Category: Poland

Rymarz Zdort has advised funds controlled by Aberdeen Standard Investments on the acquisition of a portfolio of 130 photovoltaic plants with a total capacity of 122 MW, from Poland’s R. Power Group.

Rymarz Zdort’s team included Partners Marek Durski and Monika Kierepa, Counsel Jakub Rachwol, and Associates Adrian Augustyniak, Kacper Stanosz, Patryk Gelar, Andrzej Granat, Piotr Stawowski, Weronika Szyszka, Marta Szczepkowska, and Wiktor Zien.

Rymarz Zdort was unable to provide additional information about the deal.

The Warsaw office of Gide has advised Archicom on its EUR 33.8 million sale of the City One office building in Wroclaw to an unnamed institutional investor.

City One is part of the City Forum complex. According to Gide, “it is A-class and LEED Gold-certified, with a leasable area of 12,000 square meters.”

Gide’s team was headed by Partner Marcin Muszel, and included Advocate Tomasz Roszczyc and Advocate Trainees Rafał Cwiklinski and Aleksandra Kobylinska and Tax Advisor Maciej Grela.

Mrowiec Fialek & Partners has advised Polski Holding Nieruchomosci S.A. on the issuance of E series shares and on their admission to trading on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. The nominal value is almost PLN 4.2 million.

According to Mrowiec Fialek & Partners, “Polski Holding Nieruchomosci operates in Poland’s commercial real estate sector. The group’s portfolio includes approximately 140 business real estate assets with a value of approximately PLN 2.5 billion.”

Mrowiec Fialek & Partners’ team included Partner Zbigniew Mrowiec, Senior Lawyer Maria Krupa, and Junior Lawyer Kamil Gago.

DWF has advised Polish Enterprise Fund VIII, a private equity fund managed by Enterprise Investors, on an unspecified investment in the Vehis Group.

Enterprise Investors has been operating in Central and Eastern Europe since 1990 and has nine funds with a total capital of over EUR 2.5 billion.

According to DWF, “Vehis Group offers an innovative car finance platform for the automotive sector that brings together everything needed to select, purchase, finance, insure, and use a car.”

DWF’s team included Managing Partner Michal Pawlowski, Partners Rafal Wozniak, Oskar Tulodziecki, and Adrian Jonca, Counsel Marta Wysokinska, Senior Associate Magdalena Trzepizur, and Associate Aleksander Zielinski.

DWF informed CEE Legal Matters that it was unable to provide additional information about the investment or counsel for the Vehis Group.

MGS Law has advised Orange Poland on two Power Purchase Agreements concluded with German renewable energy projects developer WPD regarding wind farms WPD will operate in Jarocin (5 MW) and Krotoszyn (10 MW).

According to MGS, “Orange Poland will purchase … 500 GWh within a ten-year period, which will cover up to ten percent of the company’s demand for electric energy.”

MGS Law’s team was led by Partner Michal Sznycer and included Junior Partner Anna Eliszewska.

MGS Law informed CEE Legal Matters that it was unable to disclose information about the legal advisor of WPD.

Dentons has advised commercial real estate developer Cavatina Holding on the sale of three A-class office buildings in the Equal Business Park office complex in Krakow to a consortium managed by Apollo-Rida Poland. Penteris advised Apollo-Rida on the deal.

According to Dentons, “the Equal Business Park i an office complex comprising of three office buildings with six floors above ground (buildings A, B, C), which are the subject of the transaction, and one office building with five floors, which is the fourth stage of the investment, being currently under construction (building D). The complex is located in Krakow’s Podgorze district, and offers a total of over 60,000 square meters of the office space.”

Dentons’ team included Partners Bartlomiej Kordeczka and Cezary Przygodzki, Managing Counsels Maciej Jodkowski and Tomasz Krakowski, and Associate Alicja Grabowska.

Penteris’s team included Senior Partner Andrzej Tokaj, Partner Katarzyna Sawa, Senior Associates Izabela Bogucka, Iga Piotrowska, Sebastian Janicki, Kamil Stelmach, and Malgorzata Blahuciak, Associate Kamil Oskowski, and Junior Associates Alicja Dzienisik, Ludwika Olszewska, Lukasz Czerepak, and Agnieszka Wisla.

Piotr Zawadzki has joined Penteris as the new Head of IP & DP.

Prior to joining Penteris, Zawadzki spent two and a half years at Salans, more than five years at Hogan Lovells, a year at Linklaters, and three years at Bird & Bird. He studied at the University of Warsaw and the University of Genova.

According to Penteris, “Piotr’s expertise covers copyright, trademarks, patent law, advertising law, internet domain protection, trade secret protection and personal and non-personal data protection. Furthermore, Piotr is always ready to offer advice and help other legal professionals. He has authored and co-authored numerous articles on intellectual property and is a frequent guest speaker at conferences and training sessions.”

Bird & Bird has announced the addition of a new Forensic Services team in Warsaw.

According to Bird & Bird, “the team joins from PwC and is a decisive factor in supporting clients in challenging situations, such as internal investigations requested by management or owners, regulatory inquiries and investigations conducted by law enforcement authorities, as well as in disputes and due diligence reviews. The team can support internal and regulatory investigations, eDiscovery and Forensic Data Analytics, background checks, fraud prevention, and post fraud support, as well as M&A and disputes. ”

The team will include “Wojciech Czyzewski (Head of Forensic Services), who has over 14 years of professional experience, having managed projects for shareholders and Supervisory Boards, Jakub Kur (Head of Forensic Technology), who has been advising Polish and international clients on identifying and managing fraud risks since 2012, and Marcin Miazga (Digital & eDiscovery Services Manager), who specializes in obtaining electronic evidence and investigative analytics for clients in various industries in relation to investigations and incidents,” Bird & Bird reports.

“Joining the law firm of Bird & Bird’s experts in the field of investigative services strengthens our competency in court proceedings and corporate investigations,” said Bird & Bird Partner Adam Kowalczyk. “Gaining in-depth knowledge and their professional analysis is a differentiating factor in supporting clients in difficult and sometimes crisis situations. I am delighted that the Warsaw office will be able to support the entire Bird & Bird network, including in corporate proceedings and investigations. Bird & Bird will join the select few global law firms offering such a comprehensive and integrated legal service.”

Linklaters has advised Swedish real estate private equity firm NIAM on the sale of Silesia Business Park A and B in Katowice to the Philippine’s ISOC Group, represented in Poland by Augusta Cracovia, which was advised by Hogan Lovells.

According to Linklaters, “Silesia Business Park A and B are a part of a four-building complex with a total area of 48,740 square meters. The complex is located a close to Katowicka Street, one of the main thoroughfares in the city, and to the Silesia City Center, the largest shopping center in Silesia. The facility is in an approximately 30-kilometer distance from the international Katowice Airport.”

Linklaters’ team included Managing Partner Artur Kulawski, Managing Associates Adriana Andrzejewska and Marta Domino, Counsel Mikolaj Bieniasz, Senior Associate Magdalena Szewczyk, Associates Ewa Sinkiewicz, Piotr Hurkala, and Jan Jurga, and Junior Associate Mateusz Korecki.

Hogan Lovells’ team included Partners Marek Grodek and Piotr Zawislak, Counsels Bartosz Clemenz, Ewa Kacperek, and Weronika Wolosiuk, Senior Associates Ewa Kraszewska, Katarzyna Sulimierska, and Mateusz Dereszynski, Lawyers Pawel Gnas, Daria Kostewicz, and Karolina Samocik, and Associate Adam Nowosielski.

CMS has advised Grupa Azoty Polyolefins on financing it received from Grupa Lotos SA and South Korea’s Hyundai Engineering and Korea Overseas Infrastructure & Urban Development Corporation for the Police Polimery polypropylene project in Poland, as well as on the implementation of the project. Baker McKenzie advised Grupa Lotos and DLA Piper advised Hyundai and Korea Overseas Infrastructure & Urban Development on the deal.

CMS has also advised Grupa Azoty on debt financing of USD 1 billion it received from a consortium of 11 international and Polish financial institutions including PKO BP SA, Bank Pekao SA, Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego, Alior Bank SA, PZU SA, Bank Ochrony Srodowiska SA, Santander Bank Polska SA, BNP Paribas Bank Polska SA, the EBRD, mBank SA, and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Europe SA, Branch in Poland. White & Case advised the banking consortium.

According to CMS, “Grupa Lotos will invest PLN 500 million in the Polimery Police project, including a PLN 300 million contribution in cash in consideration for taking up 17.3% of the shares in Grupa Azoty Polyolefins and PLN 200 million in the form of a subordinated loan. The financial contribution of Hyundai and KIND will amount to a total of USD 130 million (approximately PLN 520 million), of which Hyundai will invest USD 73 million in consideration for taking up 16.63% of the shares in Grupa Azoty Polyolefins and KIND will invest USD 55 million (including USD 5 million in consideration for taking up 1.14% of the shares in Grupa Azoty Polyolefins and USD 52 million in the form of a subordinated loan).”

CMS describes Police Polimery as “the largest investment project in the chemical industry in Central and Eastern Europe. “According to DLA Piper, “Grupa Azoty is one of Poland’s biggest chemical companies and Polimery Police, which is Azoty’s largest investment project, will comprise propylene and polypropylene production units, a storage and handling terminal, and logistics infrastructure. The project aims to construct a number of installations that will be used for polypropylene production with an annual capacity of 437,000 tons.”

CMS’ team included Partners Rafal Zwierz, Malgorzata Urbanska, Michal Mezykowski, Marcin Bejm, Jakub Wieczorek, Tomasz Minkiewicz, Piotr Ciolkowski, Andrzej Posniak, and Malgorzata Sajkiewicz, Counsel Michal Andruszkiewicz, Senior Associates Olga Czyzycka, Katarzyna Grodziewicz, Magdalena Zmyslowska, Agnieszka Starzynska, Monika Kowara, Mikolaj Markiewicz, Associates Monika Szczotkowska, Michal Sowinski, Krzysztof Sikora, Jan Radziuk, Hubert Wisniewski, Roksana Pietrzak, Wojciech Szopinski, Rafal Dostatni, and Anis Ben Amer, and Lawyers Natalia Szurnicka, Pawel Ura, Piotr Galazka.

DLA Piper’s Warsaw-based team included Partner Jakub Domalik-Plakwicz, Counsels Mateusz Zalenski and Michal Orzechowski, Senior Associates Anna Chrabota-Bajson, Jakub Zienkiewicz, and Miroslaw Calka, Associates Michal Kuratowski, Piotr Sitnik, Mateusz Gajda, Piotr Czulak, and Agnieszka Staszek, and Junior Associates Bartosz Kuziola and Karolina Kordulska, while the firm’s Seoul-based team included Country Managing Partner Daniel Lee, Counsel Ted Yi, Senior Associate DK Kim, and Associate Theresa Huh.

Baker McKenzie’s team was led by Warsaw-based Partner Ireneusz Stolarski.

White & Case’s team in Warsaw included Partner Tomasz Ostrowski, Local Partners Nicholas Coddington and Michal Zieniewski, Counsel Katarzyna Jakubiak, and Associates Mateusz Zawistowski, Jerzy Oppeln-Bronikowski, and Mariusz Bujacz.