Category: Lithuania

Primus Derling has promoted Senior Associate Arturas Gutauskas to Associate Partner.

Gutauskas, who joined the firm in 2013, is a member of the firm’s Dispute Resolution practice group. He represents local companies and international clients in the fields of commercial litigation in cases concerning debt recovery, bankruptcy, application of direct liability of management, interpretation of contracts, and other cases. Part of his legal practice is related to criminal litigation, with a particular focus on white-collar crime. He has experience advising clients on matters pertaining business incorporation and business immigration, insolvency and liquidation, as well as extradition and EAW cases.

Prior to joining Primus, Gutauskas worked with ECOVIS and Statybu Ekonominiai Skaiciavimai. He received his law degree from the Mykolas Romeris University in Vilnius.

Sorainen has advised venture capital fund Open Circle Capital on its investment, made along with technology company iTo, of EUR 300,000 in business process management tool Tasker.

Tasker is used by companies whose employees spend a significant amount of time outside the office. The tool helps to digitalize and optimize business processes. 

The Open Circle Capital fund, which manages assets of over EUR 20 million, invests in Lithuanian companies developing digital technology products. The fund aims to help start-ups that implement scientific projects, carry out research and create technology requiring specific knowledge. The fund has already invested in four Lithuanian capital companies.

Audrius Milukas, Partner and CEO at Open Circle Capital commented: “This start-up has already proven what it is worth in Lithuania: in some industries Tasker has over 90% of the market; the tool is used by major Lithuanian companies. An experienced team and the high quality product that it created enables the company to achieve these results. Further company strategy encourages us to expect that the product will be even more successful in foreign markets, which are much bigger. Tasker neatly represents the type of investment we are looking for.”

The Sorainen team included Partner Mantas Petkevicius, Associate Vytautas Sabalys, and Legal Assistant Auguste Bucyte. 

Cobalt’s Vilnius office has advised BaltCap Infrastructure Fund on its investment in a real estate development to be leased to the Queen Morta School and Childhood Garden pre-school, both privately run by Austeja Landsbergiene. The prime contractor in the project is UAB Merko Statyba.

Cobalt estimates the value of the investment at EUR 11 million, with the EUR 7.4 million cost of construction representing the greater part of the total investment value.

According to Cobalt, the deal is the first of its kind in the field of education-business partnership.

The property, which consists of around 7 400 square meters, is designed to house a school and pre-school due to open in September 2019. The new educational establishment in the Lithuanian capital’s Kalnenai district will provide up to 800 student places, not including those for pre-school children.

For 20 years, BaltCap Infrastructure Fund will retain ownership of the building and lease it to the Queen Morta School and Childhood Garden pre-school.

Cobalt’s team consisted of Partner Simona Oliskeviciute-Ciceniene, Managing Associate Ausrys Sliavas, and Associate Simas Paukstys.

Cobalt did not reply to our inquiry about the deal.

Sorainen Vilnius has advised venture capital fund Open Circle Capital on its EUR 400,000 investment, made with the Blue Bridge Group’s managing company, into Blue Bridge Group member and CRM solutions developer Teamgate. Primus advised Blue Bridge group in the deal.

According to Sorainen, Teamgate intends to use the investment for expansion into foreign markets. The company is also considering integrating elements of artificial intelligence and machine learning in their products. 

“After getting to know this company, it was easy to make a decision about our partnership,” said Rokas Tamosiunas, Partner at Open Circle Capital. “The team is ready for effective expansion in foreign markets. Transferring business management processes to digital space is unavoidable in the modern business world in most business segments. Investing in Teamgate, a company with a clear long term vision and expansion strategy, is a logical and far-sighted decision.”

Open Circle Capital invests in Lithuanian companies developing digital technology products. Open Circle Capital also helps to identify innovative technology ideas with commercial potential and advises on financing issues related to their implementation.

The Sorainen team consisted of Partner Mantas Petkevicius and Associate Vytautas Sabalys.

The Primus team consisted of Partner Ernesta Ziogiene and Associate Karolis Diska.

Sorainen has advised real estate management and development company MG Valda on the sale of the Park Town office complex in Vilnius.

MG Valda has successfully sold the first building of Park Town ‒ West Hill ‒ and has agreed to sell the second building, East Hill. The transaction value was not disclosed.

Construction of the West Hill office building on Lvovo street in Vilnius, which covers a total area of 7.2 thousand square meters, was finished in 2017. The building is occupied by Regus Business Centres Vilnius, the IT company Alna, and other companies, such as Fortevento, Trans.eu Baltic, Same System, Inventi, and Tieto Lietuva.

The second building, which offers a total area of 14.8 square meters – East Hill ‒ is currently under construction on the same site and is expected to be finished by summer 2019. According to Sorainen, almost 30% of its area is already rented out and the building is expected to be occupied by Lithuanian basketball league and Glera Games.

The two seven-storey buildings will also house conference halls, a gym, cafes, restaurants, a beauty salon, a dry cleaning shop, and an open terrace. MG Valda plans to invest approximately EUR 40 million in the project.

The Sorainen team consisted of Partner Ausra Mudenaite, Senior Associates Simonas Skukauskas and Indre Sceponiene, and Associates Lina Stropute and Gerda Skirbutiene.

Sorainen declined to provide additional details, including those related to the identity of the buyers or their counsel.

Sorainen has advised Pardavimo Automatai and its shareholders on the sale of 100% of the company’s shares to BCH Lithuania, managed by Latvia’s Baltic Coffee Holding. BCH Lithuania was advised by Cobalt.

Closing of the transaction remains subject to the authorization of Lithuania’s Competition Council. 

Pardavimo Automatai, which was established in 1999, is a vending operator company in Lithuania.

The Sorainen team included Partner Daivis Svirinas, Senior Associates Deimante Pagiriene and Jonas Kiauleikis, and Counsel Vitalija Tamaviciute.

Cobalt’s team included Partner Elijus Burgis, Senior Associate Inga Mazvilaite, and Associate Julija Timoscenko.

TGS Baltic’s Vilnius office and Clifford Chance have advised Maxima Grupe, UAB on approval of EUR 1 billion medium-term note program and issuance of EUR 300 million of 5-year bonds. BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank, and SEB Bankas acted as intermediaries, and were advised by Linklaters and Ellex Valiunas. 

TGS Baltic claims this is the largest note issuance by a private equity company in the Baltic States. The subscribed notes will soon be admitted to trading on the Irish Euronext Dublin exchange and AB Nasdaq Vilnius.

The notes carry 3.25% annual interest, and they have been subscribed at 3.5% yield. Standard & Poor’s rated the issue BB+ with stable outlook. According to TGS Baltic, Maxima Grupe became the first private local capital company in the Baltic States and one of a few retailers in Central and Eastern Europe that received and published an international credit rating. According to a Maxima Grupa press release, this rating is the highest among retailers of comparable size in Europe.

The TGS Baltic team consisted of Partner Vidmantas Drizga, Senior Associate Mantas Gofmanas, and Associate Partner Ieva Dosinaite.

The team of Ellex in Lithuania consisted of Partner Joana Baublyte-Kulviete and Associate Partner Laurynas Narvydas.

Clifford Chance and Linklaters did not reply to our inquires about the deal.

Lithuanian lawyer Nerijus Zaleckas has joined Skycop as Head of Legal.

According to a Skycop press release, “Skycop is a company, standing up for passengers and their rights in a fight against airline misbehavior towards flight refunds. The company’s global online platform offers hassle-free claim management for delayed, cancelled, or overbooked flights to passengers across the world. Skycop and its team of professionals with 10+ years of experience in aviation business, law, and credit management are keen on restoring the justice in airline-flyer relationship and getting what legitimately belongs to those deprived of their personal rights.”

Before joining Skycop, Zaleckas worked for Cobalt, Deloitte, and Eversheds, specializing in both litigation and dispute management and corporate, commercial, competition, and EU and regulatory projects.

According to that Skycop press release, Zaleckas “mainly advised international companies in various projects ensuring effective compliance with applicable national and international rules. Nerijus has substantial experience in working with international financial, IT and technology, gambling, automotive, pharmaceutical, food, real estate and energy companies. During his practice he led litigation in such complex cases as disputes regarding deposit certificates, bonds and share issue of one of the Lithuanian banks as well as consulted such companies as Berlin Chemie Menarini Baltic, Statoil, Fortum and Reckitt Benckiser.”

Nerijus studied and obtained Master’s degrees from Lithuania (from the Mykolo Romerio University in 2006), the Netherlands (from the University of Amsterdam in 2006), and the UK (from the Queen Mary University of London in 2007).

“Nerijus Zaleckas, with its long standing legal experience, shall strengthen the company’s position in dealing with airlines under the Flight Compensation Regulation 261/2004,” commented Skycop CEO Marius Stonkus. “His experience in leading complex legal projects will bring an added value to protecting air passenger rights as well as structuring our processes so passengers could receive compensation for their delayed, cancelled or overbooked flights as fast as possible.”

Cobalt has advised Furniture1, UAB, a company operating in Lithuania under the trade mark Baldai1.lt, on the sale of 30% of its shares to Bygghemma Group. The buyers were advised by Deloitte Legal.

Furniture1 has been doing business since 2008. Currently the company is active in Estonia, Latvia, Finland, Croatia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Greece, Slovenia, Romania, and Lithuania.

Bygghemma Group is an online home furnishings retailer in the Nordic region, operating through such webstores as Bygghemma, Trademax, Chilli, and Furniturebox. The company’s shares are listed on the Nasdaq Stockholm stock exchange.

Cobalt team was led by Partner Juozas Rimas and included Associate Justinas Kondratas.

The Deloitte Legal team consisted of Vilnius-based Associate Partner Simas Gudynas and Managing Associate Tomas Mieliauskas, Riga-based Partner Maris Liguts, Tallinn-based Senior Associate Simo Soolo, Sofia-based Managing Associate Kaloyan Yordanov, Zagreb-based Managing Associate Jadranka Oreskovic, Budapest-based Managing Associate Akos Szauter, and Ljubljana-based Seniro Associate Drazen Vrbanec.

Sorainen and Schoenherr have helped the Vienna Insurance Group obtain Lithuanian Competition Council approval for its acquisition of 100% of Seesam Insurance shares from Finnish financial services company OP Financial Group. Ellex Valiunas advised the OP Financial Group on the underlying sale.

Attempts to discover the identity of counsel for the buyers on the sale were not successful.

Seesam Insurance has been operating in Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia formore than 20 years. Vienna Insurance Group is an insurance specialist in Austria and Central and Eastern Europe. The company controls several companies and subsidiaries in Lithuania.

The Sorainen team consisted of Partner Daivis Svirinas and Senior Associate Edita Cerniauskaite. The Schoenherr team was led by Brussels-based Partner Volker Weiss and Attorney at Law Evelin Hlina. 

The Ellex Valiunas team consisted of Partners Dovile Burgiene and Marius Juonys and Senior Associates Ilona Janciauskaite and Povilas Junevicius.