Category: Latvia

Lawin’s Riga office has advised the international digital media company IAC on the acquisition of the popular social networking website Ask.fm.  

According to Lawin, Ask.fm, which was established in 2010 and is based in Riga, is the “ninth most popular networking site in the world”, and is mainly used as an online tool for exchange of questions and answers and questions among users.

The U.S. media group IAC owns such Internet brands as “Vimeo”, “Dictionary.com”, “Investopedia”, “Match”, “OkCupid”, and “Tinder”.

Lawin’s assistance included performing due diligence, advising on the share acquisition, participating in negotiations with the sellers, and preparing closing documents. The firm continues advising IAC on changes in the management of the company and ensuring further business operations. 

The Lawin team was led by Partner Filips Klavins and Senior Associate Sarmis Spilbergs.

Editorial Note: After this article was published, the Latvia office of the Fort Law Firm announced that it advised ASK.fm on this deal.

Sorainen has announced that Latvian real estate and construction expert Laine Skopina and her team have joined the firm’s Riga office, where she becomes the firm’s 25th partner.

   

Laine Skopina (sorainen.com)

According to a firm press release, Skopina, “will contribute her 23 years’ experience to co-heading both the Latvian and the Regional Real Estate and Construction Teams.” The firm reports that Skopina is bringing a team for four lawyers with her, giving the firm “an unprecedented number of professionals working at one law firm in Latvia – 42.”

Skopina joins Sorainen from competitor Borenius, where she had been since June, 2003. Skopina said of her decision to switch firms that: “Sorainen attracted me with its high standards of work and internal culture that promotes opportunities for individual development supported by a big regional team, as well as development perspectives for establishing a joint Real Estate & Construction Team. I am inspired to contribute my knowledge and experience plus that of my team in reaching common goals.”

Eva Berlaus, Managing Partner of Sorainen Latvia, noted that this is the first time Sorainen Latvia has welcomed a team this large at the same time: “I am absolutely confident that the firm is ready for this step and we are capable of employing all opportunities that these changes will bring.”

In addition to her Real Estate and Construction work, Skopina has experience in Labor law, and advises clients operating in the retail and trade, agriculture, and forestry sectors. She has also been an assistant to the Prime Minister in legislation issues. Her team includes Senior Associate Jevgenija Andronova (M&A, harbor operations, and advertisement rights), Senior Associate Viktorija Smirnova-Cerkasa (real estate, construction, and energy), Maris Simulis (employment dispute resolution), and Andris Vilisons (real estate transactions and dispute resolution).

Skrastins and Dzenis have persuaded the Latvian Supreme Court that the rulings of lower courts in a real investment dispute had been made in error, and the case has been returned for further consideration. 

The EUR 2.5 million case involves a dispute between First Baltic Property Riga (FBP) — a property of the Liechtenstein Investment fund, and S&D’s client in the matter — and the property developer Urban Art and Swedbank and DNB banka, involving a real estate project.

According to Partner Verners Skrastins, in 2006 FBP invested about EUR 2 million in a real estate project financed by the two banks, with the understanding that FBP would receive title to 22 apartments once the project was finished, and that all the investment made by FBP would go into the project. On the same day as the agreement was signed, however, Urban Art also signed an agreement with the two banks, according to which its mortgage was registered on the property. When the project was finished after the global economic downturn the developer became insolvent, and the banks as secured creditors refused to give their permission to FBP to register its title to the apartments.

FBP petitioned the Court to have title to the apartments established in its name and to impose a duty on the banks to register the title in the land register. According to Skrastins FBP’s request was initially denied, and then again on appeal, but the Supreme Court has ruled that the lower courts failed to consider several of FBP’s most compelling arguments, and it remanded the case with instructions that they do so.

Skrastins notes that the case is not over yet, because the Supreme Court has not decided the case on the merits, but only rejected the lower court’s arguments and returned the case to the court of second instance for further consideration.

Skrastins & Denis Partner Andrejs Gulajevs and Associate Daina Tervite led the representation of FBP in the matter.

Sorainen Latvia has advised Avis Lithuania, one of the leading automobile leasing companies in Lithuania, regarding possible solutions for driving Avis Lithuania’s automobiles in Latvia by Latvian residents.

Advice concerned the new Latvian legal regulations restricting Latvian residents to drive rented cars with foreign plates in Latvia. 

Avis Lithuania was advised by Sorainen Latvia Partner Agris Repss and Associate Linda Renesla.

Sorainen Latvia has advised Plesko Real Estate on the sale of the Damme Shopping Centre, located in Riga, Latvia.

The property has a gross leasable area of 12,912 square meters. Plesko Real Estate is a subsidiary of the Swedish food retailing group ICA, which operates in the Baltics through the Rimi brand.

According to Sorainen, “the transaction involved separating the Damme Shopping Centre business from the other businesses of Plesko Real Estate by establishing a new company, and the subsequent sale of that company to Norwegian company New Agenda Partners.” The firm also described the transaction as “one of the largest in the real estate industry in Latvia this year.”

M&A aspects of the transaction were handled by a team led by Senior Associate Janis Bite, while real estate aspects were handled by a team led by Partner Girts Ruda. 

The Skrastins & Dzenis law firm has successfully represented SIA Veiksme un K., a Latvian retailer of home electronics trading with the “Tehnoland” trademark, in a case against the Latvian Competition Council.

According to S&D, the “novel” case involved the Competition Council’s attempt to apply the inevitability of liability principle in issuing a fine against SIA Veiksme that was previously imposed on another company, which no longer existed.

According to S&D Associate, Daina Bukele, who worked on the matter, the company originally fined was a sister company of SIA Veiksme that was partly owned by the same shareholders. As a result of its insolvency, SIA Veiksme partly took over the business, including the trademark and stock.   

Bukele explained that “several years after the original infringement decision against the sister company the Competition council went after SIA Veiksme, claiming that: 1) since it is (and was at the time when the infringement decision was passed) one undertaking with the company that was fined (although it was never an addressee of the infringement decision or part of the administrative case, thus, having no procedural rights); and 2) it had taken over the assets of the fined company … it was therefore obliged to pay the fine.”

S&D persuaded the Riga Administrative District Court that the Competition Authority’s order had no solid legal grounds and violated procedural rules, and on June 5, 2014 the Court declared the fine illegitimate and repealed the order.

The S&D team on the matter consisted of Bukele and Partner Andrejs Gulajevs. 

Sorainen Latvia has advised Visma, a leading provider of business management software and services, in its acquisition of all shares of the FMS Group companies (FMS and FMS Software).

The FMS Group is the leading provider of ERP (enterprise resource planning) and BI (business intelligence) software in Latvia with a market share of more than 30%. Sorainen performed a legal due diligence and assisted Visma in the share acquisition process by providing advice on Latvian law, assisting in drafting transaction documents, and closing the transaction. 

Sorainen’s team was led by Partner Eva Berlaus and Senior Associate Renate Purvinska. 

Sorainen Latvia has advised Dasos Timberland Fund II on its acquisition of a large forest property portfolio in Latvia.

Dasos Timberland Fund II is a private equity fund investing in sustainable timberland in Europe and developing markets. Sorainen assisted the fund with legal due diligence of the forest property, participated in negotiations about the transaction structure, and prepared all the necessary transaction documentation for signing.

Sorainen team was led by Partner Girts Ruda, assisted by Associate Natalija Sestakova.

Lawin has advised the Danish Ingleby Farms & Forests on the acquisition of shares in one of SIA Agro Duo, a subsidiary of the Danish company Agro Duo.

SIA Agro Duo is one the largest agriculture companies in Latvia, with holdings exceeding 1,500 hectares. The purchase price was not disclosed.

The purchase comes as part of a global strategy for Ingleby Farms and Forest, as the country has, in the past few years, acquired land in countries including Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, Peru, and Uruguay, plus over 18,000 hectares of land in Romania.

The Lawin team included Partner Filips Klavins and Associate Henrijs Niedra.