Category: Poland

Greenberg Traurig has advised REINO RF CEE Real Estate, a Luxembourg-based fund created by REINO Capital and Australia’s CorVal, on its preliminary agreement to acquire the entire BUMA Group real estate portfolio. Clifford Chance reportedly advised the BUMA group.

According to Greenberg Traurig, “the estimated value of the portfolio, which includes office buildings and mixed-use (office and residential) development projects, is over PLN 1.3 billion. This transaction will also include further acquisition of all operational companies that are part of BUMA Group.”

In June 2019 REINO Capital, a commercial real estate holding company listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, entered into a strategic partnership agreement with RF CorVal to invest in a common asset management platform for the CEE region. RF CorVal is an Australian-based real estate fund manager with assets worth around two billion dollars.

The BUMA Group has been operating on the Krakow market since 1991 and is the oldest developer on it. Greenberg Traurig reports that “over 25 years, the company has constructed about 2000 apartments, 300 single-family houses, and office buildings with the leasable area of 260 000 square meters.”

Greenberg Traurig’s team included Partner Andrzej Wysokinski, Local Partners Karol Brzoskowski and Anna Halas-Krawczyk, Senior Associates Kamil Majewski, Filip Kijowski, Pawel Jaskiewicz, Radoslaw Pawluk, and Paulina Kimla-Kaczorowska, and Associates Filip Janeczko, Tomasz Denko, Maja Gawrysiuk, Natalia Wolkowycka, and Filip Drgas.

Editor’s note: After this article was published CEE Legal Matters learned that Clifford Chance’s team included Counsels Bartosz Kaniasty and Tomasz Derda and Advocate Joanna Satkiewicz.

Rymarz Zdort has advised a joint venture of a fund managed by the Real Estate Group of Ares Management Corporation and Griffin Real Estate on its acquisition of 98.04% of the shares in Poland’s Murapol, a residential property developer. RKKW advised Murapol on the deal.

According to RKKW, “Murapol Group has been operating in the area of multi-family housing for 19 years, carrying out approximately 60 investments at that time, in which more than 260 buildings out of nearly 13,500 were built. [It] has a unique business model in the industry and a rich portfolio of projects under construction and preparation.”

Rymarz Zdort’s team included Managing Partner Pawel Zdort, Partners Piotr Fedorowicz and Monika Kierepa, Senior Associates Karolina Bakowska, Tomasz Bakowski, Aleksandra Kabac, Jerzy Rostworowski, Barbara Skardzinska, and Izabela Szponar, and Associates Jakub Cichuta, Tomasz Karkowski, Arkadiusz Karwala, Aleksander Jakubisiak, Michał Szczepanski, Weronika Szyszka, Aleksandra Sliwa, and Sebastian Zielinski.

RKKW’s team included Partners Krzysztof Wrobel and Jarosław Szewczyk.

Editor’s note: After this article was published CEE Legal Matters learned that Dentons had advised Poland’s Cavatina real estate company on the sale of its stake in Murapol. The firm’s team included Partners Jakub Celinski, Pawel Grabowski, and Bartlomiej Kordeczka, Counsels Marcin Paliwoda and Inga Dulska, Senior Associate Hanna Zarska, and Associates Agata Izyk, Monika Wilczak, and Aleksandra Lukaszyk.

Gide Warsaw has advised B&B Hotels Polska on a cooperation agreement with Covivio and on the sale and leaseback of three hotels. Covivio was advised by Wardynski & Partners.

The transaction consists of the sale of hotels in Warsaw, Krakow ,and Lodz to Covivio, with B&B Hotels Polska continuing to operate the hotels under long-term lease agreements.

At the same time the parties concluded an agreement to cooperate on B&B Hotels’ further expansion in Poland.

Since 2010, B&B Hotels and Covivio have been working together on major hotel projects in France, Spain, and Germany, with 157 hotels with a total capacity of 1,715 beds.

Gide’s team consisted of Counsel Blazej Czwarnok, and Associates Rafal Osetek, Ewa Zbikowska, and Mateusz Rojek.

Wardynski’s team included Partner Michal Glinski and Associates Barbara Majewska, Jakub Baranowski, and Mateusz Rydzewski.

Linklaters has advised Panattoni Europe on negotiating the terms of a lease of nearly 6,500 square meters of space in the Panattoni Park Gorzow logistics park to Omnipack.

Panattoni Park Gorzow, which offers 69,000 square meters of space, is the first multi-tenant facility in Gorzow, Poland.

Linklaters’s team was led by Senior Associate Zuzanna Lipska.

Linklaters did not reply to our inquiry on the matter.

Decisive Worldwide has advised Orsted Polska on its lease of office space in Warsaw’s Varso Space Complex from CHM 1, which was advised by Argon Legal.

Orsted Polska is a renewable energy company that develops, constructs, and operates offshore and onshore wind farms, solar farms, energy storage facilities, and bioenergy plants, and provides energy products to its customers.

Decisive Worldwide’s team was led by Partner Andrzej Szmigiel.

JDP Drapala & Partners has advised Bas Lease B.V. on cross-border financing granted to Boekestijn Transport Holding B.V. for its acquisition of 100% of the shares in Baltic Trans sp. z o.o. from ECS Corporate N.V. Boekestijn Transport was advised by WKB on both the financing and the acquisition.

Boekestijn Transport specializes in niche markets such as transport of high valuables, fashion, and pharmaceuticals.

JDP’s team consisted of Partner Marcin Chomiuk, Of Counsel Bogusław Lackoronski, and Associates Marcin Lewiński and Adam Usiadek.

The WKB team advising on the financing consisted of Partner Marcin Smolarek and Counsel Michal Kalicki. Partner Jakub Jedrzejak led the team of lawyers advising on the underlying transaction, supported by Attorneys at Law Magdalena Piszewska and Piotr Popielarski and Advocate Karina Chrostowska-Koziol.

Former Olesinsky & Partners’ head of M&A Szymon Syp has joined Zieba & Partners as Head of the firm’s Venture Capital practice and co-Head of M&A.

Syp specializes in corporate law, M&A (with a particular focus on VC deals), and capital markets law. According to Zieba & Partners, “he has advised on M&A transactions in the private and public market, including domestic and cross-border deals (for family businesses, PE/VC funds, listed companies, start-ups as well as conglomerates), the issuance of securities and complex restructuring processes of undertakings.”

“We are very pleased to welcome Szymon to team Zieba,” commented Managing Partner Rafal Zieba. “Poland is yet to produce a global brand in the same way that some of our neighbors have … and we believe that this is to come. We are certain that this will emanate from Poland’s exciting tech industry …. Szymon also vastly strengthens our M&A and Capital Markets offering.”

“I am very pleased and excited to have joined Zieba & Partners who have a similar plan and mindset with respect to venture capital and the Polish tech industry,” stated Syp. “Our goal is to provide a 360-degree service to the blossoming Polish tech industry and to be the premium law firm for tech transactions, helping Polish companies and Polish VCs not only in Poland but on the global stage working closely with our unique international contacts and relations. The value of venture capital transactions in Poland shot up from just under PLN 156 million in 2018 to PLN 1.266 billion in 2019 and we predict this figure to grow dramatically over the years. I am confident Zieba & Partners will be at the heart of this growth.”

Syp is a graduate of the Maurer School of Law at the University of Indiana, holds a Ph.D. in law from the Faculty of Law and Administration at the University of Warsaw, and is a Ph.D. candidate with the Warsaw School of Economics at the University of Warsaw. Before joining Zieba & Partners he spent one year as Head of M&A at Olesinsky & Partners and four and a half years with Crido Legal.

Act BSWW has advised MK Holding Sarl on a joint venture project with a company in theDeA Capital Group, an Italy-based investment group focusing on real estate and equity investments.

According to Act BSWW, “the project consisted in setting up a joint venture company which will focus on real estate asset management services in Poland.” The firm’s team included Managing Partner Piotr Smoluch and Partners Jakub Salwa and Janusz Szelinski.

Act BSWW did not reply to our inquiry on the matter.

Greenberg Traurig has advised Cyfrowy Polsat on the issuance of Series C green bonds with an aggregate nominal value of PLN 1 billion. The joint offering agents to the green bonds were Trigon Dom Maklerski S.A., Erste Securities Polska S.A., and Erste Group Bank AG and the joint arrangers of the issuance were Trigon Dom Maklerski S.A., Trigon Investment Banking, Erste Securities Polska S.A., Erste Group Bank AG, Santander Bank Polska S.A., and BNP Paribas Bank Polska S.A.

Grupa Polsat is a Polish media and telecommunications group with 5.7 million customers. It offers access to telecommunications, pay digital TV, and the Internet.

According to Greenberg Traurig, “the transaction marks the first issue of green bonds on the Polish market conducted by a non-financial entity outside of the public sector, in line with the Green Bond Framework and positively verified for compliance with the Green Bonds Principles 2018 by an independent expert (Second Party Opinion). The proceeds from the issue will be used to refinance pro-environmental projects, improve the energy efficiency of Grupa Polsat, and reduce the carbon footprint associated with the electronic devices manufactured by Cyfrowy Polsat. The bonds were issued through a public offering addressed solely to qualified investors, which did not require a prospectus to be prepared. The company introduced the bonds, expected to be listed in February, to the Alternative Trading System operated by the Warsaw Stock Exchange within the framework of the Catalyst.”

Greenberg Traurig’s team included Local Partners Karolina Dunin-Wilczynska and Daniel Kaczorowski, Partners Aleksander Janiszewski and Andrzej Wysokinski, Senior Associate Marek Kleczek, and Associates Maja Gawrysiuk and Grzegorz Socha.

Act BSWW has advised Adventum International on the acquisition of the Katowice Business Point building in Katowice.

According to Act BSWW, “Adventum is a group of boutique investment fund management companies focused on Central European real estate investments. The group’s personnel includes highly experienced real estate professionals with CFA, NRW, and MRICS qualifications, with a combined investment experience of 70+ years.”

The Act BSWW team was led by Managing Partner Marek Wojnar and Partner Marta Kosiedowska, with the support of Partner Magdalena Banaszczyk-Glowacka and Senior Associate Katarzyna Gora.

Act BSWW did not reply to our inquiry on the matter.