Category: Lithuania

Ellex Valiunas has helped Witty Global, UAB obtain an electronic money institution license from the Bank of Lithuania.

According to Ellex, “Witty Global’s electronic money institution license entitles it to issue, distribute, and redeem electronic money, and to provide payment services specified in the Payments Act: Cash withdrawals, debit transfers, issuance of payment instruments and payment processing.”

According to the firm, Witty Global, which is owned by UK-based Witty Tech Ltd., “plans to provide its services throughout the European Economic Area, but will primarily focus on Lithuania, Latvia, Germany, France, Spain, Belgium, Poland and Romania.”

The Ellex Valiunas team included Partner Ieva Dosinaite, Associate Lawyers Julija Slekonyte and Neringa Mickeviciute, Associate Consultant Mindaugas Moskalionas, Lawyer Domantas Gudonis, and Junior Lawyer Egle Radvilaite.

Sorainen’s Lithuanian office has helped renewable energy company Enerstena obtain a EUR 7 million loan from the country’s State Aid Fund for Business. TGS Baltic advised the fund on the deal. 

Enerstena is a Lithuanian provider of solutions for energy production from biomass. The company’s primary areas of focus are manufacturing of furnaces, hot water and steam boilers, flue gas condensers, and other technological equipment for biomass boiler plants. 

Sorainen reported that Enerstena will use the financing for continuation of its projects put on hold by the pandemic, as well as to pay delayed salaries, debts, and taxes. 

“We will be able to save the jobs of a few hundred scientists and other highly qualified employees, to continue the production of innovative and automated energy from biofuel, a renewable energy source, and with our technology help Europe to become a CO2-free continent by 2050,” commented Virginijus Ramanauskas, CEO of Enerstena. 

Sorainen’s team consisted of Partners Mantas Petkevicius, Tomas Kontautas and Saule Dagilyte, Senior Associates Inga Macijauskaite and Gerda Skiburtiene, and Associate Monika Tukaciauskaite, among others. 

TGS Baltic’s team included Partners Vidmantas Drizga, Dalia Tamasauskaite-Ziliene, and Zygimantas Stankevicius, Associate Paulius Dabulskis, and Junior Associate Elvinas Kizys.

Walless has helped Stanhope Financial establish a subsidiary in Lithuania and obtain an e-money institution license from the Bank of Lithuania.

Stanhope Financial is described by Walless as an Irish capital fintech startup which offers financial strategies and consulting solutions, including FX payments, treasury services, hedging, and international payments.

According to Walles, “after obtaining an e-money institution license from the Bank of Lithuania, Stanhope Financial will serve customers – legal entities, mainly small and medium-sized businesses – [by] providing them with e-wallets, enabling them to accept and execute local and international payments, and issuing payment cards.” 

Walless’s team consisted of Partner Joana Baublyte-Kulviete and Associate Viktorija Dusajeva.

Cobalt has advised Practica Capital on its joint investment with other investors of USD 8 million in Lithuanian startup Eneba.

According to Cobalt, “launched in 2018 by two Lithuanian school friends, Eneba provides a marketplace for gamers to safely purchase everything they need for the world’s most popular games. Eneba has already attracted a community of 26 million unique users. Eneba will use its funding to accelerate investment in product development making the platform faster, safer, and easier to use and to expand further in the US and across other key global markets.”

Cobalt’s team included Partner Akvile Bosaite and Associate Robertas Grabys. 

Sorainen’s Vilnius office has advised Luxembourg’s REInvest Asset Management and its DEREIF SICAV FIS fund on their acquisition of the building housing SEB Bank’s headquarters in Vilnius from the Lords LB Special Fund II.

Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

The acquisition is REinvest Asset Management’s first in the Baltics. The building, which occupies a total area of approximately 13,000 square meters, opened this year, and Sorainen reports that 1,100 SEB Bank employees have already relocated to the new office space.

Sorainen’s team consisted of Partners Kestutis Adamonis and Saule Dagilyte, Senior Associate Lina Barniskiene, and Associates Ieva Tumalaviciute and Gabriele Raizyte.

Sorainen has advised Decathlon on its agreement with the Galio Group for the latter to build and lease new stores for it in the Lithuanian cities of Kaunas and Klaipeda. Wint advised the Galio Group on the transaction in Klaipeda.

The store in Klaipeda will be constructed using a EUR 3 million investment by the Galio Group. The store is planned to cover 2,800 square meters and to be completed in 2022.

The Kaunas store will be constructed using a EUR 5 million investment by Baltic Shopping Centers, the operator of the Mega shopping center. The store is scheduled is to be opened at the beginning of 2023, and will cover 3,600 square meters.

Decathlon is a French retail chain of sports goods, which opened its first store in Lithuania in 2018 with Sorainen’s help (as reported by CEE Legal Matters on October 24, 2017). In total, the chain operates more than 1,500 stores in Europe, North and South America, Africa, and Asia.

Sorainen’s team consisted of Senior Associates Karolis Kunigelis and Simona Stanciukaite.

Wint’s team consisted of Partner Olga Petroseviciene and Of Counsel Donatas Zdanavicius.

Sorainen could not disclose any further information about the deal.

DLK Legal has helped Lithuania’s Finnovative Solutions UAB obtain a payment institution license from the Bank of Lithuania to provide Account Information Services and Payment Initiation Services.

Finnovative Solutions is a subsidiary of Savangard sp. z o.o. – a provider of IT solutions for the financial sector, in particular solutions dedicated to providing AIS and PIS services. Savangard provides tools dedicated both for providers of these services and for payment account providers.

DLK’s team included Managing Partner Krzysztof Korus, Attorney Szymon Zych, and Lawyers Mikolaj Ceglowski and Aleksandra Ksiezak.

Sorainen has advised TC Investicija on the sale of a building in Kaunas, Lithuania, to Integrated Stars. Financing for the transaction, which closed on December 9, was provided by Citadele Bank.

Financial details were not disclosed.

The building hosts the Topo Centras store and administration. According to Sorainen, “the four-storey building, together with adjacent buildings, occupies an area of 4,600 square meters. During the transaction, Topo Grupe, which manages Topo Centras stores, signed a long-term lease agreement with the new owner.”

Sorainen’s team included Partners Kestutis Adamonis and Saule Dagilyte, Counsel Indre Sceponiene, Senior Associates Julija Kirkiliene and Mantas Kuslys, Associate Ieva Tumalaviciute, and Legal Assistant Simonas Slitas.

Sorainen did not reply to our inquiry on the matter.

Motieka & Audzevicius has created an Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing program for Newsec Advisers LT.

Motieka & Audzevicius described Newsec Advisors as “one of the leaders in the Baltics real estate market.” According to the firm, “our team members worked in close cooperation with [Newsec Advisers] and designed the process according to the existing practices in the company …. We have thoroughly analyzed the client-related processes in the company and listened to the expectations of Newsec team members in order to create a program that is easy to implement and ensures the best client experience.”

The firm’s lawyers also trained the Newsec team on AML/CTF compliance “to ensure that every-one fully understands how the AML/CTF process should be implemented in their day-to-day activities.”

The M&A team included Senior Associate Sigita Zavisiene and Associate Evelina Tumakova-Kuzmic.

The Vilnius office of Cobalt has advised Practica Capital on the EUR 1 million investment it made along with a group of other, unidentified, private investors in the RRR.lt online platform for the sale of used car parts. Wint advised the owner of the platform on the deal.

RRR.lt offers a software package to used car parts sellers, which allows them to manage their stock and sell pre-inspected car parts. Currently, as much as 40 percent of the orders placed via the platform are delivered to foreign countries.

According to Cobalt, the investment will be used to expand the platform into new markets and to disseminate sustainability ideas.

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

Wint’s team consisted of Partner Andrius Iskauskas and Senior Associate Donatas Zdanavicius.