Category: Latvia

Primus has successfully represented the interests of Latvia’s “I support sports!” sports federation initiative at the meeting of the Sports Sub-Committee of the Parliamentary Commission for Education, Culture, and Science.

In the meeting, representatives of the sports industry reported that, as the result of recent tax reform in the country, the amount of funds donated to sports during the first half of 2018 decreased, putting further successful functioning of the industry at risk.  

According to Astra Kalane, a spokeswoman of Latvia’s Ministry of Finance, there is no objective measure of the amount of donations made by enterprises after the tax reform enters into force, especially considering that most of the donations are often in the state budget at the end of the year. She emphasized that companies had additional opportunities to donate to sports, but also pointed out that donation is a voluntary process and that the state cannot force it.

Following the Ministry of Finance’s statement on relevant issues, the Parliamentary Sports Sub-Committee requested that the government look for ways to compensate for the reduction in donations to the sports industry in the amount of approximately EUR 2 million.

Primus reports that the “I support sports!” initiative is meant to promote ideas and suggestions for the improvement of the situation of the sports industry in the country, which industry representatives believe is underfunded and operated inefficiently. 

Primus summarized and analyzed the amount of donations received during the first six-month period of 2018, and provided recommendations for the improvement of the financing model of the public benefit organizations.

The Primnus team was led by Partner Inguna Abele.

Sorainen has advised Medilink, a medicine and laboratory product supplier in Latvia, on the sale of its product distribution businesses, Roche diagnostics solutions and Sysmex haematology solutions, to Roche Latvija. Cobalt advised the buyers. Completion of the transaction is subject to the approval of Latvian Competition Council.

Roche Group is the world’s largest biotech company, headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, and active in over 100 countries. In 2017 it employed about 94,000 people worldwide.

The Cobalt team included Latvia Partner Indriķis Liepa and Associate Ivo Maskalans.

Sorainen’s team included Managing Partner Eva Berlaus and Associate Liva Aleksejeva.

Sorainen did not reply to our inquiries on the matter.  

Ellex Klavins has promoted lawyers Maris Brizgo, Valters Diure, Martins Gailis, Irina Kostina, and Sarmis Spilbergs to Associate Partner.

Maris Brizgo, Head of the firm’s Public Procurement Practice, has about 20 years of experience, and he advises clients on corporate/commercial issues. He focuses on M&A, Commercial and Compliance, and EU and Competition. He has been with Ellex since 2009 after working with Loze, Grunte & Cers, Loze & Partners, and the EU Parliament (as a lawyer linguist). He received his law degree from the University of Latvia and the Copenhagen Business School in collaboration with the Riga Graduate School of Law. 

Valters Diure, Head of the Financial Services Regulatory & Compliance practice at Ellex Klavins, specializes in Banking and Finance, Insolvency, and Commercial Law matters. Before joining Elthe firm in 2007, he worked as a Head of the Account Division of Dealing Operations at Parex Bank in Riga. He studied law at the School of Business Administration Turiba and received a Master’ss of Science in Economics at the University of Latvia.

Martins Gailis, who heads Ellex Klavins’ Intellectual Property Practice Group, specializes in Intellectual Property and Competition Law, as well as matters concerning regulated industries. He joined Ellex in 2002 after studying law at the Riga Graduate School of Law and the University of Essex in the UK.

Irina Kostina, Head of Ellex Klavins’ Employment Law Practice, has more than 14 years’ of legal experience and specializes in dispute resolution and employment matters. Her experience includes representing clients in administrative cases, civil cases, and arbitration cases. Before joining Ellex in 2009, she worked with Rozenfelds & Partners. Kostina studied law at the Riga Graduate School of Law and the University of Latvia.

Sarmis Spilbergs, Head of the firm’s Technology, Media and Communications Practice, specializes in various regulatory fields, such as Data Protection, Life Sciences, IT/IP, and Communications, as well as M&A and general corporate advice. He joined Ellex Kliavins in 2005, and he studied at the Riga School of Law and the International University Concordia-Audentes in Estonia.

“We are extremely happy to kick-off the active autumn season with these important changes in the structure of our team,” said Ellex Klavins Managing Partner Liga Merwin. “All of our associate partners have been with the firm for many years and have gained invaluable experience while working with our clients. Each of the associate partners is a key part of our team. In their new status they will provide leadership in these important practice areas, so that we can continue to provide our clients with the highest level of support in all areas crucial for them.”

Ellex Klavins has advised Baltic Retail Properties Latvia on its merger with its three subsidiaries, on related reorganizational matters, and on the registration of the resulting changes in relevant public registers.

The project was successfully completed in August 2018.

The shareholder of Baltic Retail Properties Latvia is the Lithuanian investment company Baltic Retail Properties, which is licensed and invests in retail real estate in Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania.

Ellex Klavins’ team included Senior Associate Maris Brizgo and Senior Partner Raimonds Slaidins. 

Sorainen Partner Eva Berlaus has been appointed one of the four liquidators of ABLV Bank, following the European Central Bank’s February, 23, 2017 determination that ABLV was failing or likely to fail in accordance with the Single Resolution Mechanism Regulation.

The European Central Bank (ECB) also determined that ABLV Bank Luxembourg, a subsidiary of the Latvian bank, was failing or likely to fail on the same matters.

The decision by the ECB followed a previous announcement on February 13, 2018 by the U.S. Department of the Treasury Financial Crimes Enforcement Network of a draft measure to name ABLV Bank an institution of primary money laundering concern under Section 311 of the USA PATRIOT Act.  

Following these events the shareholders’ meeting of ABLV Bank decided to start the voluntary liquidation process. On June 12, 2018, the process was approved by Latvia’s Financial and Capital Markets Commission.

According to Sorainen, ”the liquidation of ABLV is the largest liquidation in Latvia to date and the first voluntary liquidation of a bank in Latvia. The assets under liquidation [total] approximately EUR 2.4 billion.” It is expected that the liquidation process will last for approximately five years. 

Cobalt, in cooperation with German law firm Arquis, has advised AVS Verkehrssicherung GmbH on the acquisition of KMK Projekts, a provider of traffic safety products and permanent road marking in Latvia.

According to Cobalt, ”AVS, headquartered in Kurten, Germany, is a leading specialist provider of professional traffic safeguarding – especially for major projects on federal motorways.” 

The Cobalt team included Managing Partner Dace Silava-Tomsone, Partners Toms Sulmanis and Sandija Novicka, and Senior Associate Elina Locmele.

Ellex Klavins has advised Baltic Horizon Fund on the acquisition of the LNK Center office building from SIA LNK Properties and SIA FIN.LV. The seller were advised by Fort Legal. The purchase price is approximately EUR 17 million.

The agreement was signed on July 4, 2018, with closing of the transaction to be finalized within one month.

LNK Center is an A class office building with a net leasable area of 7,455 square meters. The property is located in the new Skanste business district of Riga. The building is fully leased to five tenants, and Exigen Services and LNK Group occupy about 90% of the leasable area.

LNK Group is a real estate and infrastructure development and construction company in Latvia. As part of the transaction LNK Group will extend its lease agreement in the property for ten years.

Baltic Horizon Fund is a regulated closed-end contractual investment fund registered in Estonia and managed by Northern Horizon Capital AS, a subsidiary of Northern Horizon group. Baltic Horizon is the first public real estate fund listed on Nasdaq Tallinn exchange. Baltic Horizon Fund units are also listed on Nasdaq Stockholm.

The Ellex Klavins team was led by Partner Ivars Pommers and included Partner Inita Jurka and Associates Zane Miglane and Ineta Kaņepe.

The Fort Legal team was led by Partner Janis Likops and included Attorney-at-Law Roberts Prusis, Associate Liene Lazare, and Assistant Attorney-at-Law Laila Pudule.

Image Source: lnk.lv

Ellex Klavins has represented commercial real estate fund SG Capital Partners Fund I on the acquisition of the Duntes Nami office building in Riga from East Capital Baltic Property Fund AB. The seller was advised by Vilgerts.

The total area of the property is more than 12 thousand square meters.

The transaction, which was carried out as a share purchase and included a complex refinancing of the building’s loan commitment in cooperation with Luminor Bank, was concluded at the end of June 2018. 

The Ellex Klavins team included Head of the Real Estate Practice Ivars Pommers, Partner Inita Jurka, and Associates Anete Dimitrovska and Ineta Kaņepe.

Image Source: architizer.com

BDO Law has successfully assisted the Akers VKS ventilation and conditioning systems company in a lawsuit against Euro Luxe Trading Latvia, the developer of the Vernisaza recreational complex, which had refused to pay Akers for construction work it had performed.

According to BDO Law, it managed to recover the debt by seizing the defendant’s bank accounts, and after less than three years of litigation, which, according to BDO Law, “is a relatively short period of time for a case like this,” Akers VKS saw the money transferred into its bank account.

The ventilation and conditioning systems company Akers VKS had performed as required by the contract at the Vernisaza recreational complex. The system had been put into service as promised, but the final payments required by the contract were not made, and, according to BDO Law, “the developers of the complex were coming up with a range of questionable reasons to avoid payment.” According to the firm, “the debt recovery case was made difficult by the fact that the building of the recreational complex was legally owned by a company registered in the Caribbean island of Angilsk, which was leased to the developer SIA Euro Luxe Trading Latvia, with which all construction contracts were actually concluded.”

According to the firm, this approach is used often, separating the company that owns the assets from the company taking responsibility for the commitments. In this way, BDO Law reports, “the debt recovery may be seriously compromised once the judgment enters into force.” According to the firm, “there were other companies involved in the construction works of the recreational complex Vernisaza who also filed claims to the developer of the project. Akers VKS was the only one who opted to enforce its rights in court.”

Cobalt has advised Storent Investments AS on the issuance of EUR 10 million bonds and the listing of the bonds on the Baltic Bond List of Nasdaq Riga.

Nasdaq reports that the nominal value of one Storent bond is EUR 100. The annual coupon rate is 8% with interest paid four times a year. Maturity date of the bond issue is June 30, 2020.

Storent Investments is an international group of companies operating in the construction and industrial equipment rental industry. It is currently active in Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Finland, Sweden, and Russia (Kaliningrad).

The Cobalt team consisted of Counsel Edgars Lodzins and Associate Krisjanis Buss.

Image Source: baltic-review.com