CEE Legal Matters

Category: Poland

  • Gessel Advises Sunfish Partners on Investment in Molecule One

    Gessel Advises Sunfish Partners on Investment in Molecule One

    Gessel has advised Sunfish Partners on the first round of financing to Molecule One sp. z o.o.,, a start-up that develops software for designing artificial synthesis models based on artificial intelligence.

    Gessel describes Sunfish Partners as “a venture capital fund operating in Berlin and Warsaw, which is one of the few German funds that is actively operating on the Polish start-up market.”  According to Gessel, “Sunfish Partners’ goal is to cooperate with start-up founders with a strong data science or engineering background who use new technologies to look differently at existing industries or help build industries of the future.”

    The Gessel team was managed by Managing Associate Michał Bochowicz and Senior Associate Weronika Zdeb, supported by Trainee Katarzyna Matyszewska. The transaction was supervised by Managing Partner Marcin Macieszczak.

  • Poland Leads the New Rise in CEE Life Sciences

    It is a good time for the CEE region, and for Poland. In September 2018 Poland became the first country in CEE to be ranked as a “developed market” in the FTSE Russell index. And the Polish Life Sciences market, which had previously been driven by a transition economy dogma, has made a leap from a purely generic market to a more innovative one. A few recent developments may allow Poland to become a leader in the CEE Life Sciences industry.

    Economic Trends

    Traditionally the Life Sciences market in Poland (as elsewhere in CEE) has consisted of generic and branded generic manufacturers. Poland has the biggest share of the primary pharmaceutical market in CEE, with a steadily-growing number of pharmaceutical and medical device companies. Health-related industries are among the most rapidly-expanding innovation sectors in Poland. R&D provides for the largest share of innovation expenditure, followed by investment in capital goods with embedded technology. The Polish Life Sciences industry is supported by state funding, in particular by the European Commission and Poland’s National Center for Research and Development. According to a recent report by the Polish Patent Office, the Polish Life Sciences industry (in particular health tech) has grown steadily since Poland’s accession to the EU and now includes around 100 large and small business entities. Since 2010 companies in Poland have accounted for 2.7% of all new healthcare technology in the EU.

    Patent Trends

    Recently, EU investment in Poland has contributed to greater domestic innovation and has strengthened EU ties to the domestic R&D scene. Furthermore, the growing awareness of IP issues is increasing the number of inventions registered at the Patent Office. 

    According to the Patent Office’s report on the scale and intensity of patenting activity, Polish health sector entities filed 34,639 applications for worldwide IP rights (patent and utility model applications) between 2006 and 2015, including 3,193 patent applications and 270 utility model applications, of which 1,656 (48%) were in pharma and 1,807 (52%) were in med-tech. The share of healthcare applications in Poland increased by 6% to 8% yearly since 2010. The top 14 most valuable applications were filed in the health sector (both pharma and med-tech). Most Polish Life Sciences companies file their patent applications in Poland (76%). Nearly half of all patent applications were filed jointly with other applicants. Also, most patent applications were filed for non-biological preparations (42%) and new chemical compounds (31%). The key specializations in the field of med-tech were in the fields of diagnosis & surgery (34%) as well as stents, orthopaedic, nursing or contraceptive devices, treatment or protection of eyes or ears, bandages, dressings, or absorbent pads (18%). There were 534 patent applications filed with the European Patent Office by Polish entitles last year alone, and this trend is increasing. 

    Finally, it is worth noting that top foreign Life Sciences giants patent in Poland as well. More than 50% of foreign patents originated from Germany, followed by the US, France, Switzerland, Italy, the Netherlands, and Japan. 

    Legal Trends

    A trickle of patent and regulatory clashes has been flowing through Poland’s courts, with a rising number of confrontations between foreign pharmaceutical titans and local rising stars. With a total of 13,432 healthcare-related national and PCT applications and validations of European patents, Poland is the leader in the CEE region. 

    The hot news is that the Polish Ministry of Justice has initiated public discussions about specialized IP courts in Poland (primarily for trademarks and patents), which may facilitate dispute resolution in the Life Sciences sector and thereby increase the effectiveness of IP protection for Life Sciences companies. Furthermore, in mid-May of this year the Polish Ministry of Entrepreneurship and Technology launched another public debate on the Unified Patent Court system. The Polish decision to opt out of the Unified Patent Court means self-preservation for the country’s patent scene. Moreover, Poland will keep its hands on the local patent policy and no Life Sciences company can omit Poland from its strategy when launching a new patent-related product into the market. Further developments in this area are eagerly awaited!

    By Przemyslaw Walasek, Partner, and Agnieszka Sztoldman, Head of Life Sciences and Pharma, Taylor Wessing Poland

    This Article was originally published in Issue 6.6 of the CEE Legal Matters Magazine. If you would like to receive a hard copy of the magazine, you can subscribe here.

  • Act Legal Poland and Baker McKenzie Advise on UBS Lease of Fabryczna Office Park in Krakow

    Act Legal Poland and Baker McKenzie Advise on UBS Lease of Fabryczna Office Park in Krakow

    Act Legal Poland has advised Inter-BudGroup on its lease of over 19,500 square meters of office space in the Fabryczna Office Park in Krakow to UBS. Baker McKenzie Krzyzowski i Wspolnicy advised UBS on the deal.

    Inter-Bud Group is a Polish private investment and development group. UBS provides corporate, institutional, and wealth management clients with advice and financial solutions. 

    The Fabryczna Office Park is made up of three A-class office buildings with GLA of over 42,000 square meters. The office complex forms part of a larger investment project, Fabryczna City, covering over 6.5 hectares of land and involving the development of a hotel, restaurants, residential apartments, and commercial facilities. 

    The Act Legal team was led by Counsel Alicja Soltyszewska.

    The Baker McKenzie team was led by Counsel Emilia Waszkiewicz.

  • Malgorzata Stefaniak Promoted to Partner at Act BSWW in Warsaw

    Malgorzata Stefaniak Promoted to Partner at Act BSWW in Warsaw

    Polish Capital Markets specialist Malgorzata Stefaniak has been promoted to Partner at Act BSWW in Warsaw.

    According to Act BSWW, Stefaniak provides legal advice to “listed companies, investment companies, investment fund companies, and alternative investment management companies.” According to the firm, “she advises on public and private issues of securities, acquisitions of major blocks of shares, and compliance with disclosure requirements, in addition to handling procedures before the Polish Financial Supervision Authority.”

    “Malgorzata Stefaniak has in-depth knowledge and vast experience in capital markets law,” says Act BSWW Managing Partner Piotr Wojnar. “Clients thoroughly appreciate her skills and commitment. I am pleased to welcome her among the law firm’s partners.”

    Stefaniak is a graduate of the Faculty of Law and Administration at the University of Lodz and the American Law Centre at the Warsaw University organized in cooperation with the Levin College of Law, University of Florida. She completed her post-graduate studies at the Warsaw University, Warsaw School of Economics, and the University of Lodz. 

    Before joining Act BSWW in 2016, Stefaniak worked at Gessel, Biedecki Biedecki & Partners and DJBW.

  • SSW Pragmatic Solutions and DJP Advise on Unilink Group’s Acquisition of Consultia Insurance Agency

    SSW Pragmatic Solutions and DJP Advise on Unilink Group’s Acquisition of Consultia Insurance Agency

    SSW Pragmatic Solutions has advised Unilink Group on the acquisition of the Consultia group. Warsaw’s Doktor Jerszynski Pietras law firm advised Consultia on the deal.

    According to SSW, “as a result of the transaction, Unilink S.A. will be the leading partner for all the insurance companies all over Poland, with them cooperating with over 12,000 insurance agents in the country.”

    The SSW team was led by Partner Sebastian Ponikowski and included Counsel Marek Wedrychowski, Senior Associate Jakub Kozinski, and Associate Marta Szymczyk.

    The DJP team included Partner Lukasz Doktor and Senior Associate Katarzyna Lewinska.

  • Zieba & Partners Advises EG A/S on Lease of Office Space in Warsaw

    Zieba & Partners Advises EG A/S on Lease of Office Space in Warsaw

    Zieba & Partners has advised Danish IT company EG A/S on its lease of office premises in Warsaw from Park Avenue 2010 sp. z o.o.

    The lease involves almost 3,000 square meters of high standard office space in Park Avenue, a class A office building, which Zieba & Partners describes as “one of the most prestigious locations in the center of the city.”

    EG — which has more than 1,000 employees and departments in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Poland — provides digitization solutions for more than 9,500 public and commercial customers. According to Zieba & Partners, “the company currently has just over 70 employees in Warsaw, with this figure expected to rise greatly over the next few months and years. The intention of the new office is to future-proof growth and a signal of intent with respect to the Polish market.”

    Zieba & Partners’ team was overseen by Counsel Aleksandra Polak and led by Senior Associate Katarzyna Krolikiewicz, working with Associate Patrick Kozliczak.

  • SSW Pragmatic Solutions Advises Thimm Group on Acquisition of United Packaging

    SSW Pragmatic Solutions Advises Thimm Group on Acquisition of United Packaging

    SSW Pragmatic Solutions has advised the Thimm Group on the acquisition of 100% shares of United Packaging, a company that manufactures corrugated board. The transaction will close after the Office for Competition and Consumer protection grants approval.

    The Thimm Group is a German company that has manufactured packaging products since 1959.

    The SSW team included Partner Sebastian Ponikowski, Counsels Jakub Jedrzejewski and Anita Palukiewicz, and Senior Associates Jakub Kozinskiand Anna Piotrowska.

    SSW Pragmatic Solutions did not reply to our inquiry on the deal.

  • Gessel Advises Stemlab on Acquisition of Bebecord

    Gessel Advises Stemlab on Acquisition of Bebecord

    Gessel has advised Stemlab, a subsidiary of the Polish Stem Cell Bank on its acquisition of the remaining 65% of the shares of Portuguese stem cell bank Bebecord, giving it sole ownership of the company.

    Bebecord operates in Portugal in the acquisition, processing, and storage of stem cells in the prepayment model for storage of biological material.

    Stemlab deals with the acquisition, processing and storage of stem cells, and the development of advanced products related to cell therapy. The Stemlab Group operates in Portugal, Spain, and, through business partners, in Italy.  The Polish Stem Cell Bank is the largest stem cell bank in Poland, and it leads the international FamiCord Group managing stem cell banks located in Europe and Turkey.

    The Gessel team included Partner Maciej Kozuchowski and Senior Associate Krzysztof Jasinski.

    Gessel did not reply to our inquiry on the matter.

  • CMS Advises Warbud on Education Sector PPP Project in Poland

    CMS Advises Warbud on Education Sector PPP Project in Poland

    CMS has advised construction company Warbud S.A on its entrance into a public-private partnership investment project involving the reconstruction and expansion of a secondary school in Piastow, Poland. Warbud’s participation will be funded by Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego.

    Warbud will build a new school building along with a library, a gym, a sports field, and will renovate the existing school building. CMS describes the project as “the first of such a scale in the education sector in Poland.” 

    The CMS team was led by Partner Marcin Bejm and included Partner Michal Mezykowski, Counsel Marcin Oszczak, Senior Associate Krzysztof Mrozik, and Lawyer Piotr Galazka.

    Editor’s note: After this article was published, CEE Legal Matters learned that Dentons advised Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego. The firm’s team included Managing Counsel Tomasz Korczynski, Counsel Tomasz Zwolinski, Senior Associate Jakub Kot, and Associate Katarzyna Mazur.

  • Linklaters Advises ING Bank Slaski on Acquisition of 45% Stake in NN Investment Partners TFI

    Linklaters Advises ING Bank Slaski on Acquisition of 45% Stake in NN Investment Partners TFI

    Linklaters has advised ING Bank Slaski on the acquisition of a 45% stake in investment fund management company NN Investment Partners TFI in Poland from NN Investment Partners International Holdings.

    NN Investment Partners has a wide range of products including 40 funds and a diversified structure of assets under management.

    The Linklaters team was led by Warsaw Partner Marcin Schulz and Managing Associate Szymon Renkiewicz and included Associates Piotr Zbyszynski and Marek Tolcz.

    Editor’s note: After this article was published, CEE Legal Matters learned that Clifford Chance had advised NN Investment Partners on the deal. The firm’s Warsaw-based team was led by Managing Partner Agnieszka Janicka.