Category: Lithuania

TGS Baltic has assisted Orion Wealth in obtaining a financial brokerage firm category C license in Lithuania.

According to TGS Baltic, “Orion Wealth operates as a multi-family office, providing independent, integrated wealth and asset management, optimization, and planning services to its clients. This license allows the firm to provide portfolio management, investment advice, and other investment and ancillary services.”

TGS Baltic’s team included Partner Agnius Pilipavicius, Senior Associate Karolina Lapinskaite, Associate Elvinas Kizys, and Legal Assistant Aureja Jackunaite.

Sorainen has advised Litilit on its series A investment round. Ellex advised Taiwania Capital on its EUR 3.5 million investment. Walless advised existing investor Iron Wolf Capital on a further EUR 200,000 participation.

Litilit is an ultra-short pulse femtosecond laser start-up in Lithuania.

Taiwania Capital is a Taiwanese venture capital company that manages six funds, with a combined USD 865 million of assets under management.

Iron Wolf Capital is a Lithuanian venture capital firm.

According to Sorainen, “this is the first investment in a Lithuanian company from a USD 200 million fund dedicated to Taiwanese investment in Central and Eastern Europe. With this investment, the fund Taiwania Capital aims to help the start-up enter and expand its business in the US market.”

“Taiwan, being the world leader in the semiconductor market, holds a significant place in the laser industry,” Litilit CEO Nikolajus Gavrilinas commented. “Lasers exported to Taiwan are mainly used in the semiconductor industry and related high-tech fields. Therefore, this investment shows not only their faith in the potential of the lasers developed by Litilit, but also international recognition of the innovations we create. This opens up opportunities for us to grow even faster, expand production capacity, and establish new trade relations.”

Sorainen’s team included Partner Mantas Petkevicius and Senior Associate Matas Maciulaitis.

The Ellex team included Partner Ruta Armone and Associates Ausra Abraityte, Kamile Skrupskyte, and Vilius Norvaisas.

The Walless team included Partner Andrius Ivanauskas and Senior Associate Domas Sileika.

Cobalt, working with Wiersholm, has advised Visma on the sale of its Custom Solutions business to CVC Capital Partners. Ellex, working with Schjodt and Freshfields, advised the buyer.

According to Ellex, the transaction will help grow Visma Custom Solutions’ IT services business in the Nordic countries.

Visma Custom Solutions is a consulting business operating in the Nordic region, consisting of 25 companies in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and Lithuania. Visma provides business software.

CVC Capital Partners is a Luxembourg-based private equity and investment advisory company. 

The Cobalt team included Partner Eva Suduiko, Managing Associates Ausrys Sliavas and Jovita Valatkaite, Senior Associate Zygintas Voronavicius, and Associate Egle Gliaudelyte.

The Ellex team included Partner Ruta Armone, Senior Associates Aleksandr Asovskij, Inga Macijauskaite, Nerijus Patlabys, and Marijus Dingilevkis, and Junior Associates Akvile Avulyte and Skaiste Katinaite.

Sorainen has advised the Green Landscaping Group on its acquisition of Stebule from Stanislovas Tamulevicius. Glimstedt reportedly advised Tamulevicius on the sale.

Stebule, founded in 1993, is the largest company in the maintenance of outdoor environments in Lithuania, according to Sorainen. “It provides services in urban road and street maintenance, green space maintenance, arborist services, flower planting, and forest park and cemetery maintenance. The company, with a EUR 12.7 million turnover in 2021, employs more than 330 employees.”

The Green Landscaping Group is a Scandinavian outdoor environment and infrastructure company. According to Sorainen, “with this acquisition, the Green Landscaping Group, listed on Nasdaq Stockholm, enters the Baltics. This step is in accordance with the strategy of expansion in Europe by acquiring the best local contractors, focusing on decentralized governance and entrepreneurship.”

“We are happy to welcome Stebule’s owners and employees to the Green Landscaping Group,” commented Green Landscaping Group CEO Johan Nordstrom. “Stebule is a company that delivers services with very high quality, strong customer focus, and good profitability. In recent years, the company has increased its market share in Vilnius, which is proof that the company’s strategy is successful. In my eyes, Stebule is a good first company in a new geography.”

Sorainen’s team included Partner Algirdas Peksys, Counsel Raminta Karlonaite-Durnan, Senior Associates Aurelija Daubaraite and Zilvinas Briedis, and Associates Emile Navickaite, Goda Jakubauskaite, Izabele Petrikaite, Jurgita Mikucioniene, and Simonas Slitas.

Sorainen has advised Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan on the Republic of Lithuania’s EUR 1.2 billion international capital markets bond issuance. TGS Baltic and, reportedly, Dentons advised the Republic of Lithuania.

The Republic of Lithuania borrowed EUR 1.2 billion, according to Sorainen, by “issuing a new five-and-a-half-year eurobond for EUR 900 million and tapping the ten-year eurobond issued in spring this year for EUR 300 million.”

Back in June, Sorainen, TGS Baltic, and Dentons advised on Lithuania’s EUR 650 million bond issuance (as reported by CEE Legal Matters on June 9, 2022). Sorainen, TGS Baltic, and Dentons have also advised on the Republic of Lithuania’s earlier issuances, including a EUR 750 million eurobond issuance in 2021 (as reported by CEE Legal Matters on September 15, 2021), a EUR 1.75 Billion eurobond issuance in 2020 (as reported on August 5, 2020), and a EUR 650 million issuance in 2019 (as reported on June 25, 2019).

Sorainen’s team included Country Managing Partner Tomas Kontautas, Partner Indre Sceponiene, Senior Associate Agne Sovaite, and Associate Egle Martinaityte.

TGS Baltic’s team included Partner Vidmantas Drizga, Associate Partner Dalia Augaite, Senior Associate Karolina Lapinskaite, and Associate Kotryna Visockyte.

Motieka & Audzevicius has successfully represented Kauno Energija before Lithuania’s Supreme Administrative Court in a dispute with the State Energy Regulatory Council.

“The dispute concerned the recalculation of Kauno Energija’s heat price components according to the heating price determination methodology,” the firm informed.

Kauno Energija produces, supplies, and distributes heat to consumers in the cities of Kaunas and Jurbarkas and the Kaunas district.

The Motieka & Audzevicius team was led by Partner Rimantas Daujotas.

Deloitte Legal has advised Van Oord Dredging and Marine Contractors on its successful bid in a tender for a capital dredging works project in Klaipeda Port.

Van Oord Dredging and Marine Contractors is an international contractor specializing in dredging, marine engineering, and offshore projects.

According to Deloitte Legal, “the total amount of awarded dredging works amounts to more than EUR 45 million.”

Deloitte Legal’s team was led by Partner Tomas Davidonis and Managing Associate Tomas Mieliauskas.

Sorainen and Cobalt have successfully represented buyer UAB Mezon and seller Lietuvos Radijo ir Televizijos Centras, respectively, before the Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania in a dispute against Telia Lietuva over the transfer of frequencies together with the sold Mezon business.

Mezon is an internet service provider.

According to Sorainen, “in 2020, after Bite Grup company UAB Mezon acquired the business operating under the Mezon brand from LRTC for EUR 30 million, Telia appealed against the authorization for the transfer of frequencies together with the business granted by the Communications Regulatory Authority. After almost two years of litigation, the court made a final and non-appealable decision, rejecting Telia’s complaint as completely unfounded.”

Furthermore, according to Cobalt, the court “recognized that Lietuvos Radijo ir Televizijos Centras “could transfer the radio frequencies to UAB Mezon” and that the radio frequencies “formed an essential part of the transferred LRTC internet services business Mezon.”

Sorainen’s team included Partners Laimonas Skibarka, Kestutis Svirinas, Daivis Svirinas, and Monika Malisauskaite-Vaupsiene, Counsel Stasys Drazdauskas, Senior Associate Ieva Rimaviciene, Associate Ausrine Dambrauskaite, and Assistant Lawyers Klaudijus Baronas, Vincas Sniute, and Laura Mackevic.

Cobalt’s team included Partners Elijus Burgis and Rasa Zasciurinskaite and Senior Lawyers Justinas Sileika and Julija Aleska.

Cobalt has advised British venture capital fund Piton Capital on investing in Lithuanian car parts trading start-up Ovoko. Noor reportedly advised Ovoko on the investment.

According to Cobalt, “founded by Lithuanians Justinas Baranovskis and Oleg Lopeta, Ovoko is a start-up which conducts electronic trade in car parts. Also known as RRR.lt in Lithuania, it includes an electronic database of auto parts and a system for business management, warehousing, and international sales that allows traders to optimize work processes and communicate promptly with the world’s most important partners and customers.”

According to the firm, “the start-up raised a total of EUR 14 million of investment.”

Cobalt’s team included Partner Eva Suduiko and Senior Associate Lina Aleknaite-van der Molen.

Former AAA Law Partner Jonas Sakalauskas and AAA Law Attorney-at-Law Vaidas Rakauskas have joined Averus as a Partner and an Associate Partner, respectively.

Sakalauskas is a dispute resolution lawyer also focusing on international trade, environmental, and customs law. He previously spent over three years at AAA Law as a Partner, from 2018 to 2022 (as reported by CEE Legal Matters on November 22, 2018). Earlier, he was a Senior Associate with Sorainen, between 2012 and 2018, and an Attorney-at-Law with Magnusson, from 2010 to 2012.

Focusing on administrative disputes, and civil and criminal cases, Rakauskas also worked at AAA Law, as an Attorney-at-Law, between 2019 and 2022. Between 2010 and 2019, he spent over nine years as an Attorney-at-Law with BGM Law.

“Having Jonas and Vaidas join the team will be the perfect response to the needs of our clients: for many years we have been specializing in the field of transport, so customs and environmental topics are particularly relevant,” Averus Managing Partner Laura Cereskaite-Kinciuviene commented.

“Disputes with public authorities are specific and are often linked to crisis management,” Sakalauskas added. “We have valuable experience in this area and are happy to work shoulder to shoulder with our colleagues and offer a wider range of specialized services to the firm’s clients.”