Category: Lithuania

Cobalt has advised UAB Prosperus Real Estate Fund III on the acquisition of a shopping center in Palanga, Lithuania, from Venturecorp Property Holdings Limited and UAB Capital City Group.

The shopping center, which has an area of 5,000 square meters and which was opened in 2014, currently houses 16 tenants, including Maxima, Eurovaistine, and Delano.

The total investment in the shopping center is over EUR 6 million. UAB Palanga properties, the developer and manager of the shopping center, claims to have invested EUR 5.2 million in the project, and the anchor tenant of the building, UAB Maxima LT, invested EUR 1.16 million.

Cobalt’s team consisted of Partner Simona Oliskeviciute-Ciceniene and Associate Liucija Bitinaite. 

Editor’s Note: After this article was published, CEE Legal Matters was informed that Ellex Valiunas had advised Venturecorp Property Holding and SPC Legal advised the Capital City Group.

The SPC Legal consisted of Partner Povilas Karlonas and Associate Sandra Narmontaite.

Motieka & Audzevicius has assisted the Publicum Group with its acquisition of digital marketing agency Socialus Marketingas from private individuals. The sellers were reportedly advised by Ellex Valiunas.

The M&A team consisted of Partner Giedrius Kolesnikovas, Associate Rokas Jankus, and Junior Associate Laurynas Ramonas.

CEE Attorneys Vilnius has advised the Audejas Group on the planning and reorganization of one a group company.

The Audejas Group is a Lithuanian upholstery and decorative fabrics producer and furniture retailer.  Previously, the group had a company called ABC Nekilnojamas Turtas, UAB, which owned the Laisves pr. shopping center in Lithuania, among other real estate objects.

As a result of the reorganization, the Laisves pr. shopping center was divided from the rest of real estate objects through liquidation and establishment of two new legal entities, Laisves Prekybos Centras, UAB and ABC Nekilnojamas Turtas Vilnius, UAB. The first owns a shopping center and the former owns other real estate objects.

This project was managed by CEE Attorneys Partner Daina Senapediene, Senior Associate Aleksandr Masaliov, and Junior Associate Agne Jakstaite.

Glimstedt has advised LitCapital on the launch of a new venture capital fund: the LcX Opportunity Fund.

According to Glimstedt, Investment and Business Guarantees (INVEGA) and LitCapital have signed an agreement to launch the  LcX Opportunity Fund to implement the financial instrument Development Fund II launched by Lithuania’s Ministry of Economy to finance business development.

The Glimstedt team was composed of Partner Andrius Ivanauskas, Senior Associate Michailas Molis, and Associate Domantas Gudonis.

Editor’s note: On October 19, 2020, Glimstedt informed CEE Legal Matters that it had successfully helped the LcX Opportunity Fund obtain regulatory approval for its establishment and attract a EUR 34 million investment. The firm’s team included Partner Andrius Ivanauskas and Lawyers Michailas Molis and Tautvydas Uzkuras.

Cobalt has successfully represented Evelina Gudzinskaite, the Head of Lithuania’s Migration Department, in her challenge to a March 21, 2018 order by the Ministry of the Interior revoking her Class 3 qualification (and thereby reducing her salary by 15%).

According to Cobalt, “the Vilnius Regional Administrative Court ruled that career development of E. Gudzinskaite for 2017 was assessed inappropriately. The court found that the Minister of the Interior failed to delineate tasks for E. Gudzinskaite, to establish clear performance indicators, [and that] there was no career development discussion about her official activities, abilities, and qualification. Likewise, the career development report drawn by the Minister of the Interior was not based on objective facts.”

Cobalt’s team was led by the Head of the firm’s Labor Law Practice Group, Dalia Foigt-Norvaisiene, supported by Senior Associate Giedrius Abromavicius.

Motieka & Audzevicius has assisted the Publicum Group with its acquisition of UAB Good One, a SEO and digital marketing services provider in Lithuania.The sellers were private persons and UAB Media Klubas, which was reportedly advised by Ellex Valiunas.

According to Motieka & Audzevicius, in acquiring Good One, the Publicum Group, “expanded its portfolio of media companies resulting in ability to provide even wider range of advertising services, including highly valued SEO and digital marketing services.”

The M&A team consisted of Partner Giedrius Kolesnikovas, Senior Associate Michail Parchimovic, Associate Rokas Jankus, and Junior Associate Laurynas Ramonas.

Cobalt has advised Practica Capital on the launch of a new venture capital fund, Practica Capital Venture II, which will invest in Baltic innovation and technology-driven ventures, with EUR 15 million of public funds committed by Invega and the rest committed by Practica Capital and other local and international investors. Ellex reportedly advised Invega on the deal.

According to Cobalt, the new fund will focus on early stage venture capital investments in the Baltics and other Baltic-related ventures in Europe. It will also invest in neighboring EU and ventures from non-EU neighbors relocating to the Baltics. The fund will invest between EUR 200,000 to EUR 2 million in seed, early and select growth stage ventures.

Invega will invest in the fund through the Business Financing Fund, a fund of funds managed by Invega and stablished by the Ministry of Economy and the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Lithuania and financed by EU Funds.

“The growth and strengthening of venture capital funds are one of the main drivers of the start-up ecosystem growth,” commented Lithuanian Minister of Economy Virginijus Sinkevicius. “Besides funding needed for business launch and development, young and innovative enterprises will also receive additional knowledge and investor advice necessary for their growth. We expect this investment of public funds will encourage the venture capital fund to be less conservative and make bold investments into young and innovative businesses, especially in Lithuania.”

According to Practica Capital Partner Silvestras Tamutis, this is the third fund under Practica Capital management with a natural evolution towards regional Baltic-focus VC investment strategy and Lithuania as a prime target market.

The Cobalt team consisted of Partner Elijus Burgis, Managing Associate Eva Suduiko, Senior Associate Aurelija Balciune, and Associate Viktorija Dusajeva.

The WINT law firm, led by former TGS Baltic Partners Daiva Usinskaite-Filonoviene and Giedrius Danelius and AAA Law Partner Andrius Iskauskas has opened its doors in Vilnius.

According to the firm, “WINT will provide a wide range of legal services to businesses: litigation, restructuring and bankruptcy, criminal, corporate and commercial law, public procurement, tax restructuring, personal data, intellectual property, technology, startups and fintech. The Partners and [all] WINT lawyers have a wealth of experience in very different fields — from criminal law to personal data protection. Therefore, we do not consider ourselves a specialized or niche law firm. Intensive consolidation process has taken place in the legal services market for many years, but the currently expanded and perhaps somewhat sluggish structures are starting to crumble and demand for dynamic, professional and versatile teams doing what they know best.”

Usinskaite-Filonoviene, who was a Partner at TGS Baltic for the past five years and at AAA Law for the six before that, reports that “she has extensive experience advising clients on complex insolvency and restructuring cases and management of distress assets, [and has been] a leading lawyer in the biggest insolvency and restructuring cases in Lithuania, including insolvency proceedings with international aspects. [She] is also well known expert in dispute resolution in Lithuania. 

Danelius, who was an Associate Partner at TGS Baltic, which he joined (as legacy Tark Grunte Sutkiene) in October 2013, is the former Klaipeda District Chief Prosecutor who specializes in highly complex criminal and administrative cases.

Iskauskas was a Partner at AAA Law, which he joined in October 2010. According to WINT, “he has more than 15 years of experience in the fields of copyright, (and related rights), technology, and personal data protection, and he also specializes in media, advertising, contract law and public procurement, as well as advising start-ups and representing Lithuanian and foreign companies in legal disputes.

The firm currently has 10 lawyers.

The firm’s opening is part of a small wave of split-offs and significant changes in the Lithuanian legal market. In December five partners from Ellex Valiunas split off to start the new Walless law firm (as reported by CEE Legal Matters on December 13, 2018), and Ellex announced the hiring of former TGS Baltic Associate Partner Ieva Dosinaite and the restructuring of its management team (as reported by CEE Legal Matters on December 12, 2018), and then that Robertas Ciocys, Karolis Kacerauskas, and Miroslav Nosevic had been promoted to partner (as reported on December 21, 2018). Subsequently, Theis Klauberg announced that he was taking his team from the Latvian office of BNT to start a new pan-Baltic law firm (Klauberg Baltics), while BNT announced that new partners Henning Jensen and Karlis Svikis would lead its Riga office going forward (as reported on December 21, 2018).

Motieka & Audzevicius has advised Lithuanian start-up Helis LT on the sale of the company to Tesonet. 

Helis LT is a software development company building back-end products and providing B2B services for the gaming and e-sports industries. According to Motieka & Audzevicius, Tesonet “is one of the most successful and tech-savvy companies in Lithuania which is involved in providing cybersecurity, machine learning, technical support, and business hosting solutions globally.”

Sorainen has helped Google Payment Lithuania obtain an e-money institution license from the Bank of Lithuania.

Google entered the online payments market in 2015 as a digital wallet platform and online payment system enabling users to send and receive money, pay for Google products, and pay for in-store purchases.

The Sorainen team consisted of Partner Tomas Kontautas, Senior Associates Jurgita Nikita and Jonas Kiauleikis, and Associates Laura Matukaityte and Urte Armonaite.