CEE Legal Matters

Author: admin

  • D&B David si Baias adds litigation and competition experts

    The Romanian PwC, D&B David si Baias law firm has added Litigator Amelia Teis and Competition lawyer Lucian Bozian to its team.

    Prior to joining the team, Teis headed the Litigation and Arbitration team at Vass Lawyers. Specializing in public acquisitions disputes, her projects included offering legal assistance in a case of financial corrections valued at over EUR 17 million for European projects financed by the Romanian Sectorial Operational Human Resources Development Programs. 

    For his part, Bozian worked as Head Inspector in the National Competition Council for six years, where he participated in numerous investigations involving vertical or horizontal agreements in industries such as paints and varnishes and liquified natural gas distribution.

  • Lavrynovych & Partners Expands Labor Practice

    Lavrynovych & Partners has hired senior lawyer Olena Sapko as Counsel and Head of the firm’s newly expanded Labor Law practice.

    Sapko comes to Lavrynovych & Partners from KPMG, where she was the Manager of the Tax and Legal Departments in the Personal Services Group, and has previously been with PWC in Ukraine as well. She has significant experience consulting on personal income tax matters, compensation systems, and labor law compliance. She has also supervised HR audits and reviews of HR issues in due diligence projects for both Ukrainian and international companies.

  • Eversheds Advises on Penta Hotel Holdings’ Acquisition

    Eversheds has advised on the acquisition of Pental Hotel Holdings, a German hotel management company, by New World China.

    New World China is one of the leading national developers in Mainland China with a total of HKD 117.8 billion in assets. It acquired Penta Hotel Holdings, which manages 24 Pentahotels in Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Germany, and the United Kingdom, for approximately EUR 13.5 million. 

    The deal involved Eversheds’ Hong Kong, German, and Brussels offices. The team in Hong Kong was led by Partner Stephen Mok while Partner Alexander Honrath led the German contingent. According to Honrath, “this transaction is one of several Sino-German M&A transactions taking place at the moment,  as the market continues to pick up activity. Our German China desk is currently advising around 25 different Chinese clients in the German market on various matters as cross border activity remains strong.” 

  • Partner Funda Ozsel Returns to the Bener Law Firm

    Disproving the adage that you can’t go home again, Partner Funda Ozsel has returned to the Bener Law Firm after a year and a half at competitor GSI Meridian.

    Ozsel had spent nine years with the Bener Law Firm before leaving for GSI Meridian in December, 2011, but left GSI  in the spring of 2013, and after taking some time off, reached an agreement to return to Bener in January of this year. Ozsel’s practice focuses on Real Estate and Corporate Retainers, as well as additional Projects and Contracts work.  

  • Bezen & Partners Hires Senior Russian Lawyer

    Turkey’s Bezen and Partners law firm has hired senior Russian lawyer Natalie Petrushevskaya for the firm’s Istanbul office. According to B&P Partner Yesim Bezen, the move is part of the firm’s plan “to beef up its Russian desk and develop further its Russia and CIS focused client base.”

    Although Petrushevskaya is qualified in Russia rather than Turkey, she has been working in Istanbul for most of the last decade, first in-house with Engeocom and Tekfen, and later in private practice with the Gur and Akinci law firms. She advises both Turkish and non-Turkish clients in areas such as M&A, Energy and Projects, and has experience in FIDIC based and EPC contracts for major construction, energy, and real estate projects in Turkey, Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Iraq.

    Petrushevskaya will join Bezen & Partners as a Senior Associate.

  • Dentons Appoints New Polish Managing Partner

    Dentons has announced the appointment of Arkadiusz Krasnodebski as the new Managing Partner of the Warsaw office. He replaced Tomasz Dabrowski, who started as Dentons Europe CEO in January.

    Krasnodebski heads Dentons’ Energy practice group in Poland and Europe and has been with the firm since 2001. He specializes in regulatory,  contractual and corporate advice to clients operating in the energy and utilities sector: distribution and transmission system operators and owners,  electric energy generators,  electric energy and gas traders and offtakers. 

    His most notable transactions include advising on the acquisition of the Polish-Lithuanian energy link (LitPol Link), a pioneering power interconnection between UCTE and the Baltic states, as well as on the acquisition of the SwePol Link between Poland and Sweden.

     

  • Latham & Watkins Advises U.C.E. Synttech Holdings on its Cash Offer for IG Seismic Services

    In a deal that marks the first time that the UK Takeover Panel shares jurisdiction with the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission, the London team of Latham & Watkins advised U.C.E. Synttech Holdings on its cash offer for IG Seismic Services (IGSS).

    IGSS is a Cypriot company with operations in Russia and global depositary receipts listed on the London Stock Exchange. It is a land and transition zone seismic company, offering seismic acquisition, data processing and interpretation services in Russia and CIS. The offeror is controlled by Nikolay Levitskiy, the current CEO of IGSS and the offer values IGSS at approximately USD 312.5 million.

    The Latham & Watkins team was led by Graeme Sloan and Richard Butterwick, both corporate partners in London. Butterwick stated: “The UK’s Takeover Code applies to non-UK companies incorporated within the European Economic Area with securities admitted to listing in London. The practice of listing Cypriot holding companies with global depositary receipts in London has increased in recent years for companies with operations in Russia and the CIS, and this is the first takeover offer for such a company.”

  • CHSH Makes Of Counsel in Austria

    CHSH has promoted Commercial lawyer Nicolas Raschauer to Of Counsel in Vienna.

    Raschauer is Professor of Public Law at the Johannes Kepler University in Linz, where he heads the Department for Public Corporate Law, is Deputy Head of the Institute for Constitutional Law and Political Science, and lectures in the Institute for Environmental Law.

    In a statement released by the firm and attributed to both, CHSH Partners Hans Kristoferitsch and Peter Knobl commented on the significance of the move: “At a time when the level of regulation is increasing rapidly and the number of checks carried out by the regulatory authorities is likewise on the rise, we feel fortunate to have secured such a recognized expert for our law firm.” 

  • Grischenko & Partners Represents Manuli Rubber Industries in Tax Dispute

    Ukraine’s Grischenko & Partners successfully defended the Ukrainian branch of Manuli Rubber Industries. 

    The case before the Supreme Court of Ukraine in December 2013 led to a decrease in a tax fine from UAH 250.000 to 20 non-taxable incomes (UAH 340). Representing Manuli Rubber were Senior Associates Andriy Golub and Maksym Makhynya under the supervision of Partner Sergey Voitovich.

  • Egorov Puginsky Afanasiev & Partners Announces New Partner in Moscow

    Egorov Puginsky Afanasiev & Partners has announced that Victoria Burkovskaya will join the partner ranks in the White Collar Crime Practice. 

    Burkovskaya focuses on criminal proceedings and anti-corruption compliance, financial crimes, and personal data protection and cryptography. She is also a Professor in the Department of Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure and Criminology at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations and a member of the Criminal Law and Arbitration Board of the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris.

    “I am honored to become a Partner at the largest law firm in Russia and the CIS. Due to our solid track record and unique expertise we hope to remain the first point of contact for our clients when it comes to the most sophisticated WCC issues,” Burkovskaya noted.