tobacco products in Ukraine) in a dispute against the Specialized State Tax Inspectorate in Kharkov.

    Philip Morris Ukraine had disputed a penalty imposed by the Tax Inspectorate, and the Kharkiv District Administrative Court completely overturned the decision of the tax authority. Philip Morris Ukraine was represented in the matter by Integrites Counsel Denis Kitsenko and Senior Partner Vyacheslav Korchev. 

  • Clifford Chance Advises Deutsche Telekom on T-Mobile Czech Republic Acquisition

    In the continuation of a story first reported on February 12, Clifford Chance has announced that it advised Deutsche Telekom on its acquisition of the remaining 39.23 percent stake of T-Mobile Czech Republic for a purchase price of EUR 0.8 billion.

    The shares are currently owned by a consortium of investors led by funds managed or advised by private equity group Mid Europa Partners.

    The deal will allow Deutsche Telekom to simplify the capital and governance structure of T-Mobile Czech Republic and provides financial benefits, such as the savings of annual dividend payments to minority shareholders and an increase in net profit. It also paves the way for Deutsche Telekom to transform itself into a pan-European operator.  Clifford Chance reports that the transaction is not subject to regulatory approvals.

    The Clifford Chance team was led by Global Head of TMT and Corporate Partner Joachim Fleury in London with the assistance of Corporate Partner David Kolacek and Associates Janka Brezaniova and Martin Glajch in Prague and Counsel Line Poliquin in Amsterdam.

     

  • King & Wood Mallesons SJ Berwin Advises on Sale of Digital Banking Technology Specialist

    King & Wood Mallesons SJ Berwin has advised the Euroventures III private equity fund on the sale of IND Group, a digital banking technology specialist, to Misys. The size of the transaction was not disclosed.  

    IND Group’s eight offices include locations in Russia, Romania, Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary. 

    Misys specializes in software for banking, capital markets, lending, and enterprise risk and investment management. The acquisition of IND Group builds on the partnership that Misys signed with the company in March 2013 and supports its goal of expanding existing core banking capabilities through the addition of consumer-orientated solutions. 

    Euroventures III is led by the CEE-based private equity firm Euroventures, a long-established independent private equity firm in Central Europe that invests in private companies in innovative industries, with the goal of helping management teams build their businesses into regional companies.

    Founded in 1997, IND Group is a leading innovator and supplier of online, mobile banking and personal financial management tools. Euroventures III invested in the company in 2007 with the goal of supporting the continued growth of IND’s product development and expansion plans. IND now operates on three continents in 15 countries, providing proficiency and technology to more than 30 banks worldwide.

    Andrew Wingfield, Partner at King & Wood Mallesons SJ Berwin, said: “This was a highly strategic investment by Euroventures, who six years ago saw potential in IND to become a leader in the rapidly evolving e-payments market. It’s a market that continues to develop and something that our clients are excited about.” Wingfield was assisted by Corporate Associate Jamed Darbyshire.

  • Four CEE Firms Among 15 World-Wide Launching New Employee Benefits Alliance

    Four law firms in CEE have joined 11 other firms around the world in launching a new global alliance of firms with specialty practices in employee benefits, executive compensation, tax, employment, and labor law.

    Karanovic & Nikolic (with offices in Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia, Macedonia, and Montenegro), PRK Partners (in the Czech Republic), LAWIN (in Latvia), and Wardynski & Partners (in Poland) join 11 other firms in the new alliance.

    The BECTELLA alliance was conceived and founded by King & Spalding Partner Kenneth Raskin. King & Spalding released a statement asserting that “the alliance is intended to be a resource to provide participating law firms’ clients with access to a worldwide network of lawyers who are experts in the alliance’s specialized practices and to enable participating firms to market their expertise on a global basis.”

    At the moment, BECTELLA includes firms in 20 countries across five continents, with broader coverage expected in the future. Participation in the alliance is by invitation only.

  • Sayenko Kharenko Advises on USD 40 Million Loan Facility to Ukraine’s Largest Power Generating Company

    Ukraine’s Sayenko Kharenko acted as legal counsel to the Russian JSC VTB Bank on a USD 40 million export loan facility to the National Nuclear Energy Generating Company of Ukraine (dba “Energoatom”), the Ukrainian state enterprise that operates all four nuclear power plants in Ukraine.  

    Ukraine is ranked seventh in the world and fifth in Europe in terms of number of nuclear reactors operated, total capacity, and electricity produced. The loan was provided for a year and the funds raised will be used for the purchase of nuclear fuel. Sayenko Kharenko’s team working on the transaction included Partner Nazar Chernyavsky, Senior Associate Olexander Olshansky, and Associate Orest Matviychuk.

  • Havel, Holasek & Partners Promotes Nemecek to Partner

    Havel, Holasek & Partners has promoted Pavel Nemecek to Partner in the firm’s Bratislava office.  

    Nemecek, who becomes the firm’s 23rd partner, focuses on Corporate/M&A, Insolvency, and Insurance Law, particularly for German-speaking clients. In addition to his work in those matters, he will be co-responsible for management and other development in Banking, Finance, and Capital Markets.  He will also contribute to the management of the firm’s Bratislava office, where he has been working since 2012.  

    Nemecek has worked at Havel, Holasek & Partners since 2008, after spending several years in the Prague office of Gleiss Lutz. He started his career at the insurance company Gerling at its headquarters in Cologne, Germany.