Category: Lithuania

Sorainen has successfully represented Unis Steel Baltija before the Lithuanian Supreme Court.

Unis Steel Baltija challenged the claim brought by one of its clients that pipes it had purchased from Unis Steel needed to be replaced with new ones. The first instance court decided that the claim was about defective items sold, so a shorter limitation period of six months applied. However, the appeal court decided that the claim was for compensation for damage caused by faulty products, so a three-year limitation period applied.

According to Sorainen, “the Lithuanian Supreme Court stated that a damage compensation claim, to which a three-year limitation period applies, can only be pursued when buyer’s rights cannot be defended by applying special provisions governing the contractual legal relations of sale and purchase. In all other cases a claim for defective items sold should be filed, in which case a six-month limitation period applies.”

The Sorainen team consisted of Partner Kestutis Svirinas, Senior Associate Kazimieras Karpickis, and Associate Ausra Gauryte.

TGS Baltic has advised the Smart Energy Fund, powered by Lietuvos Energija, on its investment in Moixa, a UK-based company developing smart energy storage devices and virtual power plant technologies.

The EUR ten million investment round was led by Honda, and included Japan’s ITOCHU Corporation and UK-based venture capital investor First Imagine! Ventures. The Smart Energy Fund invested EUR 500,000.

Moixa’s GridShare platform facilitates the smart charging of batteries and electric vehicles. It uses artificial intelligence to monitor energy use and develop charging plans that are tailored customer needs.

The Smart Energy Fund is managed by Contrarian Ventures and invests in energy technology start-ups.

TGS Baltic’s team included Partner Aurimas Pauliukevicius.

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

Glimstedt has advised AB Grigeo and UAB Grigeo Investiciju Valdymas on an investment and shareholders agreement regarding a EUR 30 million investment into the companies by UAB BSGF Salvus, a subsidiary of the INVL Baltic Sea Growth Fund private equity fund.

By means of the deal, BSGF Salvus will acquire up to 49.99% of the shares in Grigeo Investiciju Valdymas, a company owned by Grigeo, in two phases. The transaction is to be completed after the terms and conditions of the agreement and fulfilled and upon the Competition Council’s approval of the transaction. 

According to Grigeo President Gintautas Pangonis, the potential of cardboard and its products market is growing. The investment will enable the company to increase sales and strengthen its cardboard business position in the Baltic market. In 2018 Grigeo’s cardboard and packaging business income increased by 7.8%, to EUR 72 million. The company currently employs 400 people.

Established in June 2018, the INVL Baltic Sea Growth Fund invests in medium-sized companies. With a target size of EUR 200 million, the fund focuses on acquiring controlling or significant minority stakes and takes an active role in the management of target companies, aiming to significantly increase their value over the long term. The fund’s investments in any one company may range from EUR 10 million to EUR 30 million.

Glimstedt’s team consisted of Partner Ausra Maliauskaite-Embrekte and Senior Associate Jurgita Zakarauskiene.

Sorainen’s team consisted of Partner Mantas Petkevicius, Counsel Asta Augutyte-Rapkeviciene, Senior Associates Inga Macijauskaite, Lina Barniskiene, and Jonas Kiauleikis, and Associates Ieva Krivickaite and Lukas Vaisvila.

TGS Baltic has advised KuB Koinvesticinis Fondas and Sorainen advised Open Circle Capital on their joint investment of EUR 200,000, made with the Lithuanian network of business agents LitBAN, in  artificial intelligence start-up Attention Insight.

Attention Insight system uses eye-tracking software to gather insights into consumer behavior. 

The TGS Baltic team included Partner Dalia Tamasauskaite–Ziliene and Associate Julija Skardziute.

The Sorainen team advising Open Circle Capital on its EUR 100,000 investment included Partner Mantas Petkevicius and Senior Associate Vytautas Sabalys.

Sorainen has helped Verse Payments Lithuania obtain an electronic money institution license.

Verse Payments Lithuania is a social payments app that is a fully owned subsidiary of Verse Technologies, based in Spain.

The Sorainen team consisted of Partners Tomas Kontautas and Augustas Klezys and Senior Associate Laura Matukaityte.

Glimstedt has advised Vastint Lithuania on an agreement with the Mitnija construction company in regard to the construction of a 55,000-square-meter office park in Vilnius.

The Business Garden office park will be built by June 2021. Vastint Lithuania, an international real estate organization, agreed with Mitnija, a Lithuanian construction company, on the first stage of the project. 

Vastint Lithuania Managing Director Kestutis Vedeckis said, “using modern architectural and technological solutions, we will create convenient and healthy workspaces, and sustainable construction and energy efficiency solutions will significantly reduce the energy costs of the buildings.” He added that the business park will follow the environmental design requirements, “so that people can enjoy a healthy and convenient work environment.”

The Glimstedt team was led by Senior Associate Petras Navardauskas.

Walless has successfully defended the interests of Luminor Bank in the Court of Justice of the European Union.

The Court of Justice of the European Union was approached by the Vilnius Regional Court, which was hearing a case on the Luminor Bank’s offering of index-linked bonds to four individual investors.

According to Walless, most of the disputes between the Luminor bank and its clients concerning the alleged mis-selling of index-linked bonds were closed several years ago. This case was the last attempt to overrule the precedent established by the Lithuanian courts. 

The CJEU was asked to issue a preliminary ruling related to a number of EU Directives and Regulations, including those concerning investment services, consumer rights protections, market abuse, information contained in prospectuses.

According to Walless, on May 16, 2019 the CJEU ruled in favor of Luminor. In its preliminary ruling the CJEU supported the position of the bank and explained that several of the EU Directives the national court referred to did not apply due to time constraints. In addition, the CJEU refused to accept and analyze other EU legal acts, because the national court failed to substantiate the relevance of the acts to the case. 

Walless reports that the interpretation of the CJEU “provides valuable insights on the application of the relevant EU laws on investor protection and related matters.”

The Walless team consisted of Partner Joana Baublyte-Kulviete and Associate Partner Lina Radaviciene.

Fort has represented 200 buyers of non-issued Snoras shares before the Vilnius Regional Court in their claim in their successful claim for procedural interest for the period of litigation against the Lithuanian state enterprise Deposit and Investment Insurance.

Deposit and Investment Insurance had claimed that the procedural interest did not belong to the buyers, because the benefits were paid to them after the victory in another depositors’ case handled by Fort. However, the Court found that Deposit and Investment Insurance was obliged to pay either the deposit insurance benefit or the investor insurance benefit and had to compensate the claimants for the loss by paying the procedural interest.

The Fort team included Senior Associate Aiste Samuilyte-Mamontove and Associate Paulius Uosis.

CEE Attorneys has successfully represented Audejas in a dispute against Vilniaus Miesto Projektai, which is managed by investment fund Lord LB Asset Management.

Audejas is a producer of upholstery and home textile fabrics in the Baltic States. According to the company’s website, “in 1946 the company started activities and continually modernizing its production equipment today can supply over 3 million meters of the highest quality fabrics meeting the most rigid requirements of clients from more then 35 countries all over the world.”

The case was related to the actions of Vilniaus Miesto Projektai, a municipal development organization in Vilnius, including its termination of a preliminary contract with Audejas and an attempt to collect an advance payment of EUR 1 million. The total amount of the dispute was EUR 2 million.

The CEE Attorneys team included Partners Daina Senapediene and Inga Kostogriz-Vaitkiene, and Junior Associate Ieva Zablackaite.

Lithuania’s WINT law firm has promoted lawyers Tomas Bairasauskas and Marius Matiukas to Associate Partners, with Bairasauskas now leading the firm’s Insolvency practice and Matiukas leading the Banking and Finance team.

Tomas Bairasauskas has over 12 years of experience with insolvency cases and shareholder disputes. Before joining WINT, he worked as a Senior Associate in TGS Baltic, and he holds a Master’s degree in Law from Vilnius University. “Our insolvency practice is strong and I am glad to have a chance to contribute to its development,” Bairasauskas said.

Marius Matiukas has over 14 years of experience in banking and finance. After graduating from Vilnius University he worked with Raidla, Lejins & Norcous (now, in Lithuania, Cobalt), the European Investment Bank, TGS Baltic, and the Auga Group. “Although our law firm awaits the first anniversary, our Banking and Finance Practice is well developed and we represent a number of banks and corporate clients,” he said.