Category: Poland

Kwasnicki Wrobel & Partners has advised Lorentz Tech Limited on the acquisition of 100% of shares in Cube ID, a Polish company specializing in identity management products.

According to Kwasnicki Wrobel & Partners, Lorentz Tech Limited is an “investment partner in the IT, TMT, and cyber-security markets.”

Kwasnicki Wrobel & Partners’ team was led by Partner Jaroslaw Szewczyk and included Attorney Marta Dobosz and Advocates Aleksander Skirpan and Pola Sarnowska. The firm has announced that it is unable to provide additional information on the deal.

SMM Legal has helped the Polish National Center for Research and Development launch the “Grand Challenge: Energy” project.

According to SMM Legal, “this is the first Polish initiative in a unique formula modeled upon DARPA Grand Challenge competitions. The concept behind grand research challenges is to engage the widest group of innovators possible in the search for a technological solution to the pertinent social problem involving the individual use of renewable energy sources. The competition task is to develop a compact device for individual consumers that would transform wind energy into electricity and then ensure its effective storage.”

SMM Legal’s team was led by Lawyer Mateusz Stanczyk.

Former Penteris Partner and Chief Marketing Officer Mariusz Kowalksi has left the Polish firm to launch a new management consulting business: Waterwalk Partners.

While not a lawyer by education, Kowalski was a partner with both the regional law firm Magnusson and then with Penteris, the newly-created firm resulting from the January 1, 2020 splitting-off of Magnusson’s Warsaw office (reported by CEE Legal Matters on October 25, 2019, and January 2, 2020). Before joining Magnusson, he was a PR Executive with White & Case for two years. Earlier still he worked as the Editor-in-Chief at EnterNet and hrm.pl and as an Editor at Elektrim Online. 

According to the firm’s website, Waterwalk Partners is “dedicated to delivering strategy, business development, and digital solutions for professional service firms.” 

Kowalksi says that he will continue to cooperate with Penteris, but now as an external consultant. He explained his reason for the change: “I believe that an integrated and multidisciplinary approach to strategy, business development, and digital can give a head start on the road to the future. Not least in these uncertain times when paradigms are shifting, and both businesses and professionals are being taken out of their comfort zones and challenged more than ever before. We see an opportunity in what is happening. It can be particularly beneficial for those who are open to tune or revise their modus operandi, being opportunistic, using this time to gain a competitive advantage, acting more swiftly, and preparing for the future more efficiently than others.”

Greenberg Traurig has advised CCC and its main shareholder on issuing and offering 13.7 million new shares, valued at more than PLN 500 million.

CCC is a shoe manufacturer and retailer listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. According to Greenberg Traurig, “CCC S.A. offered 13.7 million new shares to its shareholders in two series: Series I (soon to be listed on the WSE) and Series J (registered shares which will be listed on the WSE at the earliest in 12 months). Concurrently with the offering, CCC S.A.’s main shareholder Dariusz Milek decided to sell more than PLN 2 million worth of CCC S.A.’s existing shares already in WSE free-float, in order to invest the proceeds back into CCC S.A. by acquiring all Series J shares. Institutional investors will acquire more than PLN 8.9 million worth of CCC S.A.’s free float, whereas a company controlled by Dariusz Milek will acquire 6.85 million Series J shares, allowing him to maintain his share of votes in the company despite the issuance of the new shares.”

Greenberg Traurig’s team also included Warsaw-based Partners Rafal Sienski and Pawel Piotrowski, Senior Associate Agata Wisniewska, and Associates Tomasz Szekalski and Michal Baldowski, as well as London-based Partners Dorothee Fischer-Appelt and James Mountain.

Editor’s note: After this article was published, CEE Legal Matters learned that White & Case had advised the Brokerage House of PKO BP and Pekao Investment Banking, as global coordinators, and Citigroup Global Markets Limited, the Brokerage House of Bank Handlowy, mBank and Santander Bank Polska-Santander Brokerage House as joint book-runners. The firm’s team included Partner Marcin Studniarek, Local Partner Rafal Kaminski and Associate Damian Lubocki, with the help of London-based Counsel Doron Loewinger.

Noerr has advised environmental service provider PreZero on its acquisition of 100% of the shares of Komart, a Polish provider of municipal and industrial waste management services. Marekwia & Plawny reportedly advised the unidentified sellers on the deal.

The transaction value of the deal, which closed on April 30, was not disclosed. 

According to Noerr, “PreZero belongs to the international Schwarz Group which operates in the food and industrial retail sector in more than 30 countries (through the Lidl and Kaufland chains), as well as in the collection, trading, and marketing of secondary raw materials.”

Komart operates in the Upper Silesia region of Poland, where it provides municipal waste collection services and management.

Noerr’s team included Partners Radoslaw Biedecki and Gerald Reger and Associates Marek Solarski, Joanna Szacinska, and Sandra Sekula-Baranska.

Dentons has advised the CPI Property Group on its acquisition of a 50.3% share in the ownership of the Chalubinskiego 8 office building in Warsaw from First Property Group. Wozniak Legal advised the sellers on the deal.

The Chalubinskiego 8 office building, also known as Oxford Tower, is located in downtown Warsaw. The building offers a total of 46,000 square meters of office space on 47 floors. 

According to Dentons, the transaction is “part of the company’s plan to expand on the Warsaw office property market.” According to the firm, “following the acquisition of the share in [the] Chalubinskiego 8 office building, CPI’s property portfolio in Warsaw totals 305,500 square meters of office space.”

Dentons’ team included Partner Piotr Szafarz, Senior Associate Olga Ziegler, and Associates Joanna Poplawska and Katarzyna Lawinska.

Wozniak Legal’s team included Partner Piotr Drzazga and Associate Maciej Kiraga.

Rymarz Zdort has advised Griffin Real Estate and European Logistics Investment BV on the acquisition of land and the construction of warehouses in the Polish communities of Ruda Slaska, Czeladz, and Torun, from Panattoni Development Europe. Financial details were not disclosed.

Rymarz Zdort’s team included Partner Piotr Fedorowicz, Senior Associate Karolina Bakowska, and Associates Tomasz Karkowski, Michal Kostewicz, and Aleksandra Sliwa.

Based on the Cabinet Regulation of 2 May 2020 imposing specific restrictions, obligations, and prohibitions in connection with the state of epidemic, as of 4 May 2020, shopping centres with sales or service areas exceeding 2,000 m² can reopen, subject to the following restrictions:

1. cinemas, hairdressers, beauty parlours, gyms, fitness clubs, and travel agencies are to remain closed until further notice, and catering establishments can only serve takeout.
2. island kiosks may operate provided that:
3. displays/cash desks have been fitted out with plastic screens (separating staff from customers);
4. staff members use face masks, coverings, or visors, as well as disposable gloves;
5. the island kiosk interior is not accessible to anyone other than staff members;
6. customers are served one at a time;
7. customers are provided with disposable gloves or hand disinfectant.
8. sanitary regulations must be observed, in particular:
9. two limits on the number of shoppers:
   1. for shopping centres – no more than 1 person per 15 m² of open sales or service area;
   2. for stores – no more than 1 person per 15 m² of sales or service area in a given store;
10. obligations concerning basic PPE: both shopping centres and individual stores are obliged to supply disposable gloves or hand disinfectant, to be compulsory used by customers and staff members alike; people in shopping centres are also obliged to cover their noses and mouths, preferably using face masks or visors; cash desks are to be cleaned with disinfectant at least once per hour, and workstations must be at least 1.5 m apart.

On the other hand, restrictions concerning so-called ‘senior citizen shopping hours’ have been lifted, and shopping centres with sales areas exceeding 2,000 m² can now resume trading on Saturdays and any Sundays not covered by the general ban on Sunday trading.

The Polish Ministry of Development has also published additional guidelines for shopping centres with sales areas exceeding 2,000 m² at https://www.gov.pl/web/rozwoj/centra-handlowe (content in Polish).

By Iga Piotrowska, Senior Associate, and Ludwika Olszewska, and Alicja Dzienisik, Junior Associates, Penteris

Former DLA Piper Counsel Anna Wietrzynska-Ciolkowska has joined DWF as Local Partner.

According to DWF, Wietrzynska-Ciolkowska “has over 15 years of professional experience in transactional, regulatory, and restructuring matters. She focuses on gaming, betting, licensing, and the insurance sector. She gives counsel to the multi-jurisdictional provision of gaming and betting services to Polish residents, promotional lotteries, sports betting, supplies of gaming machines, acquisition of gaming companies, and structuring cooperation among shareholders in those companies. Her work also covers the outsourcing of gaming and betting functions, restrictions related to payments and advertising, as well as tax matters. Anna provides corporate, transactional and restructuring advice for insurers and insurance brokers, including legal assistance in the processes of sale of shares or insurance assets/business, mergers of insurers or transfer of insurance portfolios, as well as ongoing corporate advice.”

“DWF is a dynamic and innovative legal business, employing business-oriented, skillful pragmatic lawyers and tax advisors,” said Wietrzynska-Ciolkowska. “I believe that with its strategy of not only providing excellent services but also understanding clients’ needs, engaging its people and doing things differently, it will continue to be a game-changer in the legal services sector. With my knowledge and experience, we should achieve many synergies in servicing clients from corporate, gaming, betting and insurance sectors.”

Wietrzynska-Ciolkowska has a Master’s degree in law from the Adam Mickiewicz University, Prior to joining DWF, she spent over two years with Squire Sanders (now Squire Patton Boggs) and almost 13 years with DLA Piper. 

“We are delighted to welcome Anna to the expanding DWF team in Poland,” commented Managing Partner Michal Pawlowski. “Her vast expertise in the insurance sector and exceptional and unique experience in providing legal advice to gaming clients will broaden our offering in Poland.”

Domanski Zakrzewski Palinka has advised Gas-System SA on a construction and assembly agreement with Saipem Limited regarding the laying of the Baltic Pipe intersystem gas pipeline on the bottom of the Baltic Sea and connecting the undersea part of the pipeline with onshore sections in Poland and Denmark.

DZP previously advised Gaz-System SA on the supply of pipes for the Polish section of the project (as reported by CEE Legal Matters on January 21, 2020).

Domanski Zakrzewski Palinka’s team included Partners Pawel Grzejszczak and Katarzyna Kuzma, Counsel Wojciech Hartung, and Associate Weronika Jedrzejewska.