Category: Lithuania

TGS Baltic has successfully represented Lithuanian Airports in a dispute with the Active Construction Management over major repairs carried out in Vilnius Airport.

Lithuanian Airports is a state enterprise which manages Vilnius, Kaunas, and Palanga airports.

According to TGS Baltic, “the dispute ensued after Active Construction Management brought a statement of claim on cancellation of offsets, recognition of withholding of monetary funds as unlawful, award of the debt and default interest for additional works.” The firm reported that, “Lithuanian Airports lodged a counterclaim against Active Construction Management for award of penalties.”

On November 13, 2020, the Supreme Court of Lithuania rejected the cassation appeal of Active Construction Management and upheld the judgments delivered by lower courts, rejecting the statement of claim of Active Construction Management and upholding the counterclaim of Lithuanian Airports in full.

TGS Baltic’s team consisted of Associate Partners Zydrune Stuglyte and Karolis Smaliukas and Associate Berta Kasetaite.

Sorainen has advised the Modus Group on launching a second public bond issuance, expected to attract investment of EUR 8 million. The bonds are being distributed by Saiuliu Bankas and will be traded on First North, an alternative market administrated by Nasdaq.

The Modus Group is a group of companies managing renewable energy, mobility services, car trading and other businesses.

According to Sorainen, “the funds will be used to refinance the EUR 5 million bonds issued three years ago and to finance renewable energy projects as well as development of sustainable mobility services. The bond issue is planned in two phases: the first will last three weeks and is expected to raise EUR 5 million. Investors will be offered a 5% annual interest rate.”

“The first public bond issue proved to be an attractive tool for private and institutional investors to indirectly contribute to the development of renewable energy sources in the region and to obtain a sustainable return on investment,” said Head of Finance at the Modus Group Erika Zakarauskiene. “Part of the funds raised in the second issue will be used to refinance the first bonds as well as for investments in green energy and advanced mobility technologies.”

Sorainen’s team included Senior Associate Dalia Augaite and Associate Rimantas Bendorius.

Sorainen did not reply to our inquiry on the matter.

Squire Patton Boggs and Eversheds Sutherland have advised the Miss Group on its acquisition of Interneto Vizija from its founders. Walless advised the sellers on the deal.

Financial details of the transaction were not  disclosed. 

Interneto Vizija is a provider of web hosting, website development, and e-mail services, among others. The company serves around 68,000 customers and maintains 170,000 registered domains accounting for 60% of all registered domains in Lithuania. Through its Rakrejus subsidiary, it also operates a tier III data center in Vilnius.

The Miss Group is an international web hosting group that offers a range of hosting related services including domain registration, VPS, dedicated servers, website builder, SSL certificates, SEO tools, web security, and domain management. 

The Squire Patton Boggs team included Partner Giles Chesher and Senior Associate Matt Canipa.

Walless’s team consisted of Managing Partner Dovile Burgiene and Associate Domas Sileika.

The Lithuanian office of TGS Baltic has advised the Maxima Group on the merger of its Maxima LT and (Netherlands-based) Lincoln Land Erste subsidiaries. 

According to TGS Baltic, as a result of the merger, “Maxima Group will hold 67% and Maxima LT will hold 33% of the shares in all retail companies of the group in Latvia and Estonia.” The firm reported that, “Maxima Group owns 100% of the shares in its retail companies in Poland and Bulgaria.”

The Maxima Group is a chain of retail companies operating more than 508 stores and employing 29,500 people in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, and Bulgaria.

TGS Baltic’s team consisted of Partners Agnius Pilipavicius and Dalia Tamasauskaite-Ziliene, Associate Partner Mantas Gofmanas, Senior Associate Indre Vickaite-Liatuke, and Legal Assistant Kotryna Visockyte.

Sorainen has advised venture capital fund Startup Wise Guys on its investment in the logistics startup GoRamp. Startup Wise Guys, together with Presto Ventures, invested EUR 450,000.

GoRamp helps manufacturing and merchandising companies centrally manage purchasing and shipping logistics information and documentation. According to Sorainen, “the new investment will be used for further expansion of the company in Poland and Western European countries.”

Sorainen’s team included Senior Associate Vytautas Sabalys and Associate Laura Matuizaite.

Sorainen did not reply to our inquiry on the matter.

Ellex Valiunas has advised Norway’s Baltic Sea Properties real estate management company on its sale of 13 buildings to Rivona, a subsidiary of the Norfa Group.

Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

According to Ellex Valiunas, the buildings, which cover an area of 23,000 square meters, are located in the Lithuanian cities of Eisiskes, Ignalina, Joniskis, Jurbarkas, Jonava, Kupiskis, Lazdijai, Naujoji Akmene, Radviliskis, Raseiniai, Rokiskis, Svencionys, and Zarasai.

Rivona is a provider of logistics, production industry, real-estate leasing, and warehousing services. The company was founded in 1993 and currently employs over 1,000 people. 

The Ellex Valiunas team was led by Associate Partner Julija Nikitaraviciene.

Motieka & Audzevicius has successfully represented the Panevezio Keliai road construction company in a dispute against the City of Vilnius administration that reached the Supreme Court of Lithuania.

The dispute involved alleged flaws in the EUR 40 million tender procedure for the reconstruction of one of the major intersections in Vilnius. According to Motieka & Audzevicius, “Panevezio Keliai sought the annulment of the administration’s decision to reject its proposal, a fresh evaluation of the bids, and the exclusion of the tender bid winner on the ground that it had submitted false information about its conforming to the requirements.”

After an unsuccessful trial and first appeal, the Supreme Court of Lithuania decided in favor of Panevezio Keliai and annulled the judgments of the lower courts. According to Motieka & Audzevicius, “although the court declared that the public contract had been awarded unlawfully, it concluded that disproportionate effects would arise if the contract were nullified. Instead it imposed a EUR 500,000 fine on the administration.”

Motieka & Audzevicius’s team consisted of Partners Valentas Mitrauskas and Jovitas Elzbergas and Associate Denas Grigaitis.

Walless has advised DiPocket on setting up a subsidiary in Lithuania and obtaining an electronic money institution license from the Bank of Lithuania.

According to Walless, the license will allow DiPocket to issue electronic money and provide payment services. The firm reported that, “DiPocket will focus on a B2B2C model, as opposed to the customary B2C or B2B. The company will target business clients who already have a large customer base and want to increase and deepen interaction with their customers by adding customized financial services to their offer.”

DiPocket, which was founded in 2015, is a financial institution supervised by the UK Financial Conduct Authority. It offers cashless payments and other financial services through a mobile application.

The Walless team included Partner Joana Baublyte-Kulviete, Associate Akvile Marozaite, and Junior Associate Viktorija Zemaityte.

The Vilnius office of Fort has advised the EIKA real estate development company on a five million bond issue, distributed by Siauliu Bankas.

According to Fort, “from October 26 to November 11, 2020, the issue attracted 107 investors.”

EIKA is a Lithuanian real estate developer and construction service provider that was established in 1992. The company’s primary areas of focus are sustainable development and environmental protection solutions for business, public-private partnership projects, territorial planning, building design, construction project management, building construction, installation of building systems, among others.

Fort’s team consisted of Managing Partner Andrius Mamontovas and Junior Associate Vytautas Pasvenskas.

Fort did not reply to an inquiry about the deal.

TGS Baltic has advised the shareholders of the Baltic hotel services portal NoriuNoriuNoriu on the sale of 90% of the shares of UAB NoriuNoriuNoriu to UAB Disrupta. 

According to TGS Baltic, “UAB Disrupta operates under the brand Emoti Group and owns the largest Baltic online gift platform, Laisvalaikio Dovanos. Upon conclusion of the transaction, the total turnover of the new group of portals [in the] Emoti Group is over EUR 24 million, which makes the group firmly established as a leader in five markets – Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, and Finland. The group plans to end the year with 60 branded stores in the said countries.“

TGS Baltic’s team included Partner Aurimas Pauliukevicius and Senior Associate Indre Vickaite-Liatuke.

TGS Baltic did not reply to our inquiry on the matter.

Editor’s note: After this article was published, Primus informed CEE Legal Matters that it had advised Laisvalaikio Dovanos on the deal. The firm’s team was led by Partner Giedre Dailidenaite.