Category: Czech Republic

“The main thing right now is the upcoming amendment to Act on Corporations,“ starts Kinstellar Partner Tomas Cihula, describing the situation in the Czech Republic. “The Parliament is considering proposals which seek to clarify some parts of the current legislative framework and that aim to ease the regulatory burden companies are facing.“ Cihula said that this overhaul was met with “approval from the business sector.“

“Autonomous vehicles are a bit more of a cool topic, though,“ Cihula says, smiling. “The Czech Republic has a very strong automotive industry and driverless cars are a crucial step forward. There is a proposal for an act to regulate autonomous vehicles and infrastructural plans to accommodate them on the roads, and there is political pressure to pass this piece of legislation by next year so these cars can hit the road as soon as possible.“ 

Another potential legislative change involves medical cannabis, Cihula says. The Czech Republic has legalized cannabis for medical purposes and there are “considerations to have the public health insurance reimburse 90% of its cost for the patients that use it.“ He adds that “there are a lot of companies active in this area that are looking forward to this happening.“ 

Finally, Cihula says, “it’s worth mentioning the new proposal for introducing collective actions.“ The main purpose of this newly-proposed legislation is to improve the position of consumers making claims against large corporations by pooling these claims and sharing costs of the procedure. This would also potentially provide a good source of revenue for the lawyers, he says, adding that “it is likely that the currently proposed legislation in the Czech Republic is inspired by the one in the US which is more claimant-friendly than the regime proposed by the EU.“ The proposed legislation aims to introduce “very broad discovery rules which would allow claimants to have extensive access to documents and data.” It also seeks to enable both opt-in as well as opt-out regimes. “It is to be expected that large corporations will try and fight these changes, seeing as how it would potentially put them in a not-so-favorable position, so we can expect that the proposed draft will undergo some changes before it is passed by the Parliament.”

Glatzova & Co has advised the Pale Fire Capital investment group on its acquisition of 55 percent of shares in the Czech Aukro.cz business portal from Agora Development, Equity Partners, and Ladislav Chodak for an undisclosed price. The sellers were reportedly advised by Kubica Zajic & Partners. The remaining 45 percent of Aukro.cz is owned by Leverage Technology, reportedly advised by solo-practitioner Ondrej Kolar.

Aukro.cz is a commercial auction site in the Czech Republic that was launched in 2003. Its business model combines the sale of new and used goods at a fixed price or at auction. 

The Glatzova & Co team was led by Partner Jan Vesely.

Kinstellar has helped Carvago, a Czech start-up in the used car sector, establish a company and set up its online platform.

Carvago.com was established by Jan Kranat, a former Volkswagen executive, and Jakub Sulta, a founder of Kosik.cz, to compete with traditional sellers of used cars by means of an online platform. The aim of the project is to establish a Europe-wide platform for purchasing cars on the basis of big data analyses.

The Kinstellar team was led by Managing Associate Zdenek Kucera, supported by Partner Jan Juroska and Junior Associates Jakub Stastny and Denisa Simanska.

Masek, Koci, Aujezdsky has advised Livesport on its acquisition of Tapito, a tech start-up news application company, from O2 subsidiary Bolt Start Up Development. Financial details were not disclosed.

Tapito is a tech start-up which developed an application that aggregates news, magazines, and blogs. Bolt Start Up Development is a start-up accelerator. 

Livesport is a sports information provider which develops websites and applications with news on 38 sports and has about 85 million unique users a month.

The Masek, Koci, Aujezdsky team was led by Partner Josef Aujezdsky.

CMS has advised Kiwi.com regarding General Atlantic’s strategic investment in it. Kiwi.com co-founders Oliver Dlouhy and Jozef Kepesi will remain significant shareholders and continue to lead the company. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. DLA Piper also provided legal advice to Kiwi.com while Weil, Gotshal & Manges acted as counsel for General Atlantic.

Kiwi.com was founded in 2012. Its main business is a service that matches airline tickets with passenger itineraries – it helped sell more than EUR 1 billion in tickets all over the world. 

General Atlantic is a global growth equity firm providing capital and strategic support for growth companies. It has more than 150 investment professionals based in New York, Amsterdam, Beijing, Greenwich, Hong Kong, Jakarta, London, Mexico City, Mumbai, Munich, Palo Alto, Sao Paulo, Shanghai, and Singapore.

The CMS team included Partner Helen Rodwell, Senior Associate Frances Gerard, and Associate Pavel Kocian.

Daniela Kozakova has joined the Siroky Zrsavecky law firm to lead its Art Law team. 

Kozakova specializes in legal services related to investments in art and collection and in heritage care. She advises collectors, galleries, and other professionals within the art market on matters such as due diligence of various artworks, authenticity issues, and acquisition of the works of art within the EU, including arranging for their transport and insurance.

According to Siroky Zrsavecky, “she is also an experienced attorney specializing in property, construction, and commercial law.”

Before joining the team at Siroky Zrsavecky, Kozakova worked for three year at Hogan Lovells, 15 months at Gide Loyrette Nouel, and almost 10 years at Havel & Partners, where she was Head of the firm’s Art Desk.

Prague’s Masek, Koci, Aujezdsky Law Firm has advised Livesport Invest s.r.o. on its acquisition of Pragosport, a.s.

According to the Pragosport website, the company’s primary activity is “the acquisition and dissemination of media rights (such as TV, Internet, and mobile rights, Internet streaming rights for betting, etc.).” The website reports that the company “also specialize[s] in marketing and use of media rights for various sponsorship projects.” It also holds the television rights to the Czech Republic’s first and second football leagues through 2024.

The MKA team was led by Partner Josef Aujezdsky and Attorney Ondrej Bahnik.    

Clifford Chance has advised J&T Real Estate CZ on the sale of the Rustonka office center in Prague’s Karlin district to an investment trust fund established by Hana Alternative Asset Management and White Star Real Estate.

The office center is located next to the Invalidovna metro station and has 40,000 square meters of leasable area in a complex of three buildings. 

The Clifford Chance team was led by Partner Emil Holub and Senior Associate Aneta Disman and included Junior Associate Ondrej Dolensky.

Editor’s note: Since this article was published, CEE Legal Matters learned that  Dentons advised the investment fund on this deal. The Dentons team included Partner Jiri Strzinek, Counsel Jana Malkova Zelechovska, and Associates Jan Hrivnak and Veronika Kundeliusova.

White & Case has acted as transaction counsel on Rohlik.cz Finance’s issue of CZK 777 million 6.6% guaranteed and secured notes due 2023, with the option to increase to CZK 1.166 billion.

J&T IB and Capital Markets, a.s. acted as an arranger and J & T BANKA, a.s. acted as manager, agent, and security agent in the deal.

Rohlik.cz Finance is a member of the Rohlik.cz group, which operates an online supermarket in the Czech Republic, serving customers through its subsidiary Velka Pecka s.r.o.

According to White & Case, to allow the issuer a quick access to the market, the transaction involved an initial private placement in January 2019, followed by a subsequent publication of a prospectus for the purposes of listing of the notes on the regulated market of the Prague Stock Exchange, which was completed in April 2019. 

The White & Case team was led by Local Partner Petr Hudec, supported Associates Petr Smerkl and Erik Illmann.

Allen & Overy has advised Alpiq AG on its sale of 100% of shares in Alpiq Generation to Sev.en Energy Group for EUR 280 million. CMS advised Sev.En Energy.

Alpiq Generation operates two Czech coal-fired power plants, in Kladno and Zlin. 

The Allen & Overy team was led by Partner Prokop Verner and included Associates Jakub Cech and Iva Bilinska.