CEE Legal Matters

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  • Introducing CEE Legal Matters

    We’re proud to announce the arrival of CEE Legal Matters: A new publication providing in-depth coverage of the lawyers and legal markets of Central and Eastern Europe.  CEE Legal Matters will contain news, analysis, interviews, and opinion from Europe’s emerging legal markets in both print and online versions, keeping lawyers who work in CEE informed of developments of significance across the region, and putting advertisers and contributors in targeted contact with the CEOs and General Counsels whose business they seek. 

    The first print issue of CEE Legal Matters will appear on February 15, 2014.  The online version is already active with news about deals, achievements, and lateral moves, and will expand to include additional content from the magazine when the print version appears. 

  • Kinstellar Named Turkish M&A Law Firm of the Year by Financial Times and Mergermarket

    Kinstellar was awarded 2013 Turkish M&A Law Firm at the Financial Times & Mergermarket European Awards in London.

    The award recognized Kinstellar’s deals in Turkey this year, including the EUR 1 billion asset swap between Verbund and Enerjisa Enerji, and its advice to the Aydinlar family and the Abraaj Group, as sellers, on the USD 252 million sale of a 90% shareholding in Acibadem Saglik ve Hayat Sigorta.

    The head of Kinstellar’s M&A practice, Halide Çetinkaya-Yilmaz, commented: “We are honoured by this recognition of our team’s remarkable progress in establishing Kinstellar’s place among the leading M&A firms in Turkey just three years after our opening.”

  • White & Case Wins “CEE Legal Advisor of the Year” at European M&A Awards

    White & Case was named Central & Eastern Europe Legal Adviser of the Year by Financial Times and Mergermarket at the annual European M&A Awards event they hosted in London.

    The award was accepted on behalf of White & Case by Budapest-based partner Edward Keller and recognized the Firm’s role advising on deals in Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia.

  • Alior Bank Advised by Weil Gotshal in Offering of Newly-Issued Shares

    Weil, Gotshal & Manges acted as legal counsel to Alior Bank in an accelerated bookbuilding (ABB) process on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. The transaction, closed on December 12, represents the largest-to-date offering of newly-issued shares in an ABB process in the Polish capital market. 

    The team was led by Partners Marcin Chylinski and Anna Frankowska in Warsaw and were helped by London-based Partners David Meredith and Peter King on US and UK law matters.

  • White & Case Promotes 6 CEE Lawyers to Counsel or Local Partner

    International law firm White & Case announced that its 31 promotions to local partnership and counsel positions worldwide included 6 lawyers in CEE.

    Dmitry Lapshin (Moscow) and Anthony O’Connor (Budapest/Istanbul) were promoted to Local Partner, while Nikolay Feoktistov (Moscow), Jakub Gubanski (Warsaw),  Simona Petrisor (Bucharest), and Pavel Cizek (Prague), were  promoted to Counsel. All promotions will be active as of January 1, 2014.

  • Asters Again Atop Ukrainian Publication’s Top 50 List

    The Ukrainian law firm Asters has been ranked the No. 1 “Leading Law Firm in Ukraine” for 2013 by the Yuridicheskaya Praktika (Legal Practice) Weekly jointly with the Kommersant-Ukraine Publishing House.

    Yuridicheskaya Praktika’s rankings take into account annual revenue, firm size, financial efficiency, reputation within legal community, completed transactions and litigation cases. Aster’s has now won this particular award three years running.

  • BLP Introduces New Real Estate Team in Moscow

    Goltsblat BLP – the Moscow office of international law firm Berwin Leighton Paisner – announced the addition of a Real Estate team from competitor Akin Gump.

    The new group – led by Vladislav Sourkov, current Head of Akin Gump’s Real Estate practice, and includes Rustam Aliev and Dmitry Maltsev – is expected to have completed its move to Goltsblat BLP by mid-January,  2014. They have recently been involved in a series of  acquisitions in connection with prominent new business centers in Moscow and other Russian cities.

    Vladislav Sourkov said: ”I am very pleased to be joining a firm with such highly-regarded real estate capabilities, recognized globally as one of the leading places to practice real estate. My team and I are looking forward to hitting the ground running and working on the many domestic and international real estate deals that GBLP is involved in.”

    Andrey Goltsblat, Managing Partner of Goltsblat BLP, said: ”I am sure that the consolidation of these two highly professional teams will allow our Real Estate and Construction Practice to strengthen its position as a market leader.”

    Goltsblat’s Real Estate practice is led by Real Estate and Construction Partner Vitaly Mozharowski, and is part of BLP’s global real estate team,  which has over 360 real estate lawyers worldwide. The announcement of Sourkov’s team’s hire follows on BLP’s announcement last month that Karen Friebe, the former global co-chair of DLA Piper’s hospitality and leisure group, will join the firm from early next year.

  • Ashurst Adds CEE/CIS Capital Markets Partner in London

    Ashurst’s London office announced that Partner Francis Kucera would be joining the firm from Linklaters, where he headed the CEE and CIS desks and, for the past four years, served as co-managing partner of the firm’s Warsaw office.

    Kucera focuses on international securities work, on both the debt and equity sides, with a particular emphasis on emerging market financings in CEE and CIS, and acting for both issuers and banks. 

  • Sayenko Kharenko Law Firm at the Top of the “League Table” of 2013

    Sayenko Kharenko was listed at the top of Kommersant-Ukraine and Yuridicheskaya Practik’s “League Table” which compiled the largest public deals in 2013. The firms M&A team is lead by Partners Vladimir Sayenko and Sergey Pogrebnoy

    The firm was also recognized in the table for its work in litigation and antitrust.

  • Popovici Nitu & Asociatii Advises Siena Group in Takeover of Iasi City Center

    The Siena Group was advised by Popovici Nitu & Asociatii in taking entire control of Iasi City Center, a real estate company set up to develop a major office and logistics project in Iasi, Romania.

    Iasi City Center was one of the initial investments by Romanian Real Estate Partners BV, an investment vehicle of US and Spanish investment funds.

    The Siena Group’s taking of entire control of Iasi City Center SA was conducted within the reorganization procedures of Romanian Real Estate Partners BV and involved concerted efforts over more than a half-year, in several jurisdictions.

    The Popovici team advising the Siena Group was led by Serban Patriciu, Managing Associate, while Romanian Real Estate Partners BV was advised by CMS Amsterdam.