Category: Lithuania

Sorainen has assisted the Kino Pavasaris Vilnius International Film Festival with the removal of counterfeit copies of the Oscar-winning movie “Parasite” from illegal torrent sites in Lithuania.

The movie was included in the digital festival’s March 19 – April 2, 2020, program.

Sorainen reports that some infringers removed the content voluntarily upon demand, while others required a special administrative procedure before the Lithuanian Radio and Television Commission, which issued administrative orders that were later sanctioned by the courts. Several thousand people had seen “Parasite” illegally, the firm reports, resulting in Kino Pavasaris, which distributed the firm in Lithuania, suffering a loss of tens of thousands of euros.

Sorainen’s team included Partner Daivis Svirinas, Counsel Stasys Drazdauskas, and Legal Assistant Paulius Mockevicius.

Cobalt has advised Western Union Processing Lithuania on its lease of more than 15,000 square meters of office space from Finland’s Technopolis real estate investment and management company, which was advised by Sorainen.

Western Union Processing Lithuania, which is managed by the Western Union cash transfer company, is a financial services and information technology company providing payment services to individuals and businesses.

Cobalt’s team included Partner Simona Oliskeviciute-Ciceniene and Managing Associate Ausrvs Sliavas.

Sorainen’s team included Partner Kestutis Adamonis and Senior Associate Lina Barniskiene.

Sorainen has advised electronic money institution Verse Payments Lithuania on its acquisition by Square, an electronic payment and financial services company headquartered in San Francisco and listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Walless advised Square.

According to Sorainen, “Verse employees will join the Square team, who are developing the Cash App – a peer-to-peer payment app that lets its users easily send and receive money from their phone. Verse will continue to operate as an independent company, and its teams will be based in their current offices.”

Sorainen’s team consisted of Partner Tomas Kontautas, Senior Associate Laura Matukaityte, and Associates Sidas Sokolovas and Ieva Tumalaviciute.

Walless’s team consisted of Managing Partner Dovile Burgiene, Partner Joana Baublyte-Kulviete, Associate Partner Alina Makovska, and Associate Akvile Marozaite.

Walless has helped the Ambr Group’s set up a Lithuanian subsidiary — Ambr Payments UAB — and obtain an electronic money license from the Bank of Lithuania to issue electronic money and provide payment services.

According to Walless, “Ambr Payments UAB is setting up a B2B business, which targets small and medium enterprises making sales in European online marketplaces. The core services Ambr Payments UAB will offer are going to be based on payment acquiring as well as the issuance of e-money for their clients and providing clients’ possibility to transfer issued e-money to other recipients.”

Walless’s team included Partner Gediminas Reciunas, Associate Partner Ausra Brazauskiene, Senior Associate Simona Kisunaite, and Associate Akvile Marozaite.

Ellex Valiunas has persuaded the Supreme Court of Lithuania to rule that the Kaunas City Municipality may continue centralizing food purchases for pre-school education institutions.

According to a summary on the Ellex Valiunas website, in this case, “the applicant [had] questioned whether the municipality had correctly assessed the justification for the abnormally low tenders submitted by two separate suppliers in two public procurements.” The value of the two challenged “centralized procurements,” that the case revolved around, according to the firm, was EUR 900,000.

According to the firm, “the dispute in the present case arose when a supplier, which later was legally excluded from the tender, decided to initiate a dispute over the eligibility of tenders submitted by other suppliers. Lithuania’s Supreme Court noted that even after recognizing the plaintiff’s arguments as valid, the plaintiff could no longer return to the tender. Similarly, the applicant could not expect that, if the action was upheld, the tender would be terminated and reopened because, in that case, the other tenderers whose tenders had not been in dispute would be declared the winners. In that context, the SCL ruled that the plaintiff had no legal interest in the case and dismissed the action.”

Going forward, Ellex Valiunas suggests, “suppliers and contracting authorities should keep two essential points in mind. First, the exclusion of a supplier from procurement procedures does not in itself lead to the loss of his legal interest: suppliers may continue to initiate disputes over the legality of tendering procedures in the hope of re-tendering or the possibility of an action for damages. Second, a legal interest is lost only if, in the context of a particular situation, the supplier loses even a theoretical opportunity to compete in another purchase (which will not even necessarily be announced).”

According to Ellex Valiunas, “this victory is especially important for Kaunas City Municipality and the people of Kaunas City. Attempts by the municipality to centralize the procurement of food products for pre-school education institutions face significant resistance, which is expressed by initiating unfounded legal disputes against the centralized procurements carried out by the municipality.”

The Ellex Valiunas team representing the Kaunas City Municipality was led by Partner Karolis Kacerauskas and included Associate Lawyers Sarunas Neniskis and Aiste Mikociuniene and Lawyer Gabriele Radziute.

TGS Baltic has advised venture capital fund Koinvesticinis Fondas and four other business angels on their investment of EUR 210,000 in Lithuanian start-up Funkciniai Gerimai. Cerniauskas & Partners reportedly advised Funkciniai Gerimai on the deal, while Glimstedt advised the business angels investing.

According to TGS Baltic, “the investment was made into a company which produces a new fashionable soft drink kombucha, which is a non-alcoholic fermented tea-based drink. The investment will contribute to further development, research of the product (involving both Lithuanian and US experts), and its introduction to the local and European markets. Kombucha, under the brand name Ohm!Bucha, [was] developed by entrepreneurs Robertas Kupstas and Rokas Sliupas.”

TGS Baltic’s team included Partner Dalia Tamasauskaite-Ziliene, Associate Julija Skardziute, and Legal Assistant Evelina Vaisvilaite.

Glimstedt’s team included Partner Andrius Ivanauskas and Junior Associate Tautvydas Uzkuras.

Ellex Valiunas has advised Quaero European Infrastructure Fund II on the acquisition of 100% of shares in UAB Duomenu Logistikos Centras from energy company Ignitis Group and Litgrid. TGS Baltic advised the sellers on the transaction, which is due to close in July and was valued at EUR 10.1 million.

QEIF II is a EUR 500 million infrastructure fund managed by Quaero Capital, an independent asset management company. According to Ellex Valiunas, “QEIF II invests across Europe in essential infrastructure projects in sectors such as energy & renewable, social infrastructure, telecom, utilities, and transport. As a new shareholder, QEIF II will consolidate DLC business model, strengthen the company’s financial resources, and accelerate its development in the coming years.”

Duomenu Logistikos Centras controls the Data INN data center and also operates an international data transmission network known as the “Baltic Highway.” According to Ellex Valiunas, “the network has a contiguous optical connection, linking Tallinn with Frankfurt and the biggest as well as the longest cross-Baltic optical data transmission network – Baltic Optical Network.” The total length of the optical fiber network infrastructure is 13,000 kilometers, with a total throughput of 10 Tbit/s.

Ellex Valiunas’ team included Partner Paulius Gruodis, Associate Partner Jolanta Liukaityte-Stoniene, Senior Associate Mantas Juska, and Associate Arvydas Gruseckas.

TGS Baltic’s team included Partner Dalia Tamasauskaite-Ziliene, Associate Partner Darius Minotas, Senior Associate Indre Vickaite-Liatuke, and Associate Edvinas Einoris.

Cobalt has advised APX on an unspecified pre-seed investment in Haslle.

APX is an early-stage investment fund and accelerator, based in Berlin, that is backed by Axel Springer and Porsche. Haslle is a Lithuania-based start-up engaged in developing a spending management solution helping companies make payments and keep track of their expenses and subscriptions.

Cobalt’s team included Partner Kristel Raidla-Talur and Senior Associate Sven Bottcher.

Cobalt did not reply to our inquiry on the matter.

Sorainen has advised venture capital fund Open Circle Capital on an unspecified investment in Lithuanian marketing startup Billo. SPC Legal advised Billo on the deal.

According to Sorainen, “in the pre-seed investment round, Billo attracted almost EUR 500,000 [in] investment from Open Circle Capital, 70Ventures, and SOSV.” The firm reports that “the idea behind the Billo platform is that brands post interactive content creation tasks to the user community and users receive a reward for creating authentic content on the Billo.app.”

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

SPC Legal’s team was led by Mindaugas Rimkus.

Agne Jonaityte has joined Primus Derling as Head of the firm’s Lithuanian Banking & Finance practice.

According to Primus Derling, “Jonaityte has over 17 years of experience in banking & finance, debt and capital markets, investment funds, financial services (regulatory and compliance), as well as M&A, corporate governance, and wealth management work. Jonaityte has advised clients ranging from banks, investment funds, other financial institutions, major corporates to wealthy individuals on complex transactions and compliance matter, which include local and cross border financings, acquisitions, public issues, and private placements of equity and debt instruments, licensing and ongoing compliance matters of financial services entities.”

Jonaityte has a Masters’ degree from the University of Vilnius and an LL.M. from the University of London. Prior to joining Primus Derling, she spent four years with Bernotas & Dominas Glimstedt, five years with Sorainen, five years with Ellex Valiunas, and almost three years with the AUGA Group. She also spent the past three years as a solo practitioner.

“I am excited to join this dynamic pan-Baltic law firm,” said Jonaityte. “I look forward to bringing my experience to serve clients’ needs and help them grow and run their businesses hassle-free.”

“We are glad to strengthen our team with one of the most competent, extremely skilled, and well-respected banking & finance lawyers in Lithuania,” said Primus Derling Managing Partner Robert Juodka. “With her impressive multifaceted track record as well as commercial and business acumen strengthened in in-house and management roles, she brings a new dimension to the team, which reinforces our commitment to be clients’ trusted advisor and partner in law.”