The Lithuanian and Latvian offices of Sorainen have advised Novaturas on its acquisition of shares in Novaturas, the company’s Latvian subsidiary, from the minority shareholders.
Novaturas is the largest tour operator in the Baltics providing full scale travel services, with yearly turnover exceeding EUR 40 million. Novaturas was advised by Partner Algirdas Peksys, Senior Associate Zane Paeglite, and Associate Evaldas Dudonis.
Sorainen Latvia has advised the London branch of Deutsche Bank on financing it provided Baltics Credit Solutions Latvia (BCSL), the buyer of performing and non-performing credit portfolios from Latvijas Krajbanka, which is in insolvent liquidation.
The total number of clients in the portfolios exceeded 3,000, and the portfolios included corporate loans, mortgage loans, and consumer loans.
The Sorainen team advised Deutsche Bank – which provided a syndicated loan facility – on the financial and security documents and the portfolio acquisition transaction. Sorainen also advised on the taxation aspects of the transaction.
Following the signing of the financing and acquisition transactions in August 2013, BCSL obtained clearance from the Financial and Capital Market Commission of Latvia in November 2013, and gradually took over the portfolios.
Partners Rudolfs Engelis and Janis Taukacs and Associate Martins Rudzitis led Sorainen’s team.
The Riga office of the Krodere & Judinsky law firm has joined the Baltic Fort law firm, formed at the end of 2013 by merger of the Estonian Nordeus and Latvian Adversus law firms, along with a team from the Lithuanian Pavlov & Mamontovas law firm.
The addition of the team from Krodere & Judinska law firm (the entire office except Ineta Krodere–Imsa, who did not join the team in moving) gives Fort a total of 18 lawyers in the Latvian capital. Ieva Judinska-Bandeniece, Brigita Terauda, Ramona Tiltina, Uldis Judinskis, and Legal Assistant Inga Grauzina bring expertise in intellectual property issues (including copyrights and trademarks), banking and finance law, mergers and acquisitions, and general corporate and commercial law.
“Merging with Fort will provide us an opportunity to develop more rapidly, serving clients in all three Baltic States and Belarus. Furthermore, it will give us a chance to work on major projects where we could not get involved before due to the relatively small team. I am sure that, by integrating the teams, we will be able to provide the clients with services of higher quality on international level as well,” said Judinska-Bandeniece.
Spigulis & Kukainis Partner Matiss Davis Kukainis has been elected as Chairman of the Board and President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Latvia.
Eriks Eglitis, Country Manager of Microsoft Latvia, Ingrida Karina-Berzina, Partner at Raidla Lejins & Norcous, Arnis Kakulis, Director of AECOM, and individual member Janis Meija were elected as Vice Presidents for one year.
Kukainis has served on the Board since 2008 and has been Vice President since 2010. In addition to being a sworn advocate / licensed attorney in Latvia, he is also a licensed attorney in the state of Illinois, in the United States, and is a dual citizen of both countries.
According to Kukainis, his goal as the new President is to “maintain the Chamber as a leading forum where the business community of Latvia can exchange ideas, connect with decision-makers, encourage transparency and promote a positive business and investment climate in Latvia, and also foster an environment where people want to live, work and raise their families.”
Lawin Senior Associate Ivars Slokenbergs has been elected to the Board of Directors of the Foreign Investors’ Council in Latvia (FICIL).
According to a statement released by Lawin, FICIL brings together the largest companies from various countries and sectors that have made significant investments in Latvia, as well as ten foreign chambers of commerce in the country. FICIL’s activities are based on dialogue with the Latvian Government to support improvement in the business environment and investment climate. Working with the appropriate Government agencies and Parliament, FICIL seeks to solve problems through changes in legislation or administrative procedures.
The firm reported that, concurrent with his election to the FICIL Board in March 2014, Slokenbergs stepped down from the Board of the American Chamber of Commerce in Latvia, on which he has served since 2008, the past four years — since 2010 — as President.
Lawin has advised the Finnish Lassila & Tikanoja (L&T) company, in its divestment of SIA L&T – the largest waste management company operating in Latvia. The transaction involved a sale of the shares of SIA L&T to SIA Bioinvest, a Latvian energy and utilities company.
The L&T group is a service company group that is working in environmental management and property and plant support services (and as a supplier of wood-based biofuels, recovered fuels and recycled raw materials). The group operates in Finland, Sweden and Russia, with 8,000 employees. L&T is listed on NASDAQ OMX Helsinki. Its net sales in 2013 amounted to EUR 668.2 million.
The Lawin team was led by Partner Liga Merwin and Senior Associate Ivars Slokenbergs.
Latvia’s Borenius Law Firm has advised Grigory Guselnikov, the owner and leading partner of London-based investment fund G2 Capital Partners, in his acquisition of 50%+1 share of Norvik Bank.
As a result of the acquisition, Guselnikov became a majority shareholder and strategic investor of the bank. In addition to its role as legal advisor in the transaction, Borenius participated in the structuring of the transaction, drafted transaction documents, and represented Guselnikov before Latvia’s Financial and Capital Market Commission in relation to his receipt of permission to acquire the shares of the bank.