Category: Lithuania

Sorainen has successfully defended the interests of the Union of Lithuanian Journalists and other journalists in a case investigated by Lithuania’s Supreme Administrative Court regarding defense of that country’s constitutional right to receive, collect, and share information.

According to Sorainen, “the Union of Lithuanian Journalists and other concerned journalists went to court when the Office of the Government of the Republic of Lithuania refused to make available, and later deleted, the record of a ministers’ meeting that took place in October 2018, during which ministers discussed a new project on the Law on Public information. The court stated that the Office violated the rights of journalists to receive, collect, and share information.” According to the firm, “this order by the Court is final and unappealable. Even though the proceedings regarding the deleted record were terminated due to the fact that it is impossible to restore it, the court acknowledged the fact that during the time when journalists asked for a record it did exist, but the Office still refused to make it available.”

Sorianen’s team consisted of Senior Associate Kestutis Svirinas and Associate Domante Lunyte.

Cobalt has advised the EBRD, Swedbank, and Citadele Bank on their provision of a EUR 86 million syndicated loan to UAB Vakaru Medienos Grupe in Lithuania.

The EBRD will provide EUR 20 million, Swedbank EUR 36 million, and Citadele will provide EUR 30 million. According to Cobalt, “the allocated funds will be used to finance a particleboard plant built in the Naujoji Akmene Free Economic Zone. This project will allow to fully meet the need for particle board in Lithuania and to generate greater added value in the areas of structural wood and furniture. VMG Group is a company specializing in wood processing, business management, technical maintenance, logistics, development of industrial real estate in Lithuania, Belarus, and other countries of the European Union. VMG Group consists of 16 companies operating in Lithuania and foreign countries and employing over 3900 people. The products manufactured by the companies of the group are exported to 11 countries in the EU, USA, Middle East, India, China, and Australia.”

Cobalt’s team consisted of Partners Elijus Burgis and Eva Suduiko, Senior Associate Lina Aleknaite van der Molen, and Associate Liucija Bitinaite.

Cobalt has helped Lithuania’s UAB Kedainiai Free Economic Zone draft establishment and operation agreements for Kormotech.

UAB Kedainiai FEZ is a 130.55-hectare industrial development territory with the status of a free economic zone. The zone was established to develop and expand economic-commercial and financial activities.

According to Cobalt, “UAB Kormotech is a family-owned company and one of the leading Ukrainian producers of cat and dog food. The company has two wet and dry pet food plants in the Lviv (Ukraine) region and one plant in Kedainiai (Lithuania). Kormotech exports its products to 31 countries.”

“It has been decided to build a pet food plant in UAB Kedainiai FEZ in order to increase production capacity and provide logistical advantages to customers all over the world,” Cobalt reports. “The total amount of all investments is EUR 15 million, and the plant is going to create around 60 new jobs.”

Cobalt’s team was led by Managing Associate Ausrys Sliavas.

TGS Baltic has advised Opera Limited, an Internet browser provider with more than 360 million users, on its acquisition of Fjord Bank.

Fjord Bank is a full-digital consumer finance bank with head office in Vilnius, Lithuania. In December 2019, it was granted a specialized bank license by the European Central Bank, following the assessment and proposal of the Bank of Lithuania.

According to TGS Baltic, “the acquisition will enable Opera to further accelerate its FinTech operations in Europe by launching new, disruptive services aimed at improving consumers’ personal finances.”

TGS Baltic’s team included Partners Aurimas Pauliukevicius and Zygimantas Stankevicius and Associates Rimante Butkute, Julija Skardziute, and Karolina Lapinskaite.

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

SPC Legal has advised UAB Leteja on the sale of Hotel Conti, located in Vilnius’ Old Town, to UAB NS Consulting.

Hotel Conti is a three-story hotel covering 4,260 square meters, which was built in 1963 and reconstructed in 2002.

SPC Legal did not reply to our inquiry on the matter.

TGS Baltic has successfully represented Valstybiniu Misku Uredija —Lithuania’s state-owned enterprise responsible for the supervision, administration, and inventory of state forests that is also engaged in logging activities, trading timber, and planting — before the Supreme Court of Lithuania.

According to TGS Baltic, the plaintiff timber buyer had claimed that “under the contract for long-term sale and purchase of timber, which is executed when one wins an auction, the timber buyer may disagree with the timber price recalculated every half a year. The Supreme Court of Lithuania upheld the position of VMU that price change is provided for in rules of public law, and the recalculated price of timber does not have to be separately agreed upon with the buyer, and therefore that the timber buyer does not have the right to disagree with the recalculated price and must buy the contractual timber volumes, therefore VMU reasonably imposed a fine for breach of obligations.”

TGS Baltic’s team was led by Senior Associate Erika Jurgutyte.

Sorainen has advised Koinvesticinis Fondas on its investment in Nanoenergija, a Lithuanian startup that has developed vibration energy harvesting technology to power wireless IoT sensors.

A total of EUR 180,000 was invested in the startup by Koinvesticinis Fondas and LitBan. According to Sorainen, “Nanoenergija already has 13 clients throughout the globe, including such companies as Siemens, Husqvarna, Singapore Telecom Singtel, and Belgian railways. The investment is said to be used for further research and development, as well as increasing sales and patenting of the technology.”

“There are many wireless sensors that measure the performance of a vibrating device,” said Donatas Ponamariovas, Founder and Manager of Nanoenergija. “All of these sensors are battery-powered, so it creates pollution. Our technology generates a sufficient amount of energy from vibrations only, so it can maintain the sensors and decrease process costs by 60%.”

Sorainen’s team included Partner Mantas Petkevicius, Senior Associate Vytautas Sabalys, and Associate Auguste Bucyte.

Sorainen did not reply to our inquiry on the matter.

Marius Inta, Head of the Commercial Disputes Practice Group at Cobalt, has been promoted from Associate Partner to Partner.

According to Cobalt, Inta, who has over 17 years of experience in Dispute Resolution and Conflict Management, focuses his practice on “insurance disputes, represents clients in litigation matters involving damage compensation, competition law, and intellectual property law violations.” According to the firm, “Marius is a litigation lawyer with a long track record of acting for clients in courts of general jurisdiction and administrative courts and alternative dispute resolution (negotiation, arbitration, mediation).”

Inta has a Masters’ degree in Law from Vilnius University. He joined Cobalt in 2005.

“The Cobalt management team is constantly expanding – over the last couple of years, as many as seven new partners have joined the ranks of partners in Lithuania,” said Managing Partner Irmantas Norkus. “A new generation of professionals has grown and matured in the firm, and we are ready to give more responsibilities to young and talented colleagues. Thanks to their competence and experience, we can respond even more professionally and operatively to the needs of modern business.“

Sorainen has advised the real estate development company Darnu Group on the sale of the 15,000 square meter East Hill building in Vilnius’s Park Town business center to an investment company jointly owned by the Zenith Family Office and the Dao Family Office. Walless advised the buyers on the transaction.

“Among the companies located in the East Hill office building are Yara International, TIA Technology, MarkMonitor, Arctic Adventure, Glera Games, Mars Lietuva, Lithuanian Basketball League,” reports Sorainen. “In the autumn of 2020, one of the largest audit tax and business consulting companies ‒ KPMG Baltics ‒ will move into the building as well.”

Sorainen’s team included Counsel Simonas Skukauskas and Senior Associates Lina Barniskiene, Indre Sceponiene, Gerga Skirbutiene, and Agne Sovaite.

Walless’s team included Partners Indre Jonaityte-Grice and Mindaugas Lukas and Senior Associate Mantas Lideika.

Sorainen has advised Koinvesticinis Fondas on the investment, made along with three business angels, of EUR 100,000 in Lithuanian startup Cogastro, which has developed the world’s first computer program for insect farm monitoring and management. 

According to Sorainen, “a computer program developed by Mante Sidlauskaite and Arturas Bartkevic allows insect growers to monitor, manage, and make decisions based on data analysis, thus increasing the productivity of insect farms. IT programs of this kind are used by traditional livestock farms, but insect breeders have so far had no such option.”

Sorainen’s team included Partner Mantas Petkevicius and Senior Associate Vytautas Sabalys.

Sorainen did not reply to our inquiry on the matter.