Category: Poland

Crido Legal has advised Polish Apple reseller iSpot on its acquisition of the competing Cortland chain.

According to Crido legal, “the transaction was signed in mid-February and closed on March 31. It means that the largest premium reseller of Apple in Poland (iSpot) has acquired the second largest. As a result of the acquisition, iSpot’s and Cortland’s joint revenues are expected to exceed PLN 1 billion in 2023, and the chain will in total have 47 stores across Poland, with around 600 employees. Cortland stores will be re-branded to iSpot within the next 12 months.”

Crido Legal’s team included Managing Partner Jakub Ziolek, Partners Przemyslaw Furmaga and Edyta Defanska Czujko, Senior Associates Aleksandra Czarnecka and Tomasz Artaszewicz-Zawisza, Associates Filip Sobocinski, Alex Weklar, and Aneta Bragiel, and Junior Associates Julia Dziubinska, Aleksandra Foksinska-Pawlik, and Kacper Krolikowski.

Crido did not respond to our inquiry on the matter.

Crido Legal has advised the Green World Fizan Fund on its full acquisition of IBC Service Recycling.

IBC Service Recycling is a Polish company that recycles, services, and sells reusable industrial packaging.

The Crido team was led by Managing Partner Artur Marszalkiewicz and Partners Mateusz Stanczyk and Jacek Ostrowski and included Senior Associates Aleksandra Malolepsza and Krzysztof Kluza and Senior Manager Soren Godniak.

Crido did not reply to our inquiry on the matter.

On April 7, 2023, White & Case announced that InfraVia’s acquisition of a 50% stake in Play Group subsidiary FiberForce (reported by CEE Legal Matters on July 8, 2022) had closed.

InfraVia Capital Partners is a private equity firm specializing in the infrastructure and technology sector.

The Play Group, operating the Play and UPC brands, is a Polish fixed, digital TV, and mobile services convergent provider.

As previously reported, Linklaters had advised InfraVia Capital Partners on the PLN 1.775 billion acquisition of a 50% stake in FiberForce, while White & Case had advised the Play Group on the sale.

Together, the two companies will “pave the way for providing access to high-speed connectivity to six million homes in Poland, using existing infrastructure and through further significant investments,” Linklaters announced. 

According to White & Case, “as part of the agreement, the Play Group transferred the assets of UPC Poland’s HFC network covering 3.7 million households to the subsidiary, and as part of the cooperation Polski Swiatlowod Otwarty [formerly FiberForce] plans to expand its broadband coverage in the medium term to more than six million households.”

White & Case’s team included Partner Rafal Kaminski, Counsels Malgorzata Pasnik and Grzegorz Jukiel, and Associate Radomir Szewczuk.

Linklaters’ team included Warsaw-based Of Counsel Mikolaj Bieniasz, Counsel Klaudia Krolak, Managing Associates Magdalena Szewczyk, Szymon Renkiewicz, Szymon Sieniewicz, Anna Laszczyk, and Lukasz Burakowski, Senior Associates Jan Jurga, Michal Nocon, Natalia Burchardt-Mroczkowska, and Ewa Sinkiewicz, Associates Lukasz Czerepak and Adam Usiadek, and Junior Associates Jakub Gerula, Jan Kwiecien, Adrianna Soltysiak, Sandra Slowik, and Jakub Korobczuk, alongside additional team members in Paris.

Rymarz Zdort Maruta has advised Projekt-Solartechnik and its subsidiaries on their private debt financing agreement with the Eiffel Investment Group for Polish solar power plants. Dentons reportedly advised the lender.

Projekt-Solartechnik specializes in large-scale photovoltaic installations, wind farms, and photovoltaic solutions. The company has built solar power plants in England, Belgium, France, Germany, Romania, and Hungary, and has been present in Poland since 2011.

The Eiffel Investment Group is an alternative investor and asset manager focusing on sustainable investments and the energy transition.

“We are very pleased to support Projekt Solartechnik’s with our bridge financing program,” Eiffel Investment Group Head of Infrastructure Team Pierre-Antoine Machelon commented. “The north-eastern European market is a strategic region for the acceleration of the European energy transition, that Eiffel Investment Group is proud to support.”

The Rymarz Zdort Maruta team was led by Partner Jakub Rachwol and included Senior Associate Justyna Wigier and Associate Augustyna Porzucek.

Editor’s Note: After this article was published, Dentons confirmed it had advised funds from the Eiffel Transition Fund group on the issuance of bonds to be used to finance the construction of photovoltaic installations belonging to Projekt-Solartechnik. The Dentons team included Warsaw-based Partners Tomasz Zwolinski and Agnieszka Kulinska, Counsels Jakub Zienkiewicz and Piotr Dziwniel, and Senior Associate Lena Boczkaja, as well as a team from the firm’s Paris office.

Allen & Overy has advised Krafton on its investment into the Warsaw Stock Exchange-listed Polish video game developer PCF Group. Greenberg Traurig advised PCF.

Krafton is a South Korean video game holding company.

According to Allen & Overy, “under the investment agreement, Krafton will subscribe for newly issued shares constituting 10% of the share capital of the PCF Group post-SPO.”

According to Greenberg Traurig, “Krafton will subscribe for approximately 60% of PCF Group’s planned SPO at a premium to the current market price of the shares.”

“We announced our new strategy not only with a view to dynamizing the growth of People Can Fly but also to attract partners to implement it,” CEO of People Can Fly and largest PCF Group shareholder Sebastian Wojciechowski commented. “Conclusion of the investment agreement with Krafton, with whom we share our business ambitions and our shooter DNA, is excellent news for our studio and confirmation of the quality of the projects we are carrying out in the self-publishing model. It is also a signal that, as a group, we are heading in the right direction, and global industry players recognize it.”

Allen & Overy’s team included Partner Jaroslaw Iwanicki and Counsel Maciej Skoczynski.

Greenberg Traurig’s team included Partner Rafal Sienski, Local Partner Maciej Pietrzak, Senior Associates Grzegorz Socha, Filip Drgas, and Michal Baldowski, and Junior Associate Kamil Nagawski.

Former Orlik & Partners Partner Szymon Suchcicki has left his previous firm to set up the Kaass business law firm in Warsaw.

Kaass will focus on both disputes and advisory in the fields of Banking and Finance, Labor Law, Compliance, Debt Management, Restructuring and Bankruptcy, Protection of Personal Property, and Press Law.

According to Kaass, Suchcicki, its Managing Partner, “specializes in resolving litigation, including media law disputes” and has  “extensive experience in carrying out enforcement and restructuring proceedings.” Before the move, Suchcicki spent three years with Orlik & Partners and, earlier, four and a half years with Zieba & Partners starting in 2016. He began his career with Maciej Panfil i Partnerzy in 2010, where he spent five and a half years.

NGL Legal has announced the opening of the firm’s Korean Desk, to be headed by Managing Partner Krzysztof Wiater with the support of Associate Ho Sun Nam, who joined the firm back in February.

According to NGL Legal, the Korean Desk will support Korean-speaking businesses in Poland and the wider CEE region.

“Associate Ho Sun Nam will be responsible for project management of all Korean Desk matters under the supervision of Partner Krzysztof Wiater, who will act as a Head,” the firm’s announcement read. “Ho Sun’s Korean origin and bilingualism, as well as a profound understanding of the challenges Korean companies face when establishing and operating a business in Poland and the CEE region, allow her to help clients to bridge cultural and language gap differences to create effective communication, speed-up decision processes, and reach company goals.”

Greenberg Traurig has advised Echo Investment on its EUR 45 million sale of the My Place II office complex in Warsaw to the Trigea Real Estate Fund. CMS advised the buyer.

According to Greenberg Traurig, My Place II (Moje Miejsce II) “is part of a mixed-use development completed in 2021, which includes two office buildings, five residential buildings, service outlets, and a green open common space, and is located in the Mokotow district of Warsaw.”

Echo Investment is a Warsaw Stock Exchange-listed developer that specializes in the residential, retail, service, and office real estate segments.

Established in 2019, Trigea is a Czech real estate fund focusing on commercial properties, in particular, office buildings and retail. The fund operates in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

The Greenberg Traurig team was led by Local Partner Kamil Majewski and included Deputy Managing Partner Radomil Charzynski, Associate Jakub Gajzler, Junior Associate Maciej Smaczynski, and Paralegal Hanna Zaboklicka.

The CMS team was led by Senior Associate Zaneta Baldowska and Associate Julia Resmer and included Partner Malgorzata Madej-Balcerowska, Counsel Pawel Jaskiewicz, Senior Associate Sandra Zach-Eustachiewicz, Lawyers Joanna Ostapiuk, Marta Trebacka, Aleksandra Dorszewska, Michal Gruza, Arleta Mysliwiec, and Martyna Adamowicz, and Associates Mateusz Rojek and Miroslaw Sadowski.

B2RLaw has advised Bentley Systems and its Cohesive Group digital integrator business on the acquisition of Vetasi.

“Vetasi brings to Cohesive the largest IBM Maximo consultancy team across Europe, Africa, and ASEAN countries, with headquarters in the UK and operations based in Poland, Indonesia, South Africa, Spain, Ukraine, and Australia,” B2RLaw informed.

Bentley Systems is a US-based software development company that develops, manufactures, licenses, sells, and supports computer software and services for the design, construction, and operation of infrastructure. The company’s software serves the building, plant, civil, and geospatial markets in the areas of architecture, engineering, construction, and operations. Cohesive was founded by Bentley in 2020 as a digital engineering systems integrator.

Vetasi is an international consultancy specializing in enterprise asset management solutions.

The B2RLaw team was led by Partner Piotr Szelenbaum and included Counsels Paulina Wyrostek and Piotr Leonarski and Associate Joanna Markowicz.

B2RLaw did not respond to our inquiry on the matter.

Norton Rose Fulbright has advised PGE Polska Grupa Energetyczna on a PLN 2.3 billion ESG financing from a banking consortium. DLA Piper advised the banks.

The banking consortium involved in the approximately EUR 490 million financing for PGE included PKO Bank Polski, Bank Polska Kasa Opieki, Bank of China (Europe) branch in Poland, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (Europe) branch in Poland, Alior Bank, and Santander Bank Polska.

PGE Polska Grupa Energetyczna is a state-owned public power company listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange.

According to Norton Rose, “the funds will be used for current operations, including the implementation of investments in line with the PGE Group’s long-term strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase electricity generation from renewable sources. The cost of financing will depend on the ESG rating assigned to PGE by a specialized agency.”

The Norton Rose team included Partner Tomasz Rogalski, Senior Associate Joanna Braciszewska-Szarapa, and Associate Karolina Majcher.

The DLA Piper team included Senior Associate Aleksander Haleniuk and Junior Associate Jakub Wiatrzyk.