Category: Czech Republic

CMS Prague has advised Advent International on its sale of TES Vsetin to ARX Equity Partners. Clifford Chance advised the buyers on the deal, and Allen & Overy advised Raiffeisenbank a.s. on the acquisition financing.

Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

Founded 20 years ago, ARX Equity Partners is a private equity firm that supports growth and development of mid-sized companies in Central Europe.

TES is a European industrial designer and manufacturer of tailor-made power generators, motors, drives, and other electrical machines and their system components. TES was founded in 1919 and is based in the Czech Republic with a representative office in Germany.

CMS reports that, as part of the transaction, ARX has agreed to partner with the TES’s existing management team, which will lead the company’s future growth and development.

The CMS team was led by Prague Managing Partner Helen Rodwell, supported by Senior Associates Pavel Srb and Frances Gerrard.

Clifford Chance’s Prague-based team was led by Partner David Kolacek, assisted by Partner Milos Felgr, Counsel Michal Jasek, Associates Veronika Kinclova and Dominik Vojta, and Junior Lawyers Martin Urban and Matej Ridky.

The Allen & Overy team was led by Senior Associate Petra Mysakova and included Associate Pavel Prihoda and Junior Lawyer David Bujgl. 

Former Weinhold Legal Managing Attorney Ondrej Havlicek has joined Schoenherr Prague as Head of Banking, Finance, and Capital Markets.

“Expanding our Banking & Finance team is the next step in the process of further strengthening our practice,” commented Schoenherr Prague Managing Partner Martin Kubanek. “We are excited to have him on board.”

Prior to joining Schoenherr, Havlicek spent 13 years at Weinhold Legal. He received his Masters of Law degree from the Charles University in Prague and an LL.M. in International Business Law at VU University Amsterdam. 

Kinstellar has advised Ceskomoravska Nemovitostni a.s. on its acquisition of the Blox office building in Prague’s sixth district from the CFH Group. The seller was reportedly advised by Svoboda & Kucera.

According to Kinstellar, the building’s primary tenant is Amazon. In addition to office space the building also offers A-Class retail space. The deal value is approximately CZK 2 billion.

The Kinstellar team was led by Partner Klara Stepankova and included Senior Associate Rudolf Schichor and Junior Associate Denisa Simanska.

The Svoboda & Kucera team consisted of Attorneys-at-Law Jiri Svoboda and Jan Kucera.

Kinstellar has advised Warburg-HIH Invest on its acquisition of the River Garden I office building in Prague’s Karlin district from LaSalle Investment Management. White & Case reportedly advised the sellers on the deal.

The six-storey building consists of 19,000 square meters of office space, including 2,200 square meters of retail. At the moment, it is 90% let to a number of tenants, including Automatic Data Processing, Monster Worldwide, Creditinfo, Unilever, and Shoptet.

Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

The Kinstellar team was led by Partner Klara Stepankova and included Partner Jan Juroska, Senior Associate Rudolf Schichor, and Junior Associate Tereza Maskova.

Kamila Seberova, Radka Nenickova, and Tereza Naucova have joined Wolf Theiss in Prague as Counsels, Dita Sulcova has joined as a Tax Consultant, and Filip Michalec has joined as a Senior Associate.

“Less than a year ago we announced that our Prague team would shortly double or triple in numbers,” said Managing Partner Jitka Logesova. “You can now see that happening and our expansion won’t stop there.” 

Seberova has spent the past eight and a half years at the Rada & Partner law firm, which she co-founded in 2011. Before that she spent over ten years with Norton Rose in Prague and a year and a half with the Czech Patent Office. “For several years Kamila Seberova has advised key players in this industry on regulatory matters with a focus on intellectual property and unfair competition,” Jitka Logesova said. “She arrives with an excellent reputation and a proven track record, as evidenced, among others, by her selection as advisor by the Czech Association of Pharmaceutical Companies.”

Radka Nenickova will head Wolf Theiss’s Czech Real Estate practice. Before joining Wolf Theiss she held senior positions at two international law firms, and joins the firm from a major real estate developer. “In addition to her legal skills, Radka has tremendous market knowledge and a firm grasp of the real estate environment,” said Partner Robert Pelikan, Head of Wolf Theiss’s Czech Dispute Resolution and Competition practices. “This provides us with significant added value. Furthermore, she understands exceptionally well the practical aspects of our clients’ projects. It is this sector specialization what is particularly valued by our clients.” 

Tereza Naucova joins Wolf Theiss’s Corporate/M&A team after spending more than ten years at Kinstellar (and legacy Linklaters).

Filip Michalec joins the Banking & Finance team from Dentons, where he spent the past two and a half years. According to Wolf Theiss, “in addition to focusing on capital markets, regulatory compliance and anti-money laundering, Filip is also engaged in the area of innovative financial services.“

Former Head of Legal at Novartis Oncology Barbora Dubanska has joined Taylor Wessing as Partner and CEE Co-Head of Life Sciences.

Dubanska is an expert in the fields of pharmaceutical, regulatory, and antitrust law. She will be leading the firm’s team alongside fellow Co-Head Dieter Natlacen. She will commute between the Taylor offices in Vienna and Prague, while covering the entire CEE region.

Dubanska has over 14 years of experience. Before joining Novartis Oncology in December 2016 she spent five years as Head of the German Desk and Head of CEE Competition at CMS Cameron McKenna (during which time she was seconded for almost three years to Amazon), two years at Weinhold Legal, and four and a half years with Clifford Chance.  

She studied law in several European cities as well as in Australia and acquired an LL.M. Degree from Cambridge University. She also holds Ph.D in law from the Charles University in Prague.

Allen & Overy has advised sole lead manager J.P. Morgan on the approximately CZK 2 billion domestic subordinated Tier 2 capital bond issue by Moneta Money Bank.

According to A&O, this is the first subordinated Tier 2 capital bond issue by a Czech bank under a base prospectus approved based on the Czech Republic’s new Prospectus Regulation. A&O reports that the base prospectus allows for the issuance of a range of debt instruments, including mortgage covered bonds, senior preferred bonds, senior non-preferred bonds, subordinated preferred bonds, and subordinated Tier 2 bonds. All the instruments may be issued, subject to compliance with applicable rules and regulations, to retail as well as institutional investors.

The transaction was led by A&O’s Prague-based Counsel Petr Vybiral, assisted by Associate Tomas Kafka. A&O’s London team consisted of Partners Peter Crossan and Tom Grant and Associate Michael Hossack.

CMS Prague-based Partner Lukas Hejduk has been made Head of CEE Real Estate at the firm, replacing Wojciech Koczara, who steps down after a five-year term.

Hejduk, who joined CMS in 2012, has led the firm’s Czech real estate practice for the past five years. According to CMS, “he advises on a range of real estate related projects and transactions, including real estate M&A, construction projects, development, leasing, sale and lease-back transactions and greenfield investments. He specializes in property transactions and has experience of acting for international funds, private investors, developers, insurance providers, and banks.” Also, according to the firm, he “co-heads the CEE Hotel & Leisure practice and advises on sector specific matters such as hotel management agreements. He also has been involved in mandates in the Czech Republic, CEE, UK, and Africa.”

CMS Cameron McKenna CEE Managing Director Dora Petranyi commented, “Lukas is a well-known international real estate lawyer and will bring dynamic leadership and deep sector knowledge to the role.” She added: “I would also like to thank Wojciech for his leadership of the group for the last five years. His guidance and drive have contributed greatly to the success of our real estate team in CEE.  Wojciech will remain a key member of the regional team and will continue to play an active role in many of our key initiatives.”

“I am honored to have been appointed to this role at what is an exciting and prosperous time for the real estate sector across CEE,” Hejduk commented. “Wojciech has developed our practice into a market leader, and I look forward to building on this strong foundation and working closely with my fellow partners and colleagues to further develop opportunities for clients across the region.”

Clifford Chance has advised investment group KKCG on the sale of its CK Fischer travel agency in the Czech Republic to German group REWE, the owner of EXIM Tours and Kartago Tours in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Eversheds Sutherland advised the REWE Group on the deal, which has yet to be approved by the Czech office for the Protection of Competition.

Clifford Chance’s team was supervised by Prague Managing Partner Alex Cook and led by Counsel Michal Jasek, working with the assistance of Warsaw-based Counsel Nick Fletcher and Prague-based Associate Jakub Vesely, and Junior Lawyer Tomas Prochazka. The team also included Partner Nicholas Mace and Senior Associate Nicola Hemsley from Clifford Chance’s London office.

The Eversheds Sutherland team in the Czech Republic included Partner Stanislav Servus, Principal Associate Jiri Kokes, Senior Associates Tomas Mls and Petra Kratochvilova, and Associates Jakub Verlik and Jirt Koubek.

Editor’s note: After this article was published, Eversheds Sutherland informed CEE Legal Matters that the transaction closed on May 4, 2020.

Kocian Solc Balastik has advised the Corinthia Palace Hotel Company Limited on the sale of its Panorama Hotel Prague and adjoining land and property to the Austrian developer S + B Gruppe.

The transaction was preceded by the split-off of part of the property into a SPV and assistance was provided for the legal due diligence process.

The KSB team included Partner Vaclav Rovensky and Associate Jakub Porod.

KSB did not reply to our inquiry about counsel for the buyers.