Category: Czech Republic

Allen & Overy’s Prague office has advised Ceska Zbrojovka Group on its initial public offering and the listing of its shares on the Prime Market of the Prague Stock Exchange. White & Case reportedly advised the joint global coordinators and joint bookrunners Ceska Sporitelna, Komercni Banka, and Societe Generale. Wood & Company Financial Services also acted as a joint bookrunner on the deal. 

According to Allen & Overy, “CZG completed its initial public offering of 3,080,000 shares, including 2,800,000 new shares and 280,000 existing shares held by Ceska Zbrojovka Partners.” The firm reported that, “the shares were sold at a price of CZK 290 per share, resulting in total proceeds of CZK 812 million. The proceeds will primarily finance CZG’s strategy to expand its presence in the U.S. by constructing a new production facility in Little Rock, Arkansas.”

Ceska Zbrojovka Group is a manufacturer of firearms for military and law enforcement, personal defense, hunting, sport shooting, and other civilian uses. The firm is headquartered in the Czech Republic, with production facilities in the country and the U.S.

A&O’s team in Prague consisted of Partners Petr Vybiral, Associate Jana Chwaszcz, and Junior Lawyer Denisa Jonasova; in Frankfurt, Partner Marc Plepelits and Senior Associates Rita Nicole Thomas and Martin Schmidt; and in London, Partner James Roe.

Bird & Bird’s Prague office has assisted KB SmartSolutions on an unspecified investment into the fintech company Lemonero, made through the acquisition of shares in its parent company, MonkeyData.

According to Bird & Bird, “Lemonero is a Czech start-up that offers operational financing in the field of e-commerce through digital platform, data use, and artificial intelligence.” According to the firm, “Lemonero mainly finances small and medium-sized e-shops not only in the Czech Republic, but also in Europe.”

MonkeyData, which is headquartered in Austin, Texas, is a privately-held provider of e-commerce analytics, online business analytics, business intelligence, and data analytics.

KB SmartSolutions is a subsidiary of Komercni Banka, through which the bank invests in modern technologies in the area of financial sector.

The Bird & Bird team was led by Partner Ivan Sagal and included Associates Lubomir Brecka, Martina Waliczkova, Gabriela Mala, Radomir Pivoda, and Roman Norek.

Dentons has advised international energy group Sev.en Energy on the acquisition of the Pocerady power plant from CEZ. Skils reportedly advised CEZ on the transaction.

With a capacity of 1000 MW, the Pocerady plant is the largest coal-fired energy generating plant in the Czech Republic. According to Dentons, “the parties reached an agreement to transfer ownership of the plant to Sev.en Energy by December 31, 2020, instead of in 2024 as initially planned. The accelerated timeline will allow the company to speed up the process of modernizing and upgrading the plant to meet all emission standards by 2021.” 

“The purpose of this investment is to meet the EU’s and the Czech Republic’s most stringent climate and environmental requirements until the time when the Czech Republic obtains sufficient energy from other than fossil sources,” says Sev.En CEO Lubos Pavlas. “We plan to reshape the Pocerady power plant into one of the most modern capacities in the Czech Republic, which will safely take the energy sector to the zero-carbon future.”

Dentons’ team included Partner Petr Zakoucky, Managing Associates Ivo Hartmann and Lucie Kubinyiova, and Associates Justina Bodlakova, Jan Tyls, Michal Pelikan, Adam Prerovsky, Barbora Obracajova, and Anna Urbanova.

Editor’s Note: On January 6, 2021, Dentons reported that the deal had “successfully closed on December 31, 2020, having received regulatory approvals and completed the conditions precedent.”

Clifford Chance has advised AOC on its acquisition of the unsaturated polyester resin manufacturing operations of Spolchemie.

Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

Clifford Chance describes AOC as “a supplier of resins and specialty materials that “enable customers to create robust, durable, and versatile products and components.”

Spolchemie is a European producer of specialty epoxy resins and systems and other chemical products. Before the sale it had already been making resins for AOC on a contract basis

According to Clifford Chance, “this footprint extension will allow AOC to further improve service and logistics to its customers in Central and Eastern Europe as well as in Germany.”

Clifford Chance’s Prague-based team included Partner Alex Cook, Senior Associate Aneta Disman, and Associates Veronika Kinclova and Tomas Prochazka.

KLB Legal has advised Pilulka Lekarny on its initial public offering on the Start market of the Prague Stock Exchange. Wood & Company Financial Services served as the arranger on the offering, which was valued at CZK 250 million.

Pilulka Lekarny is a provider of online pharmacy services in Central and Eastern Europe and an operator of brick-and-mortar pharmacies in the Czech Republic. According to KLB Legal, “Pilulka also operates in Romania and plans to enter the Hungarian market in 2021. It has been operating on the Czech market since 2013.”

KLB Legal’s team included Partners Vojtech Laska and David Kubon and Lawyers Veronika Civinova, David Reiterman, and Dominik Fries.

Havel & Partners, working pro bono, has helped the Plant-for-the-Planet organization establish its presence in the Czech Republic.

According to Havel & Partners, “the Plant-for-the-Planet organization has already planted 13 billion trees worldwide and is now introducing in the Czech Republic its global target of planting 1 trillion trees.” The firm reported that, “this number of trees could offset up to two thirds of all existing CO2 emissions and hence delay the predicted rise in temperature on our planet by up to 15 years.” In addition, the firm reported “the organization is planning to achieve this objective by educating youth, working closely with firms across all sectors, and crowdfunding reforestation in developing countries via the Plant-for-the-Planet mobile application.”

Havel & Partners’ team was led by Partner Ondrej Florian.

Vladek Kramek has been promoted to Partner at Havel & Partners in the Czech Republic.

According to Havel & Partners, Kramek’s areas of expertise include “advising private clients, structuring the protection of private property, corporate law, [and] finance and capital markets law, including the regulation of financial products.”

Before joining Havel & Partners in 2019, Kramek spent eleven years at Fincentrum, including several as Head of Legal and Compliance. He also spent two years as a Member of the Advisory Committee of the European Federation of Financial Advisers and Financial Intermediaries. He obtained his PhD degree from the Charles University in Prague in 2007.

JSK has advised shareholders Petr Janu, Jan Zvonik, Ladislav Partl, and Jiri Trcka on the sale of TKZ Polna, spol. s r.o. to the Rose Investments Group.

According to JSK, “TKZ Polna, spol. s r.o. is a renowned Czech manufacturer of building and furniture hardware with a tradition of custom and serial production since 1911, which currently has about 170 employees.” According to the firm, “the Rose Group deals with the comprehensive management of business activities, private property, and family organizations within family companies.”

JSK’s team was led by Partner Tomas Dolezil and included Senior Associate Helena Hailichova and Junior Lawyer Tomas Benes.

Real Estate specialist Dominika Vesela has made Partner at Eversheds Sutherland in Prague.

According to Eversheds Sutherland, Vesela “has many years of experience managing real estate transactions, negotiating work contracts, and representing parties in lease relationships.” According to the firm, “she has been leading the Real Estate practice since 2018.”

Vesela began practicing law at legacy Dvorak Hager & Partners in 2011, staying with the firm after it became a part of Eversheds Sutherland in 2019. Vesela received her first Master’s degree from the University of Economics in Prague in 2009 and her second Master’s degree from the Faculty of Law of the Charles University in Prague in 2010.

“I will borrow a quote from a TV series: ‘I didn’t become a lawyer because I like the law… It’s boring,’” said Vesela.” But what is not boring is working for our clients and with our clients. At Eversheds Sutherland, we always strive to turn our clients’ problems into challenges and to tackle them together successfully. But this is only possible with the support of the entire Eversheds Sutherland team – tireless experts who work with huge commitment, professionalism and mutual respect. Participating in the development of this company simply makes sense, and it’s not boring.”

“It is extremely important for us that our people grow together with the company, and in this case the promotion was a clear step,” said Stanislav Dvorak, Managing Partner at Eversheds Sutherland in Prague.

Schoenherr’s Czech office has advised Germany’s Celonis on its acquisition of Integromat and its subsidiaries in the Czech Republic. Novalia advised the selling shareholders on the deal. Davis Polk reportedly also advised the buyer on the deal.

Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

Celonis, which was founded in Germany in 2011, develops and operates enterprise performance acceleration software. According to Schoenherr, “its process mining technology helps organizations eliminate operational friction and become a superfluid enterprise.” The company serves customers in the automotive and industrial, banking, wholesale and retail, insurance, and telecommunication sectors.

Integromat is a Czech-based provider of automation software that was established in 2013. 

The Schoenherr team consisted of Partner Vladimir Cizek and Attorneys-at-Law Jiri Marek, Rudolf Bicek, Eva Bajakova, and Marie Gremillot.

Novalia’s team included Partners Jakub Cisar and Bill Finney.