Category: Lithuania

Motieka & Audzevicius has successfully represented flyLAL in a dispute against Air Baltic Corporation involving private competition enforcement in Lithuania.

According to Motieka & Audzevicius, in 2016, the Vilnius regional court upheld flyLAL’s claim that Air Baltic Corporation had entered into anticompetitive agreements with Riga International Airport and both engaged in predatory pricing and anticompetitive strategies against flyLAL, “and ordered Air Baltic Corporation to pay flyLAL over EUR 16 million in damages and procedural interest. The court issued a decision of more than 90 pages, underlining the complexity of the case, specifically the first of its kind violation of TFEU articles 101 and 102 and the Lithuania’s competition law by the respondents.”

The Court of Appeals had referred the case to the Court of Justice of the European Union in order to answer the question of whether Lithuanian Courts have jurisdiction (under Brussels I Regulation) in the case at hand. The European Court of Justice confirmed flyLAL’s right to claim damages of over EUR 54.7million from AirBaltic and RIX in Lithuania.

According to the firm, “the ECJ provided clear guidance to the Court of Appeals confirming, inter alia, that the ‘damage’ under Brussels I occurred in Vilnius, Lithuania. Consequently, the Court of Appeals has the right to uphold the jurisdiction of Lithuanian court to hear the dispute.”

The Motieka & Audzevicius team consisted of Partner Ramunas Audzevicius and Associates Karolis Vaicekauskas and Henrikas Stelmokaitis.

The Vilnius office of Ellex has advised Bazaarvoice on its lease of space in the Technopolis Penta business center in Vilnius.

Based in Austin, Texas, Bazaarvoice is a marketing technology company that provides software allowing retailers to add customer reviews to their websites. Bazaarvoice officially opened its office in Vilnius on July 3, 2018. The customer service and technical support center will be located on the premises. 

The Ellex team consisted of Partner Dovile Burgiene, Associate Partner Dovile Skesteniene, and Associate Laura Karalkeviciute.

Image source: vestaconsulting.lt

Cobalt has helped Kevin EU, UAB obtain a license as a payment institution from the Bank of Lithuania, making it the 31st market participant to do so.

Kevin EU intends to provide money remittance activities and, according to Cobalt, it “is ready to fulfill all the requirements applicable to a payment institution.”

The Cobalt team was led by Partner Akvile Bosaite and Senior Associate Justina Milasauskiene. 

Sorainen has advised Esco Micro, a part of the Esco Group, on its acquisition of AT Medical. The transaction is expected to close in June 2018.

Esco Group is a Lithuania-based manufacturer and developer of innovative in vitro fertilization medical devices. Its products are currently distributed by Esco under the Esco Medical brand. 

Under the terms of the agreement, Esco Micro will make an undisclosed payment for the remaining shares in AT Medical. The acquisition price represents an approximately 16 times return on investment on the first investment Esco made in AT Medical.

The Esco Group is a Singapore-based life science company. Medical is to be renamed Esco Medical Technologies and will continue operations as a separate legal entity within the Esco Group life science ecosystem.

Xiang Qian Lin, Group President & CEO of the Esco Group, said: “This strengthens our commitment to innovation within the fast-growing fertility technologies market, leveraging the Esco Group’s global network to accelerate product development and drive distribution. Furthermore, it is a successful example of Singaporean-European collaboration in the life sciences field.”

The Sorainen team was led by Partner Sergej Butov and included Ieva Krivickaite and Auguste Bucyte.

TGS Baltic has advised Koinvesticinis Fondas on an investment of over EUR 300,000 Millo Appliances, a start-up represented by Triniti. SBA, a business group from Lithuania, also invested in the start-up. SBA was represented by Sorainen.

Millo makes what the company calls “the world’s quietest & most convenient smoothie blender.” According to Sorainen, “the creators of Millo have patented its working principle internationally. A patent has been granted for an innovative magnetic clutch solution in a blade cover, which can be screwed directly on the cup.” The company is currently creating a blender prototype and is preparing for mass production.

Other investors included Vladas Lasas, Andrius and Tomas Slimai (the founders of the Oberlo company); UAB Airos Kapitalas, and entrepreneur and investor Per Moller.

KUB Koinvesticinis Fondas is controlled by UAB Kofinansavimas, a subsidiary of Invega, which was established in order to implement the venture capital investment measures. 

The TGS Baltic team consisted of Partner Dalia Tamasauskaite-Ziliene and Associate Andrius Voska.

Triniti’s team included Associate Partner Giedre Ciuladiene and Lead Partner Linas Sabaliauskas. 

The Sorainen team was led by Partner Mantas Petkevicius, working with Associate Vytautas Sabalys.

Image source: Kickstarter.com

Magnusson has advised Ortofina on its acquisition of the shares of a majority shareholder in Ortopedijos Technika, an orthopedic products manufacturer in the Baltic States. The Vilnius office of CEE Attorneys advised the selling shareholder.

The agreement to sell shares to Ortofina, company’s second major shareholder, was signed last year, and the deal was finalized in May 2018 after Lithuanian Competition Council approval. The transaction is valued around EUR 10 million.

Ortopedijos Technika is a manufacturer of orthopedic products in the Baltic States headquartered in Lithuania. The company exports its products to Netherlands, United Kingdom, Germany, Scandinavian countries, United Arab Emirates, and other markets.

The Magnusson team included Associates Kestutis Baranauskas and Lukas Stankevicius. 

The CEE Attorneys team was led by Managing Partner Daina Senapediene.

Cobalt and Sorainen have advised NEPI Rockcastle on its acquisition of 100% of shares in JSC Ozantis from Arena Zweite Verwaltungs GmbH, a company in the Hamburg-based ECE group. Ellex reportedly advised Arena Zweite Verwaltungs on the sale. The transaction value is approximately EUR 124.6 million.

Oznatis owns the Ozas Shopping and Entertainment Center in Vilnius, Lithuania, which opened in 2009. The shopping center has a gross leasable area of over 60,000 square meters. Its retail offering includes numerous international tenants such as Adidas, Bershka, H&M, LPP brands, New Yorker, Peek & Cloppenburg, Tommy Hilfiger, Zara, and others.

According to Sorainen, the acquisition of Ozas marks NEPI Rockcastle’s entry point into the Baltic region.

Cobalt’s Tax team was led by Rokas Daugela and included Senior Associates Elena Vegelyte and Nerijus Jurkus, Associate Lukas Pultarazinskas, and Assistant Lawyer Edvardas Jankauskas.

The Sorainen team was led by Partner Kestutis Adamonis and included Senior Associate Evaldas Dedonis, and Associate Karolis Kunigelis.

Ellex did not reply to an inquiry about the deal.

Ellex Valiunas has assisted Swedbank in the Lithuanian Competition Authority’s investigation of charges that Swedbank had abused its dominant position by including certain provisions in Bank Link service agreements concluded with undertakings providing online payment collection services to e-shops.

According to a press release issued by the Lithuanian Competition Authority, “such provisions were seen as restricting the aforementioned undertakings‘ ability to offer new online payment collection services – payment initiation services – to Swedbank customers.”

Payment initiation services provide an alternative solution to traditional Bank Link services used for collecting online payments.  These new services enable payment collection service providers to initiate payments directly from the customer’s bank account via software “bridge” without concluding agreements with the banks. Suspecting that Swedbank restricted payment collection service providers’ ability to offer an alternative online payment collection solution and thus abused its dominant position, the Council initiated the investigation.

The same press material reported that “during the investigation it was found that in Bank Link service agreement concluded with payment collection service provider Paysera Swedbank included certain provisions restricting Paysera‘s ability to offer online payment initiation services to Swedbank customers.”

The investigation also revealed that similar provisions were included in Bank Link service agreements concluded with other payment collection services providers. This might have restricted the ability of such undertakings to operate on the market, and prevented e-shops from choosing alternative and possibly cheaper online payment collection services.

Upon Swedbank’s demonstration that it had voluntarily terminated the allegedly anti-competitive actions and committed to properly and fully eliminating the purported breach, and since Swedbank‘s actions did not cause significant damage to the interests protected by the Law on Competition, the Council decided to close the investigation.

According to Ellex Valiunas, this case “is a good example of constructive approach in solving competition-related matters.”

Sorainen has advised real estate management and development company MG Valda on the sale of the Verslo Trikampis business complex. The buyer, real estate fund LIM Verslo Trikampio NT Fondas, controlled by fund management company Lewben Investment Management (which in turn is owned by the Lewben Group), was represented by Cobalt.

Financial details were not disclosed. The fund size is over EUR 60 million, and after the transaction MG Valda will continue to administer the business complex.

Verslo Trikampis consists of four A class business buildings located in central Vilnius. Some 58 Lithuanian and international companies occupy premises in the business center, which offers over 28,000 square meters of leasing area.

MG Valda’s CEO Sigita Survilaite-Mekioniene commented: “Our business strategy is directed towards growing the scope of real estate projects. However, we will remain the administrator of Verslo Trikampis. Our extensive experience accumulated while managing Verslo Trikampis and the North Star business complex, which was sold earlier, enables us to create a strong, long-term and added-value-generating partnership with our clients and business partners.”

The Sorainen team included Partner Kestutis Adamonis and Senior Associates Simonas Skukauskas and Edita Cerniauskaite.

The Cobalt team included Partner and Head of Real Estate and Infrastructure Department Simona Oliskeviciute-Ciceniene, Managing Associate Arturas Kojala, and Associates Liucija Bitinaite and Justinas Sileika. 

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The Vilnius office of CEE Attorneys has advised a shareholder on the sale of his shares in OrtopedijosTechnika, a manufacturer of orthopedic products in the Baltic States, to Ortofina, another shareholder, which was advised by Magnusson.

The agreement to sell the shares was signed last year, and the deal was finalized on May 2018 after Lithuanian Competition Council approval. The transaction is valued around EUR 10 million.

According to CEE Attorneys, “OrtopedijosTechnika is one of the largest manufacturers of orthopedic products in the Baltic States.” The company is headquartered in Lithuania and exports its products to the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Germany, Scandinavia, the United Arab Emirates, and other markets.

The CEE Attorneys team was led by Partner and Head of M&A Daina Senapediene.

The Magnusson team was led by Associate Kestutis Baranauskas.