Category: Poland

Former Aon Head of Commercial Law Przemyslaw Karolak has joined Kondracki Celej Adwokaci as a Partner.

Przemyslav joined Aon in 2015 – first as a Commercial Legal Counsel and then as Head of the Commercial Law team. He has previous experience with several international law firms, including Clifford Chance and Greenberg Traurig.

“We are currently living in a heavily regulated world, where almost every aspect of doing business is, to some extent, regulated and subject to extensive penalty regimes,” commented Karolak. “It is therefore very difficult to determine what is the risk of being non-compliant. Being an in-house lawyer allowed me to understand what businesses need to successfully navigate through the hectic regulatory world.”

According to Kondracki Celej Founding Partner Rafal Celej, “having Przemyslaw on board is a huge added value to our firm. His areas of expertise are complementary to those already covered by Kondracki Celej, especially in relation to our corporate and white collar litigation practices. We are positive that Przemyslaw’s experience will allow Kondracki Celej to provide more comprehensive legal services to our current and prospective clients”.

Anita Palukiewicz and Hubert Wysoczanski have been promoted to Partner at SSW Pragmatic Solutions.

Palukiewicz specializes in geological and mining law, as well as environmental issues. According to SSW, “she advises on administrative proceedings related to concessions and also provides consulting services regarding the Treasury’s mining ownership rights, contracts to establish mining usufruct rights, geological information, and environmental permits.” She also specializes in waste management consulting. She graduated from the Faculty of Law and Administration at the University of Szczecin in 2003. Prior to joining SSW Pragmatic Solutions in November 2014, she spent time at Chadbourne & Parke and spent two and a half years as Legal Adviser for the Ministry of the Environment of Poland.

According to SSW, Wysoczanski, who heads the firm’s Infrastructure practice, “specializes in advising and representing clients in civil, commercial and administrative matters, during contract negotiations, project planning, and implementation, and in dispute resolution.” He holds both a Master’s degree and a Ph.D. in Law from the  Jagiellonian University in Krakow. Before joining SSW in April of 2018 he spent five years as an Associate at K&L Gates, three months as a Senior Associate at Eversheds Sutherland, and almost three years as a solo practitioner.

“What distinguishes Anita and Hubert is the combination of their excellent expert knowledge in their respective legal fields, along with their persistent pursuit of established goals,” commented SSW Pragmatic Solutions’ Managing Partner Piotr Spaczynski. “They have been associated with SSW for years and have a perfect feel for our organizational culture. This makes me even happier to welcome them into the circle of the firm’s partners”.

Dentons has helped GPW Benchmark obtain permission from the Polish Financial Supervision Authority to administer all stock exchange indices, including the WIG20, mWIG40, sWIG80, and NCIndex, as well as the TBSP.Index.

According to Dentons, “The change of administrator is part of the process of harmonizing Polish capital market benchmarks with the requirements of the EU Benchmarks Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 June 2016 on indices used as benchmarks in financial instruments and financial contracts or to measure the performance of investment funds.”

In a linked move also connected with EU harmonization, Dentons reports, GPW Benchmark intends to file an application to the Polish Financial Supervision Authority by year-end to obtain authorization to administer the WIBID and WIBOR reference rates in 2020.

According to Dentons Partner Marcin Bartczak: ”The changes introduced, which concern determining and managing stock market indices, seek to ensure transparency and accuracy of processes governing benchmark calculation from the time input data is gathered right through to publication of the index.”

The Dentons team working on the project consisted of Partner Marcin Bartczak and Associate Tomasz Orczykowski.

SSW Pragmatic Solutions has advised the owners of Masterchem on their sale of a majority stake in the company — a Polish manufacturer of PET containers — to the Logoplaste Group, a producer of rigid plastic containers. Linklaters advised Logoplaste on the deal.

Masterchem’s founding family will retain a significant minority stake in the company and will remain actively involved in the management of the business.The transaction is subject to regulatory approval, and is expected to be finalized in the first quarter of 2020.

The SSW team included Partners Sebastian Ponikowski and Tomasz Wickel, Senior Associate Jakub Kozinski, Associate Marta Szymczyk, Counsel Jakub Jedrzejewski, and Junior Associate Katarzyna Rzewuska.

Linklaters’ team was led by Warsaw Counsel Klaudia Krolak and included Partner Tomasz Zorawski, Senior Associate Ewa Szmigielska, and Madrid Partner Carmen Burgos.

Greenberg Traurig has helped Cyfrowy Polsat S.A. obtain a PLN 1 billion incremental facility from unnamed Polish and foreign institutions. Norton Rose Fulbright advised agent and lenders UniCredit Bank AG London Branch. 

According to Greenberg Traurig, Grupa Polsat has 5.7 million customers accessing its telecommunication, pay digital TV, and Internet services. The Group includes Cyfrowy Polsat, Polkomtel, Telewizja Polsat, Netia, and IPLA.

The Greenberg Traurig team included Partner Aleksander Janiszewski, Senior Asscociate Paulina Kimla–Kaczorowska, and Associates Maja Gawrysiuk and Katarzyna Goljan. 

Norton Rose Fulbright’s team was led by Partner Grzegorz Dyczkowski and included Counsel Tomasz Rogalski, Senior Associate Krzysztof Gorzelak, and Associates Igor Kondratowicz and Aleksander Haleniuk. Its London-based team included Partner Neha Khosla, Senior Consultant Michael Ings, and Counsel Alex Zekkos.

SSW Pragmatic Solutions has advised the owner of Kospel S.A. on the sale of a 100% stake in the company to the Viessmann Group. DLA Piper advised the Viessmann Group on the deal.

Kospel, which was established in 1990, manufactures electric heaters, instantaneous water heaters, and hot water storage tanks. The company employs more than 500 people at four locations across Poland.

The Viessmann Group manufactures heating, industrial, and refrigeration systems. The company will support and finance a further dynamic development of Kospel S.A. According to SSW, ”the acquisition will allow Viessman to expand its operations in the CEE region.”

SSW’s team consisted of Partner Sebastian Ponikowski and Associate Marta Szymczyk.

DLA Piper’s Warsaw team included Partner Marta Frackowiak and Senior Associate Mateusz Zalenski.

Greenberg Traurig has advised CP Retail BV, a Capital Park Group subsidiary, on the sale of a stake in Dakota Investment, the owner of the Eurocentrum Office Complex in Warsaw.

The Eurocentrum Office Complex, which offers a total lease area of over 85,100 square meters, is the largest green office complex in Warsaw. 

The Greenberg Traurig team was led by Partner Radomil Charzynski and supported by Senior Associate Kamil Majewski, Associate Michal Niecko, and Paralegal Michal Gruza. Local Partner Magdalena Zyczkowska-Jozwiak was responsible for all intellectual and industrial property law aspects of the transaction.

Greenberg Traurig did not reply to our inquiry on the matter.

DWF has advised Sonoco Products on the acquisition by its subsidiaries of the Thermoform and Plastique Group. The unnamed sellers were reportedly advised by Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner on the transaction, pending approval from regulatory authorities.

Thermoform is a healthcare packaging and medical device thermoformer operating in Poland through its subsidiary Plastique sp. z o.o. According to DWF, “its business includes healthcare packaging, thermoformed medical devices, recyclable molded fiber packaging, and thermoformed consumer packaging.”

The DWF team included Senior Partner Maciej Jamka, Local Partners Izabela Szczygielska and Marcin Trepka, Counsels Lech Najbauer, Malgorzata Lesiak-Cwikowska, and Marta Wysokinska, Associates Patrycja Caban, Michal Bystrzynski, Aleksander Zielinski, Filip Zielinski-Andrysiak, and Junior Associates Bartosz Boenigk and Paulina Zwolinska.

SMM Legal has helped the Polish Branch of Coventry University open a campus in Wroclaw.

The University will enroll its first students in the fall of 2020. 

SMM Legal reports that, “this is the first branch campus of a foreign university to open in Poland in over two decades, and the second case of this type in history. The first foreign university to start its operations in Poland was the European College in Bruges, which opened its Polish branch campus in the early 1990s.” According to the firm, “Coventry University has nearly two hundred years of history. It belongs to the top 100 universities in Europe from the perspective of teaching quality and conditions. In the category of student relations, it is one of the top three.”

The SMM Legal team was led by Managing Partner Maciej Mataczynski.

Wojciech Kapica has been promoted to Partner at SMM Legal.

According to SMM Legal, Kapica, who co-manages the firm’s Financial Markets practice, “is an expert on financial sector regulations and compliance systems. His key areas of expertise include banking law, capital markets law, insurance law, supervisory policy, and corporate governance specific to regulated businesses, He has coordinated a number of licensing procedures concerning banks, brokerage houses, and clearing institutions before Polish and foreign financial supervision authorities.”

“Wojciech Kapica proves that a creative and holistic approach to business law is a necessity,” says Managing Partner Przemyslaw Maciak. “At SMM Legal, we appreciate this attitude. We believe that supporting our lawyers in reaching their professional career goals contributes to the success of our firm as a whole.”

Kapica graduated from the University of Warsaw with a Master’s degree in law in 2011 and completed postgrad studies at the Warsaw School of Economics. Prior to joining SMM Legal he worked as a Personal Data Protection Officer in Getin Noble Bank Group for almost two years, as a Senior Specialist at the Polish Financial Supervision Authority for three and a half years, was General Counsel at Dom Maklerski TMS Brokers S.A. for over two years, a Regulatory Affairs Consultant at Maruta Wachta for three years, and a Counsel and Head of Banking & Finance at Gawronski & Partners for a year and a half.