Category: Poland

Jara Drapala & Partners has advised Carservis S.A. on the sale of a real property with an area of over 17,000 square meters to a company from the Skanska Group. Greenberg Traurig reportedly advised the buyers.

JDP reports that the property, on which a Carservis showroom and service station had been located, “is situated in a fast-growing commercial district near Zwirki i Wigury Street in Warsaw.” 

Carservis S.A. is the parent company in the Carservis Group, which specializes in automotive services and car sale, spare parts, tires, and accessories. JDP reports that the Carservis Group is the largest distributor of FIAT cars in Poland, and claims that “every year Carservis Group takes top spots in the ranking of largest Polish dealer groups and car dealers TOP50 prepared by the Polish Chamber of Automotive Industry – Consulting and IBRM Samar.”

The Jara Drapala & Partners team was led by Managing Partner Zbigniew Jara, assisted by Advocated Michal Urbanski and Tax Advisor Dorota Dabrowska.

Wiercinski Kwiecinski Baehr has supported Miejskie Przedsiebiorstwo Komunikacyjne w Poznaniu on its agreement with Solaris Bus & Coach to have Solaris manufacture and supply 21 electric-powered low-floor buses and an agreement with Ekoenergetyka-Polska Sp. z o.o. for the installation of charging infrastructure for Poznań’s electric public transport system.

MPK Poznan concluded two separate public procurement contracts worth a total of approximately PLN 86 million in pursuit of the goals of the project: one worth approximately PLN 74 million with Solaris Bus & Coach for the supply of the electric-powered busses, and one worth over PLN 12 million with Ekoenergetyka-Polska for the installation of the charging infrastructure.

According to WKB, “replacing the current fleet of fossil-fuel burning vehicles with zero-emission buses will reduce the burden of air pollution on the entire Poznan metropolitan area. It will also be the first step towards the full implementation of the objectives imposed on MPK Poznan by the Act on Electromobility and Alternative Fuels.”

WKB reports that it “supported MPK Poznan in the implementation of the project, both at the drafting stage of the relevant documentation and in conducting the contract award procedures, as well as throughout the process of selecting the most advantageous offer and an audit carried out by the Public Procurement Office, which confirmed the correctness of all decisions taken by MPK Poznan. It was an innovative venture that required tackling entirely new legal challenges resulting from the Act on Electromobility and Alternative Fuels.”

The firm’s Public Procurement team was led by Senior Partner Jan Rolinski, working with Counsel Agnieszka Chwialkowska and Associate Jaroslaw Kola. Counsel Marta Midloch provided assistance with respect to the agreement for the installation of charging infrastructure for the electric public transport system, Partner Maciej Szambelanczyk advised on all energy-related issues, and Counsel Sergiusz Urban provided environmental-protection related advice.

Dentons Warsaw has advised the Waimea Group on a EUR 28.7 million corporate bond issuance. The investor, an investment fund belonging to Griffin Real Estate group, was advised by Allen & Overy.

According to Dentons, “the funds raised from the bond issue will be used for the construction of 12 Class A units in two modern logistics parks in Poland – Waimea Logistic Park Bydgoszcz and Waimea Logistic Park Stargard. The planned complexes will offer a total area of about 90,000 square meters to let in Bydgoszcz and about 80,000 square meters in Stargard.

The Dentons team was supervised by Partner Mateusz Toczyski and led by Counsel Bartosz Nojek, supported by Senior Associate Agnieszka Kozikowska and Associates Justyna Jamrozy and Magda Kulesza.

DLA Piper has advised Alchemia S.A. on the purchase of more than six million of its own shares that followed its offer announcement of November 14, 2018.

Alchemia purchased a total of 6,670,500 of its own shares at a price of PLN 4.80 per share, for a total price of more than PLN 32 million. The purchased shares constitute 3.34% of Alchemia’s share capital.

Alchemia S.A. is a Polish company listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. It specializes in the production of seamless steel tubes and other specialized steel products.

DLA Piper’s team was led by Counsel Jakub Domalik-Plakwicz, supported by Senior Associate Wojciech Kalinowski, Associate Adam Marszalek, and Junior Associate Michal Kuratowski.

Agnieszka Dziegielewska-Jonczyk has joined Skanska as its new Legal and Compliance Director. She joins from Hewlett Packard Enterprise, where she was the Head of Legal/Regional Counsel for Poland, Czech Republic, and Slovakia.

Dziegielewska-Jonczyk first joined HP in August 2007 and carried on with HPE after HP split into Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company and HP Inc in 2015. Before that, she was as Senior Associate with CMS between 2000 and 2007 and and Associate with White & Case between 1997 and 2000.

Commenting on her move, Dziegielewska-Jonczyk told CEE Legal Matters: “I am thrilled to join Skanska — a modern and innovative company where safety and compliance are top priorities.”

Lawyers from K&L Gates’ Warsaw and Pittsburgh offices have advised Polish-Israeli venture capital fund TDJ Pitango Ventures in connection with an investment in Neptune Labs Sp. z o.o., s producer of software helping data scientists in improving the results of development of machine learning models.

According to K&L Gates, “the seed round of financing granted to Neptune Labs consisted of a take-up of shares by TDJ Pitango Ventures as the lead investor and [the] award of a grant by the Polish National Center for Research and Development.” In addition, the firm reports, “the transaction had a cross-border element and involved the Neptune Labs’ parent company incorporated in Delaware.”

The K&L Gates team was composed of Warsaw-based Of Counsel Michal Petz and Associates Piotr Moskała and Wanda Kudrycka, supported in relation to US law by Pittsburgh-based Partner Oded Green and Associates Yijun Han and David Valenti.

Greenberg Traurig has advised Ekstraklasa, the Polish premier football league, on the sale of media rights to broadcasters nc+ and TVP for the 2019/2020 and 2020/2021 seasons.

According to Greenberg Traurig, “the transaction brings an innovative offer of TV rights packages licensed on the domestic market including, in addition to the traditional broadcaster the nc + platform, the public broadcaster TVP (FTA platform) in the circle of broadcasters of live matches. This will provide the general public with access to football matches in the next two seasons. The value of the transaction amounted to approximately PLN 500 million, which is a new record in the valuation of sports TV rights on the Polish market.”

Greenberg Traurig represented Ekstraklasa S.A. in all stages of the transaction, from organizing the tender procedure for the sale of media rights, through negotiations with bidders, to the conclusion of the licensing agreements with nc + and TVP.

The Greenberg Traurig team was led by Partner Michal Fereniec.

Greenberg Traurig did not reply to our inquiry about counsel for nc+ and TVP.

DLA Piper’s Warsaw office has advised Allegro.pl on the purchase of shares in Polish online ticket seller eBilet Polska. GKR Legal advised the selling shareholder.

Pursuant to the preliminary share purchase agreement, the completion of the transaction remains contingent on the consent of the President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection.

DLA Piper describes Allegro.pl as “the largest online trading platform in Poland and in the Central & Eastern Europe region as a whole.” According to the firm, “the acquisition of shares in eBilet will allow both companies to widen the offer of products and services on their respective platforms, as well as increasing their potential customer base, providing access to the broadest possible range of the most popular and sought-after cultural, sporting, musical and family events in Poland.” DLA Piper also quotes Marcin Matuszewski, President of eBilet Polska, as saying that the aim of the cooperation with Allegro is “to offer clients in Poland one place in which they can gain inspiration and plan their free time,” and Francois Nuyts, President of Allegro, as emphasizing that “the market for the online sale of tickets for entertainment events in Poland is worth more than PLN 700 million and is growing at around 20% per year. Together with eBilet.pl we can play a significant role in this market.”

The DLA Piper team was led by Counsel Jakub Domalik-Plakwicz, Senior Associate Michal Orzechowski, and Associate Anna Chrabota-Bajson, all working under the supervision of Partner Marta Frackowiak.

The GKR Legal team included Partner Tomasz Krawczyk, Advocate Tomasz Małecki, and Legal Counsel Justyna Burska.

Editor’s Note: On May 31, 2019 DLA Piper informed CEE Legal Matters that Poland’s President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection had issued his consent to the deal, and that the transaction had thus closed.

Noerr has advised Landesbank Hessen-Thuringen Girozentrale on the refinancing of Atrium European Real Estate’s acquisition of the Wars Sawa & Junior shopping center in Warsaw. Allen & Overy advised AERE on the deal.

As reported previously (by CEE Legal Matters on September 5th, 2018) Atrium European Real Estate acquired the shopping center in the summer of 2018 on behalf of the Property Fund Central and Eastern Europe from CBRE Global Investors for over EUR 300 million.

The Noerr team was led by Partner Joerg Menzer and Counsel Konrad Werner and included Associated Partner Pawel Zelich and Associates Magdalena Gajewska, Joanna Szacinska, Bartosz Ostrowski, and Maciej Gorgol.

The Allen & Overy team was led by Partner Arkadiusz Pedzich and Senior Associate Anna Madra, assisted by Associate Weronika Groskrejc.

Czabanski & Galuszynski has advised Wielton SA on adapting its operation to the requirements of the GDPR.

Wielton SA – one of the largest manufacturers of semi-trailers in Europe – is listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange.

According to Czabanski & Galuszynski, “comprehensive consultancy at the office included … conducting initial extended audits and their documentation, developing a plan for the implementation of changes for each company, [and] additional consultations and necessary assistance throughout the process of their implementation.”

The Czabanski & Galuszynski team was led by Of Counsel Artur Piechocki, assisted by Associate Jakub Lach.