Category: Poland

Chajec, Don-Siemion & Zyto has advised RED 8, a group of advertising and marketing companies, on the sale of a 100% stake in Content Invest Sp. z o.o. to a company from the Dentsu Aegis Group. DZP Domanski Zakrzewski Palinka reportedly advised the Dentsu Aegis Group.

The Dentsu Aegis Group is a multinational communications network with offices in 145 countries. As a result of the acquisition, the combined product and service range of both companies will be offered under the brand Dentsu Solution. 

According to CDZ, its assignment included developing the target shareholding structure and restructuring the RED 8 Group companies. CDZ also advised on corporate issues of the RED 8 Group and negotiated the transaction documentation.

CDZ’s team was led by Partner Szymon Skiendzielewski, supported by Partner Jolanta Okoniecka and Legal Adviors Eliza Szulc-Sieranska and Karolina Nowak-Rozycka. 

Mrowiec Fialek and Partners has advised ZAP Sznajder Batterien S.A. on the acquisition of 100% of shares in NEF Battery Holding S.a r.l., the majority shareholder of Orzel Bialy S.A.

Orzel Bialy, headquartered in Piekary Slaskie, Poland, specializes in the recycling of waste lead-acid batteries and accumulators. Orzel Bialy’s shares are admitted to public trading on the Warsaw Stock Exchange.

The Mrowiec Fialek and Partners team consisted of Partner Miroslaw Fialek, Senior Associate Maria Krupa, and Associate Anna Malecka.

Mrowiec Fialek and Partners did not reply to our inquiries about the deal.

Weil Gotshal & Manges has advised Tacit Investment and its subsidiary on the opening of a Nobu Hotel and Restaurant in Warsaw.

Nobu is a boutique luxury brand established and managed by Robert De Niro, Meir Teper, and Nobu Matsuhisa. The opening of the Nobu Hotel in Warsaw is scheduled for winter 2020.

Weil’s Warsaw team was led by Senior Associate Agnieszka Koniewicz, supported by Partners Robert Krasnodebski in Warsaw and Anthea Bamford in London.

Effective April 1, 2019, Wolf Theiss Poland Co-Managing Partner Ron Given will assume the newly-created role as Wolf Theiss’s U.S. Representative.

In a firm press release, Wolf Theiss declared that “by establishing this prestigious function, Wolf Theiss emphasizes the importance of the US market for the firm. Wolf Theiss will not be practicing law outside of its 13 jurisdictions, but making available, at a closer proximity and a more convenient time zone, someone of Ron Given’s stature, experience and CEE/SEE knowledge, particularly to the firm’s referring law firms and their clients, which will be a real added value.”

Following a long career with a U.S.–based international law firm and several years as the general counsel of a listed insurance holding company, Given spent over ten years as a partner with Wolf Theiss, practicing law and managing in Zagreb, Prague, Kyiv, and Warsaw. Several months ago, Given announced that he would be returning to the United States (as reported by CEE Legal Matters in an interview with Given on February 11, 2019). He will be replaced as Co-Managing Partner of the Wolf Theiss office in Warsaw by Tomasz Stasiak, the head of the office’s Real Estate and Construction practice group. Fellow Co-Managing Partner Peter Daszkowski retains that role.

“It’s great to return to my home in Chicago and still to be able to contribute in a very meaningful way to Wolf Theiss‘ practice,” commented Given. “And it’s also great to leave Warsaw in such good hands. Peter Daszkowski and I recruited Tomasz Stasiak and have worked with him very closely with just this result in mind.”

Claus Schneider, a member of Wolf Theiss’s Management Board, explained that “the U.S. Representative role has been one of our desired initiatives for some time and we very much appreciate Ron’s willingness to take up the challenge,” and added that “this is a service offering we consider unique among the region’s independent law firms.” 

White & Case has advised Vienna-based FLE on the purchase of the K1 office building in Krakow. CMS reportedly advised the seller, an unnamed global investment manager, on the deal.

FLE purchased the property, which White & Case describes as “the tallest office building in Krakow,” on behalf of FLE SICAV FIS, a real estate fund headquartered in Luxembourg which owns a commercial real estate portfolio in Europe and the US.

K1 is an office complex located in the Krakow city center. The gross leasable area of the property is 12,600 square meters, and the complex has 20 floors of offices and retail space on the ground floor.

White & Case’s team consisted of Warsaw Local Partner Michal Matera and Associates Piotr Przybylski, Marta Strykowska, Katarzyna Syncerek, and Marcelina Pazgan.

Editor’s Note: After this article was published, CMS confirmed its involvement in the deal. The firm’s team consisted of Partner Wojciech Koczara and Senior Associate Mateusz Wosiek. The seller was not identified. 

Gessel has assisted mLeasing sp. z o.o. with its acquisition of a 100% stake in LeaseLink sp. z o.o., coupled with refinancing of LeaseLink’s debt.

mLeasing is a Polish leasing institution, which offers contract hire solutions for vehicles of up to 3.5 tons, heavy goods vehicles, plant and equipment, including medical devices, as well as corporate fleet management services. mLeasing also provides finance for commercial and office facilities, hotels, and warehouses.

LeaseLink provides leasing and e-commerce solutions in the Fintech environment. According to Gessel, in the past two years, LeaseLink has built up an online leasing operation in the low-value transactions segment. 

Gessel’s team included Partner Malgorzata Badowska, Managing Associates Karol Sokol and Michal Boryczka, Advocate Artur Kruszewski, and Trainee Attorneys Michal Osowski and Mykola Zembra. 

Gessel did not reply to our inquiry about the deal.

Editor’s Note: After this article was published Mrowiec Fialek and Partners announced that the firm had advised Pragma Faktoring S.A. on the sale. The firm’s team consisted of Partner Miroslaw Fialek, Advocate Grzegorz Barszcz, and Associates Martyna Marczewska, Dominika Leszczynska, Malgorzata Banaszkiewicz, and Kamil Gago.

K&L Gates has advised PFR Ventures on its investment in the Cogito Capital Partners fund, created to support startups in the growth phase. Dentons advised Cogito on the deal.

The finalization of the first closure of the Cogito Capital fund reached EUR 55 million. The financing granted by PFR Ventures within the framework of its KOFFI FIZ fund will amount to PLN 60 million, with the joint CVC fund from PFR and NCBR allocating up to PLN 43 million for the undertaking. 

The European Investment Fund will also invest up to PLN 107 million.

Cogito Capital Partners is a venture capital fund investing in technology companies from Central Europe, the Baltic States, Germany, and Switzerland. The fund primarily supports technological startups in the financial and insurance sectors (Fintech, Insurtech), medical devices, the Internet of Things, and robotics. 

According to K&L Gates, PFR Ventures is a so-called fund of funds, which together with private investors, business angels, and corporations, invests in venture capital funds.

K&L Gates Jamka’s team consisted of Partner Michal Petz and Senior Associates Artur Kloc and Wanda Kudrycka. 

The Dentons team included, in Warsaw, Counsels Inga Dulska and Dariusz Stolarek and Investments Fund Coordinator Michal Kordaczuk, and Managing Partner Frederic Feyten and Partner Eduard Koster from the firm’s Luxembourg office.     

Act Legal Poland has helped Strabag PFA Austria GmbH — a member of the Strabag Group — acquire 100% of the shares of Caverion Polska Sp. z o.o. from Finland’s Caverion Oyj.

According to Act Legal, “Caverion Polska, established in 1993, had a workforce of 170. Its 2017 turnover was approximately EUR 12 million, with most generated by technical facility management (and the rest by industrial installations).”

The transaction value was not disclosed.

The Act Legal Poland team was led by Managing Partner Marek Wojnar, who was supported by Partner Marta Kosiedowska and Associate Katarzyna Gora.

Chajec, Don-Siemion & Zyto has advised CP Fundusz Inwestycyjny Zamkniety and Capital Partners Investment I Fundusz Inwestycyjny Zamkniety on the sale of 100% of their shares and bonds in Symbio Polska S.A., a company listed on Poland’s NewConnect market, as well as on an investment intan unnamed FMCG company.

CP Fundusz Inwestycyjny Zamkniety and Capital Partners Investment I Fundusz Inwestycyjny Zamkniety acquired shares in a limited liability company producing and selling certified organic, health and functional foods, with a concurrent sale of shares in Symbio Polska held by these funds to that company. 

In addition, the agreement regulates the parties’ rights and duties after the investment is made, including the target’s internal organization rules and the investors’ exit from that investment. The funds, the target company, and its shareholders intend to consolidate their business operations on the organic foods market.

CDZ’s team was led by Partner Maciej Kotlicki, supported by Legal Advisor Piotr Rychta and Advocate Anna Skorka.    

White & Case has advised the Polish Ministry of Finance on the EUR 2 billion issuance of 10 and 30-year Euro-denominated Green Bonds, maturing on March 7, 2029 and March 8, 2049 respectively. Clifford Chance reportedly advised lead managers and bookrunners Citi, ING, J.P. Morgan, PKO BP, Santander, and Societe Generale.

The buyers of the ten-year and 30-year Green Bonds were diversified, with, respectively, 47 percent and 43 percent of the allocations going to designated green accounts. Among the buyers were asset managers, banks, insurance and pension companies, central banks and public institutions, hedge funds, and other entities. 

The EUR 1.5 billion issuance of the ten-year Green Bond yields 1.057% with an annual coupon of 1%. The EUR 500 million issuance of the 30-year Green Bond yields 2.071% with an annual coupon of 2%.

According to White & Case, the bonds were issued under the Republic of Poland’s EUR 60 billion Euro Medium Term Note Program and the proceeds will finance environmental projects according to the Green Bond Framework developed by the Ministry of Finance in line with the International Capital Market Association Green Bond Principles.

The White & Case team was led by Warsaw Local Partner Andrzej Sutkowski, supported by London-based Counsel Doron Loewinger. The team also included Warsaw Associates Katarzyna Grodziewicz and Damian Lubocki and London Associate Luiza Salata.