Category: Czech Republic

Binder Groesswang Partners Michael Kutschera and Markus Uitz have advised the Dutch Koninklijke Ahold company on its EUR 192 million acquisition of 36 Interspar hypermarkets and 14 SPAR supermarkets, with an annual turnover of about EUR 540 million, and a total of about 4,700 employees, in the Czech Republic.

The deal makes Ahold the largest retailer in the Czech Republic, and the transaction has been described as the largest-ever retail chain acquisition in the Czech Republic. The transaction was signed on 10 March 2014. Closing is still subject to approval by Czech competition authorities.

Ahold was advised by the Dutch law firm De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek as transaction counsel and Binder Groesswang as Austrian counsel. The Weinhold Legal team advising the Austrian Spar Group was led by Partner Thilo Hoffmann and included Managing Attorneys Dalibor Simecek and David Emr.

PRK Partners has advised Best Hotel Properties, a large publicly-traded hotel property owner, in its purchase of the InterContinental Hotel in Prague and related companies.

PRK Partners’ advice included transnational tax and corporate structuring, a full review of assets, ownership and operation agreements and other related advisory services. The transaction was successfully completed at the end of 2013/beginning of 2014. The transaction was valued at several billions of Czech crowns.The transaction involved cross-border legal and tax issues, involving the Czech Republic, Luxembourg, Cyprus, the USA, and Slovakia. 

PRK Partners has represented Holcim before Czech antitrust authorities regarding Holcim’s divestment of its Czech operations to the Mexican Cemex corporation.

On March 12, 2014, the Czech antitrust authority approved the August, 2013 merger of CEMEX Czech Republic, s.r.o., and Holcim (Cesko) a.s., a Holcim group member. The decision is not yet final. 

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.

White & Case has advised Falcon Group on the conclusion of a binding agreement for the EUR 828 million sale of its entire stake in T-Mobile Czech Republic to Deutsche Telekom. 

Falcon Group is a consortium of investors 75% controlled by funds managed or advised by Mid Europa Partners, the leading buyout investor which focuses on Central & Eastern Europe and Turkey.

Budapest-based White & Case Partner Rob Irving, Co-head of the Firm’s EMEA private equity practice, said: “We are very pleased to advise Mid Europa and Falcon Group generally on this successful exit. This is the culmination of more than three years of work for Falcon Group, including the EUR 574 million sale of Ceske Radiokomunikace to Macquarie Group in 2011 and EUR 365 million leveraged recapitalization of Falcon Group in 2012.”

The White & Case team which advised Mid Europa Partners was led by Partners Rob Irving and Edward Keller, and included Partners Michal Smrek, Damian Beaven, Ludek Chvosta, Jason Yardley, and Rob Bennett, as well as Local Partner Alena Naatz, and Associates Rebecca Zaman and Richard Blackburn.

The deal is expected to close by the end of February.

White & Case has advised Avast Software and a selling shareholder consortium on the sale of a significant minority stake to CVC Capital Partners, one of the world’s leading private equity and investment advisory firms. 

Avast Software is one of the world’s major players in the antivirus market. The company provides free antivirus software which can be downloaded from the internet and its products are used on more than 200 million PCs and other devices worldwide. It sells additional, premium products to subscribers to its basic free software package.

White & Case’s involvement in the deal included advising on the new US borrower financing that supported CVC’s acquisition of an approximate 40 percent interest in Avast, which values the Prague-based business at around USD 1 billion.

White & Case Partner Michal Smrek, who is based in Prague and leads the firm’s relationship with Avast, said: “We were very excited to support Avast again and in such an important transaction. It is another milestone in our long term relationship with this company.

Partner Ian Bagshaw, London-based co-head of the firm’s private equity practice in EMEA, said: “This fantastic mandate clearly demonstrates the rationale behind strengthening our private equity capability in EMEA. White & Case was able to support Avast on a US borrower financing solution for CVC and, at the same time, represent the selling shareholders on this significant transaction. 

The White & Case team on the deal was co-led by Partners Smrek and Bagshaw, and included Partners Eric Berg, Justin Wagstaff, Ales Zidek, Damian Beaven, and Jiri Tomola, as well as Associates Jakub Zavadil, Jakub Mencl, Steven Hannah, Sevda Staykova, Marcus Booth, Charlotte Dixon, and Heather Borthwick.

The Czech Havel, Holasek & Partners law firm has expanded by two.

Partners Filip Melzer and Petr Tegl, both experts on the new Czech Civil Code, have joined the firm as Of Counsels. Both Melzer and Tegl were members of the team of legislators preparing the new Czech Civil Code, and they will advise on the Code at the firm.

Both Melzer and Tegl lecture in civil law for training judges on the new legislation at the Czech Judicial Academy, and both teach at the Faculty of Law of Palacky University in Olomouc. In addition, they are the main authors of the large commentary to the new Civil Code along with Havel, Holasek Partner Frantisek Korbel.