Jalsovszky has advised both parties on the sale by Magyar Posta Takarek Ingatlan Befektetesi Alap of the Buda Business Center Office Building to an unnamed real estate fund.
Magyar Posta Takarek Ingatlan Befektetesi Alap is managed by Diofa Alpakezelo Zrt.
Jalsovszky’s team was led by Senior Associate Peter Gyimesi.
Hungary’s BLS Law Firm has advised LP Portfolio on its issuance of HUF bonds under the Bond Funding for Growth Scheme announced by the Central Bank of Hungary. Schoenherr advised the arranger, OTP Bank.
The BLS team included Partners Gabor Kovacs and Erzsebet Szalay and Associate Mark Bene.
Editor’s note: After this article was published Schoenherr confirmed that it had advised OTP Bank on the issuance. The firm’s team was led by Partner Gergely Szaloki.
Lakatos, Koves & Partners has advised Soulbrain on the acquisition of a development site from the state-owned National Industrial Park Management and Development Company and on all other legal aspects of its Hungarian operation. The sellers were reportedly advised by Katona Gyorgy Law Office.
Soulbrain is a South Korean firm specializing in production of electrolytes needed for lithium batteries. Its factory in Hungary is expected to start a trial run by the end of 2020.
LKT’s team was lead by Partner Attila Ungar and included Lawyers Tamas Olah and Agnes Hegyi.
Kapolyi Law Firm has appointed Katinka Tolgyes the firm’s new Head of Competition.
Tolgyes specializes in competition, capital markets law, and compliance. She began her career in 2007 at the Hungarian Competition Authority, where she worked until 2014 on civil, competition, consumer protection law, marketing communication and public procurement cases. In 2015 she became Chief Compliance Officer at Keler KSZF Kozponti Szerzodo Fel Zrt., in which role, the Kapolyi law firm reports, “she oversaw core and ancillary CSD services, the issuance of securities, certain specialized credit institution services, clearing services, central counter-party services and guarantee undertaking.”
Tolgyes obtained her J.D. from the University of Szeged’s Faculty of Law in 2007.
According to the Kapolyi Law Firm, “through her extensive professional expertise across several practices, and as the head of the Competition practice, she will further elevate the quality of legal services the Kapolyi Law Firm offers for its domestic and international clients.”
Do you need a company to be established in Hungary? You will find below some hints and tips that will make your life easier.
Can be used promptly
Although a company is considered as formed once it is entered into the Companies Registry, it can already pursue business activity from the date of filing. As soon as it gets its tax registration number (a couple of days later), the company can even issue invoices, notwithstanding its registration. So putting a company into operation is indeed fast and effective.
Standard forms are available
If the members of the company use the standard-form articles set forth by law, registration procedure must be completed in one business day. Such forms are rather simple and are easy to use, if the company’s members have no special needs for their shareholders’ arrangements. Not only they make registration super-fast but also reduce legal work and, as a result, costs.
One-stop shop system
Company registration and tax registration runs parallel. This means that there is no need to submit a separate tax registration form. VAT number, statistical number, even EU-VAT number can be requested when submitting the application for registration to the Court of Registration.
Registration duties and fees can be avoided
The establishment of a „Kft.” (i.e. a limited liability company), and other simple company forms are free of stamp duties and publication fees. This is so, irrespective of whether the company is formed by way of standard documentation or in a normal procedure, it has one or more members.
Payment of initial capital may be delayed
Although the limited liability company forms provide for a minimum registered capital (HUF 3 Million in case of a Kft. and HUF 5 Million in case of a Zrt.), the contribution of such payment can be delayed. No final decline for the contribution of the capital is specified. The company is, however, limited in its capacity to pay dividends as long as the capital is not fully contributed.
By Agnes Bejo, Senior Attorney, Jalsovszky
Jozsef Antal, the former Chief Legal Counsel at Unix Auto, has become the new Head of Legal and Compliance at Metro Cash & Carry Hungary.
Antal joined Unix Auto in 2019 (as reported by CEE Legal Matters on July 9, 2019). Before moving in-house, he was Partner and Head of Dispute Resolution at Baker McKenzie, a firm he first joined in 1999.
In explaining his move, Antal told CEE Legal Matters that he “has been driven to find my real place in a more international and inspiring environment, with an equal focus on compliance matters.”
Former EY Tax Manager Balint Zsoldos has been appointed the new Head of Tax at the KCG Partners Law Firm in Budapest.
“Balint has a sound tax knowledge and a strong client-focused approach,” said KCG Managing Partner Eszter Kamocsay-Berta.“ Expanding our tax team with a designated head with his unique expertise is a major step in the process of further strengthening our tax practice. It enables us to keep contributing to our clients’ success by dedicated tax advisory service offering our clients real added value. We are delighted to welcome Balint on board.”
Zsoldos graduated from the ELTE Law School in Budapest. Before joining KCG he spent three years as a tax lawyer at the National Tax and Customs Authority, then two and a half years at KPMG and another three and a half at EY.
Wolf Theiss worked alongside lead counsel Travers Smith in advising TA Associates on an unspecified investment in Netrisk, a Hungarian online independent insurance marketplace. Netrisk and existing investor MCI Capital were advised by Deloitte Legal.
Wolf Theiss describes TA Associates as “one of the most experienced global growth private equity firms, having raised USD 33.5 billion in capital since its founding in 1968,” and the firm reports that it “has a long history of investing in companies focused on the digital economy.”
The Wolf Theiss team was led by Partner Janos Toth and included Associates Mark Chiovini and Kinga Kajcsos.
The Travers Smith team in London was led by Partners Paul Dolman and Donald Lowe and included Senior Associate Will Sheridan and Associates Matt Powrie, Hattie Langworth, and Michael Leadbeater.
Adrienn Tar has been promoted to Partner at Szecskay Attorneys at Law, where she will head the firm’s Corporate practice.
Tar is a graduate of ELTE and the Bibo Istvan College of Law. She has been with Szecskay for 12 years. According to the firm, “she not only provides professional advice on the establishment of a company but also provides a very practical tailored solution as to its implementation. This comprises everything from labor to contract law and licensing questions. Recently she has also focused on mediation in shareholders’ disputes and solving problems amicably among business partners.”
“Adrienn Tar is an extremely capable and highly regarded member of our firm,” commented Managing Partner Andras Szecskay. “She truly exhibits the key strength of our firm which is clear and human communication with our clients which enables her to build up deep trust that results in long-term business relationships. Clients simply feel safe in her hands.”
Most have heard of the difference between Anglo-Saxon case law and the continental courts – and perhaps that Hungary has so far firmly belonged to the latter camp. However, an amendment to the law that has recently been adopted represents a major step in the opposite direction – one that could result in thousands of Supreme Court rulings becoming precedents overnight.
What is case law?
The courts of Anglo-Saxon countries mainly base their decisions on earlier resolutions: given the same set of facts, the lower courts may not draw other conclusions. Thus, a 150-year-old precedent dug up at an opportune moment can reverse the outcome of a case. To this day, one of the cornerstones of English consumer law is the 1932 decision in a lawsuit over a snail found in a bottle of beer.
By contrast, in the continental model, the judge dealing with the case is free to decide within the boundaries of the law. This means that, in principle, he or she is not bound by any previous supreme-court decision in a similar case. This is the principle on which the Hungarian legal system has been based – at least until now.
How is a precedent created?
The Hungarian Supreme Court is already able to issue what are known as ‘legal uniformity resolutions’, which are binding on the lower courts and thus essentially function as statutory regulations. Until now, the Supreme Court has only resorted to this opportunity when it absolutely had to, and the number of legal uniformity decisions passed has been negligible.
However, the act recently passed by Parliament significantly broadens the ‘legislative’ role of the Hungarian Supreme Court. Under the new rule, it will not only be the legal uniformity resolutions that the judges are not able to depart from but they will essentially have to follow the interpretation of the law as expressed in all publicized decisions of the Supreme Court. As a result, tens of thousands of individual Supreme Court decisions that have so far only been published as recommended guidelines, will now become legal precedents.
If, for some reason, a judge in a particular case wishes to depart from these precedents of the Supreme Court, he may still do so, but will have to justify the departure in his ruling. The Supreme Court will keep a watchful eye on these departures: the parties will also be able to challenge the departures in their appeals and, ultimately, submit a ‘legal-uniformity complaint’ about them to the Supreme Court. The legal-uniformity complaint will be decided on by a body headed by the President of the Supreme Court, known as the Legal-Uniformity Complaints Board. If the Board deems that the judge has unjustifiably departed from the published precedent, it will repeal the ruling made in the underlying case and order the court to conduct a new proceeding along with a legal uniformity proceeding.
Questions and opportunities
The introduction of case law is not necessarily a bad idea, and indeed, due to the application of EU law, Hungarian lawyers already have some experience of it. In addition, the new system will create new opportunities, as departures from a precedent will themselves be citable in legal appeals. However, especially in the initial period, many practical difficulties may arise.
Problems related to the searchability of precedents are expected to come to surface with renewed urgency. That is because from now on it will be more important than ever to be able to search effectively among the published rulings. However, the search engine available on the website of the courts is still painfully cumbersome, especially for users accustomed to state-of-the-art search engines.
And let’s not forget that among the thousands of published resolutions, there are some that are bound to contradict each other. Explaining why a seemingly valid precedent does not apply to a specific case will be an exciting yet sometimes frustrating legal task for litigants.
By Zoltán Dobos, Trainee Lawyer, Jalsovszky