Category: Lithuania

On April 7, 2021, CEE Legal Matters reported that Sorainen had advised private equity company ConHostinger on the acquisition of an approximately 31% stake in Hostinger, a company providing web hosting, VPS, Internet domain registration, website building software, and e-mail services. CEEIHM spoke with Thomas Strohe, Partner at ConHostinger, to learn more about the matter.

CEEIHM: To begin with, what is ConHostinger’s story?

Originally reported by CEE In-House Matters.

Ellex Valiunas, working alongside Norway’s Bahr law firm, has advised Sweden’s Alfa Laval on its EUR 363 million acquisition of weather intelligence company StormGeo, including its Lithuanian subsidiary. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2021.

Alfa Laval is a provider of heat transfer, separation, and fluid handling solutions for heavy industry. It has 16,700 employees and is headquartered in Lund, Sweden. StormGeo is a weather intelligence service provider with 515 employees that is headquartered in Bergen, Norway.

According to Ellex, “the acquisition is part of Alfa Laval’s strategy to support the marine industry’s efforts to decarbonize and make operations more efficient. It will also enhance Alfa Laval’s knowledge of digital services.”

The Ellex team consisted of Managing Partner Rolandas Valiunas, Senior Associate Laura Paulaite, Senior Associate Nerijus Patlabys, Associate Jomile Zabole, and Associate Paulius Vaitkevicius. They worked alongside Bahr of Oslo and advised on the Lithuanian side of the deal.

Ellex was unaware of any external counsel advising the seller.

Editor’s Note: After this article was published, Ellex informed CEE Legal Matters that Norway’s Wiersholm Law Firm advised the seller, the EQT Mid Market fund, on the deal.

Sorainen has advised Eco Baltia, backed by the INVL Baltic Sea Growth Fund and the EBRD, on its acquisition of an 85% stake in Ecoservice from the BaltCap Private Equity Fund II. TGS Baltic advised the seller.

Closing of the deal is contingent on the approval of the Lithuanian Competition Council. 

Eco Baltia is a provider of waste management and recycling services. 

Ecoservice is a provider of recycling, waste management, and construction waste collecting, among other services. 

“INVL Baltic Sea Growth Fund invested in Eco Baltia in 2020 and we are aiming to significantly grow the company both organically and through acquisitions, focusing on two segments specifically — PET recycling and waste management,” commented Vytautas Plunksnis, Partner at INVL Baltic Sea Growth Fund and Chairman of the Supervisory board at Eco Baltia. “This is a significant development for the company in terms of capability and will be instrumental in achieving these goals.” 

Sorainen’s Vilnius-based team consisted of Partners Mantas Petkevicius and Asta Augutyte-Rapkeviciene, Senior Associates Zilvinas Briedis, Julija Kirkiliene, Aurelija Daubaraite, Edita Dauksiene, and Agne Sovaite, Associates Laura Matuizaite, Gabriele Raizyte, Lukas Vaisvila, Sidas Sokolovas, Simona Vaicekauskaite, Jurgita Tekoriene, Juliana Pavilovska, and Akvile Jurkaityte, and Legal Assistant Goda Jakubauskaite.  

TGS Baltic’s Vilnius-based team included Partner Dalia Tamasauskaite-Ziliene and Associate Julija Skardziute. 

The Vilnius office of Sorainen, working with lead counsel Fasken, has advised Canada-based payment technology provider Nuvei on its USD 250 million acquisition of Simplex.

The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2021.

Simplex is a Fintech startup providing fiat infrastructure to the cryptocurrency industry.

According to Sorainen, Nuvei will obtain an electronic money institution license through the acquisition, which will enable it to offer IBAN accounts to end users and corporations.

Sorainen’s Lithuanian team consisted of Partners Algirdas Peksys and Augustas Klezys, Counsel Monika Malisauskaite-Vaupsiene, Senior Associates Justina Paskeviciene, Irma Kirklyte, and Aurelija Daubaraite, and Associates Liutauras Vasiliauskas, Sidas Sokolovas, Ieva Dagyte, and Gabriele Raizyte.

The firm did not reply to an inquiry about the deal.

On February 25, 2021, CEE Legal Matters reported that Cobalt had advised the shareholders of AGACAD, a Vilnius-based developer of building information modeling software, on the sale of 100% of their shares to France’s Arkance. CEE In-House Matters spoke with Donatas Aksomitas, Managing Director at AGACAD, to learn more about the sale.

CEEIHM: Could you please tell us a bit about AGACAD’s history and its mission?

Donatas: AGACAD, founded in 1991 in Lithuania, introduced the Baltic region to digital technologies for architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC). It was one of software-maker Autodesk’s earliest European resellers and training centers, and from the start has also developed its own powerful solutions for computer-aided design and building information modeling (BIM).

Over the years, the company became the maker of the world’s largest range of expert BIM tools for the Autodesk Revit environment, currently with 13,000 users in 130 countries. In 2018, Autodesk made AGACAD one of its first ‘AEC Industry Partners’ – trusted providers of technologies that complement Autodesk’s own platforms.

We’ve always seen our mission as working closely with leading digital construction practitioners to achieve real-life workflow gains, turning their insights and best practices into tools that all clients can acquire.

CEEIHM: France’s Arkance recently acquired your company. How will that affect your business and what are some of your upcoming projects?

Donatas: Joining the Arkance group provides the resources to more fully realize our vision of creating tomorrow’s technologies for the building and manufacturing industries. It allows us to serve clients even better and work with major players we were sometimes too small to partner with in the past.

And it enables us to further build up our team of developers and intensify the industry-focused R&D work behind our software and service innovations. We intend to increasingly leverage that R&D engine for Arkance’s broader mission of supporting clients in their digital transformation journey.

CEEIHM: Why was AGACAD, in your opinion, attractive to Arkance?

Donatas: I think the main reason AGACAD was attractive to Arkance was its proven ability to create world-class, innovative digital technologies that offer new possibilities and large productivity gains for building and manufacturing industries. That capacity enables the group to add significant value to the broad-based digitalization platforms it distributes, in terms of being able to develop specialized applications to support the specific design and production workflow needs of its clients and markets.

CEEIHM: It was reported that Cobalt advised AGACAD’s shareholders on the sale. How did the firm structure the transaction? What complexities did Cobalt have to handle on this deal?

Donatas: The main objective for the Cobalt team led by partner Juozas Rimas was to properly represent the interests of the selling founders, while at the same time allowing the strategic investor, to a certain extent, to maintain the practices used in its M&A activities in a number of other countries. The deal went very smoothly due to the reasonable and flexible approach taken by both Arkance and AGACAD and the counsel of both parties throughout the process. It was also a great example of the new reality where two parties, who never get to see each other in person, can proceed successfully and efficiently with the negotiation, signing, and even closing of a transaction.

CEEIHM: Finally, could you tell us why you chose Cobalt as your advisor?

Donatas: AGACAD had worked with Cobalt in the past on a variety of corporate matters and always found them to be highly knowledgeable on both the legal and the business side, as well as proactive and efficient. For M&A work, the reputation of the firm – and in particular that of Juozas Rimas who heads the M&A Practice – preceded them. There was a long track record of deals where they successfully advised both local and international clients. So we knew we could count on them to represent our interests effectively and professionally in this transaction of historic importance to AGACAD and its founders.

Originally reported by CEE In-House Matters.

Ellex Valiunas has successfully represented the Vakaru Baltijos shipyard in its appeal of a public procurement award to a consortium of Finnish companies to provide a specialized vessel for the Lithuanian Armed Forces to eliminate pollution incidents and carry out rescue operations in the Baltic Sea.

According to Ellex, “the Court of Appeal upheld the appeal of Vakaru Baltijos and annulled the [Vilnius Regional Court’s February 15, 2021] decision to recognize the consortium of Finnish shipbuilding company Uudenkaupungin Tyovene and electrical engineering company Telesilta (part of the Harju Elekter Group) as the winner of the procurement procedure, [announced] by the Ministry of National Defense on 19 November last year.”

The court also revoked the interim measures imposed at the request of the shipbuilding company in early January, which means that the tendering procedure can be continued.

Ellex’s team consisted of Partner Karolis Kacerauskas, Senior Associates Sarunas Neniskis and Aiste Mikociuniene, and Associates Matas Malijonis and Ingrida Grabiene.

Ellex Valiunas has successfully represented Klaipedos Nafta in a dispute with the Achema Group over the financing of the development of the Klaipeda liquefied natural gas terminal that reached the Court of Justice of the European Union.

The eight-year-long dispute ensued after the Republic of Lithuania chose Klaipedos Nafta to develop the LNG terminal instead of the Achema Group, providing Klaipedos Nafta with a EUR 448 million aid package.

According to Ellex Valiunas, the European Commission concluded that the financing of the terminal complied with EU state aid rules. The Court of Justice of the European Union upheld the EC’s conclusion.

The Ellex Valiunas team consisted of Partner Karolis Kacerauskas and Dovile Greblikiene and Senior Associates Edvinas Beikauskas, Aiste Mikociuniene, and Gintare Taluntyte.

TGS Baltic has advised Evernord, an investment firm based in Vilnius, on the placement of EUR 4 million in bonds by freeze-dried food manufacturer Dehidra.

According to Dehidra, the company will invest the money in a berry and fruit processing plant and in the development of the area for growing strawberries. The bonds will be registered in the central securities depository Nasdaq CSD SE in the short term.

TGS Baltic’s Lithuanian team included Partner Agnius Pilipavicius, Associate Partner Mantas Gofmanas, Senior Associate Karolina Lapinskaite, and Legal Assistant Kotryna Visockyte.

On January 28, 2021, CEE Legal Matters reported that Sorainen has advised Open Circle Capital on its investment in Monimoto, a company developing smart trackers for motorcycles. CEEIHM spoke with William Cardwell, Partner at Open Circle Capital, to learn more about the matter.

CEEIHM: Tell us a bit about Open Circle Capital. When was your fund established, how is it structured, and in which areas does it primarily invest?

William: The fund was established in 2016, and has EUR 20 million in capital. It is structured as a Lithuanian Limited Partnership. We invest in product-oriented companies who generally have earned their first revenues and have strong potential for international growth.

CEEIHM: It was reported that Open Circle Capital recently invested in Monimoto. What attracted your fund to invest in this particular company?

William: We basically value strong management teams, large markets, and demonstrated traction. Monimoto exceeded all of our expectations on these factors. Once we got to know the team, it was clear to us that they had a great plan and had excellent insight into the market.

CEEIHM: What plans does your fund have in store for Monimoto, now that this transaction is done?

William: Open Circle has strong networks in Europe and the US. We are seeking to make introductions and help them with their go-to-market plans in particular in the US, where they are starting to grow rapidly.

CEEIHM: Sorainen advised Open Circle Capital on this deal. Could you tell us how your fund and the firm divided the legal work and what were some of the complexities of this deal?

William: Sorainen was instrumental in finalizing the documentation from our end. There were some complexities due to the fact that a crowd-funding campaign in the UK was going on simultaneously, and Sorainen provided valuable guidance.

CEEIHM: What were some of the reasons which made you choose Sorainen as your advisor? How will your cooperation with the firm progress from here?

William: First and foremost, we have worked with Sorainen on a number of deals and trust them, so there was no question who we would use for a deal where the core company was in Lithuania but where there were international elements like the crowd-funding campaign.

Originally reported by CEE In-House Matters.

Orrick has advised EQT and Sprints on their investment in Vinted, a European second-hand clothing startup, as part of a EUR 250 million round that also included Accel, Burda Principal Investments, Insight Partners, and Lightspeed Venture Partners. Taylor Wessing advised Vinted on the deal.

Founded in Vilnius, Lithuania, in 2008, Vinted has operations in France, Germany, Belgium, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Czech Republic, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the UK, and the US. 

Orrick’s London-based team included Partners Chris Grew, Shawn Atkinson, and Daniel Wayte, Managing Associates Patrick Driscoll and Stephen Tallon, Senior Associate Janine Suttie, and Associate Shaun Malone.

Taylor Wessing’s team was led by London-based Partner Angus Miln.