Category: Poland

Clifford Chance has advised CBRE Global Investors on the sale of the Wars Sawa Junior Shopping Center in Warsaw to Atrium Real Estate for over EUR 300 million, on behalf of the Property Fund Central and Eastern Europe.

Wars Sawa Junior is a prime two-story shopping center in Warsaw, also known as Domy Towarowe Centrum. The property was acquired by the Property Fund in two phases: half in 2007 and half in 2011.

According to Clifford Chance, during the holding period, CBRE Global Investors re-positioned the scheme several times by renewing leases with Galeria Centrum in 2010, Empik in 2015, and Marks and Spencer in 2018. Key tenants in the scheme are the TK Maxx, H&M, C&A, Zara, Mango, Empik, Martes Sporta, and Tiger of Copenhagen stores. Polish shoe retailer CCC was recently added to the retail mix as well.

Signing took place at the end of August 2018, and the transaction remains subject to antimonopoly clearance, which is expected in the fourth quarter of 2018.

The Clifford Chance team was led by the Prague-based Partner Emil Holub, with Senior Associate Aneta Disman (formerly Sosnovcova) acting as executive lawyer. The team also included Warsaw-based Counsels Bartosz Kaniasty and Aleksandra Jach.

Editor’s Note: After this article was published, CEE Legal Matters was informed that Dentons advised Atrium European Real Estate on the transaction. The firm’s team included Partners Pawel Debowski and Piotr Staniszewski and Associate Olga Ziegler. 

Schoenherr Warsaw office has advised the VIG Fund on the acquisition of the Atrium Tower office building from an investment fund AEW Europe.

As reported by CEE Legal Matters on August 22, 2018, Wolf Theiss advised the sellers on the deal.

The Schoenherr Warsaw team was led by Partner Agata Demuth and included Attorneys-at Law Konrad Bisiorek and Jan Bagatela. 

Soltysinski Kawecki Szlezak successfully represented pro bono Stowarzyszenie Twoja Sprawa (“Your Case Association”) in a case brought against the producer of Devil Energy Drink.

The offending advertisement, which appeared on the producer’s Facebook profile showed a woman kneeling in front of a man and the slogan “she already knows what she will have in her mouth.” Stowarzyszenie Twoja Sprawa brought the case against the energy drink producer, demanding an apology and compensation for a vulgar advertisement, which it claimed violated good manners and objectified women. 

The claims of Stowarzyszenie Twoja Sprawa against the advertiser were based on Article 16, Section 1.1 of Poland’s Act on Combatting Unfair Competition, which states that the acts of unfair competition include, inter alia, advertising contrary to good practices and offending human dignity.

The Regional Court in Legnica concluded that the advertisement of Devil Energy Drink had indeed violated good customs, and ordered the advertiser to publish an apology and pay PLN 60,000 to a foundation operating under the name Dla Polonii, dedicated to students from Eastern Europe.

According to SK&S, it is the first court decision of its kind in Poland, which may change advertisers’ approach to the content they create. The decision is final, and legally binding. Izabela Karska from the Your Case Association thinks that the verdict is precedent-setting. “The law on which we rely is mainly used by entrepreneurs. The problem is that the entrepreneurs themselves do not want to get involved in a court dispute with another entrepreneur just to fight advertisements that degrade human dignity, objectifying the image of women, or otherwise violate good manners. Stowarzyszenie Twoja Sprawa, however, has such goals and is vitally interested in removing such advertisements from the market. This is our first lawsuit, but certainly not the last one. We want entrepreneurs planning their activities to be aware that they are at risk of litigation by exceeding certain limits.”

The SK&S team consisted of Senior Counsel Katarzyna Paczuska-Tokarska and Senior Associate Mateusz Irminski. 

RKKW – Kwasnicki, Wrobel & Partners has advised Vippo sp. o.o. on its issuance of bonds on the private debt market. SSW Pragmatic Solutions advised an unidentified investment fund on the deal.

According to RKKW, the nominal value of PLN 20.6 million were allocated to the funds in the issuance process of the bonds.

The RKKW team was led by Head of the Financial Services Practice Jaroslaw Szewczyk, supported by Legal Advisor Monika Ciechomska.

The SSW Pragmatic Solutions team consisted of Partner Maciej Duch and Junior Associate Pawel Sliwka.  

Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to correct a spelling mistake and the nature of SSW’s client.

Linklaters has advised real estate developer Panattoni on its agreement to build a warehouse project in the build-to-own formula for Intersnack, the German-based owner of brands such as Felix, Crispers, and Przysnacki.

The facility, which will total more than 10,000 square meters, will be built in Nysa, in the vicinity of the company’s existing factory. The two facilities, old and new, will be connected by an elevated passageway for transporting goods.

According to Linklaters, ”as a result, the modern complex will enable flexible and efficient management of the finished-product flows into the warehouse, and consequently efficient distribution throughout the Polish market.”

Construction started on August 20, and the project is expected to be complete by March 2019. 

Linklaters’ team included Managing Associate Marta Bijak-Haiduk and Senior Associate Monika Lerka. 

Linklaters has advised Echo Investment on the forward sale of the Sagittarius Business House building in Wroclaw, Poland, to Warburg-HIH Invest Real Estate GmbH. The buyer was represented by Dentons.

The class-A office building, with an area of 25,600 square meters is leased in majority to EY and the Bank of New York Mellon. The transaction was structured as a sale of enterprise and was valued at EUR 74.5 million.

The preliminary sale agreement of Sagittarius Business House was signed during the construction process.

According to Dentons, “Echo Investment will be responsible for the completion of the construction works and guarantees full occupancy by the time ownership of the property is transferred.”

Linklaters’ team was led by Senior Associate Monika Lerka and Managing Associate Adriana Andrzejewska. The wider team included Associates Ewa Sinkiewicz, Mateusz Cieslak, and Piotr Zbyszynski Senior Associate Tomasz Trystula, and Junior Associate Antonina Koza. IP advice was provided by Managing Associate Agnieszka Mencel and Associate Szymon Sieniewicz. The transaction was supervised by Partner Janusz Dzianachowski.

The Dentons team was led by Partner Pawel Debowski, supported by Counsel Agnieszka Nagorska and Associate Paulina Dabek. 

Act BSWW has advised Europart International GmbH on its acquisition of the remaining 49% of the shares of Europart Polska S.A. from Vesta Fundusz Inwestycyjny Zamkniety Aktywow Niepublicznych and Protyl-Serwis 44, making it the company’s sole shareholder.

Europart is a trading company for spare parts and accessories for commercial vehicles, buses, and special vehicles. According to Act BSWW, “Europart has been successfully active in the car spare parts market for more than 70 years. It is now the leading partner for commercial vehicle workshops and operators of truck, trailer, van and bus fleets in Europe, with a European network of more than 300 sales stores in 28 countries.”

Act BSWW’s team was led by Partner Marta Kosiedowska.

Act BSWW informed CEE Legal Matters that it was not authorized to reveal the identity of counsel for the sellers. 

Greenberg Traurig has advised IREEF on the sale of Crown Square Warsaw PropCosp. z o.o., the owner of Warsaw’s Crown Square office building, to M&A Capital.

IREEF is managed by Invesco Real Estate, which Greenberg Traurig claims “has been a world leader in real estate investment since 1983, first in the United States, then in Europe and Asia.”

Crown Square Building offers over 16 thousand square meters of office space and 236 parking spaces.

“We are very pleased that we were able to represent the IREEF Fund in the sale of the Crown Square building, since we also advised the Fund with respect to the acquisition of that building in 2010,” said Greenberg Traurig Partner Agnieszka Stankiewicz. “The completion of this transaction is even more satisfying for us, as in the years 2015-2017, we also represented the owner in the re-commercialization of the Crown Square building.”

The Greenberg Traurig team was led by Partner Agnieszka Stankiewicz, supported by Partner Magdalena Zyczkowska-Jozwiak, Senior Associate Gabriela Socha, and Associates Agnieszka Gul-Czajkowska and Maxymilian Rybczynski.

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

Wolf Theiss has advised AEW on the sale of the Atrium Tower office building in downtown Warsaw to the Vienna Insurance Group.

Atrium Tower, completed in 1998, is part of the Atrium complex in Warsaw’s financial district, one of the first Western-standard office developments in the Polish capital. Atrium was the first PPP project between the City of Warsaw and a private investor, with Skanska acting as both the investor and the general contractor, and, according to Wolf Theiss, it “played a key role in the transformation of the Polish capital’s working-class Wola borough into an office district during Poland’s post-communist economic transformation.”

“I’m proud that our firm could play a role in the sale of this building, which contributed so much to Warsaw’s emergence as a business and financial hub during the past two decades,” said Tomasz Stasiak, the Wolf Theiss Partner who led the real estate team working on the deal. “This deal shows that, thanks to its central location, elegant design and quality workmanship, Atrium Tower remains attractive to tenants and Investors two decades after its completion.”

In addition to Stasiak, the Wolf Theiss team included Lawyers Iwona Huryn and Ewa Parczewska.

Wolf Theiss did not reply to our inquiries.

Editor’s Note: After this article was published, CEE Legal Matters learned that Schoenherr had advised the Vienna Insurance Group on the deal. Information on the firm’s team can be found here.

Wierzbowski Eversheds Sutherland has successfully represented the Polish Association of Construction Employers before Poland’s National Appeal Chamber in a challenge to the award of a public contract by the PKP PLK SA railway company.

According to Wierzbowski Eversheds Sutherland, “the case involved the description of the subject matter of the procurement in a procedure for award of a framework contract — an issue generating controversy in public procurement practice. The contracting entity is conducting a procedure for conclusion of a framework contract for substitute performance of construction work on rail lines in Poland. After conducting a competitive dialogue, the contracting entity invited contractors to submit bids, requiring them to state maximum unit prices for specific works indicated in a catalogue containing 10,000 items. However, the works were given only a cursory description. For example, the contracting entity required contractors to provide a price for installation of tracks (foundation, rail and fastener), without indicating whether the work also included such activities as polishing the rail, lining and ballasting the track, or building up the surface. Thus each bidder could adopt its own assumptions for valuing the work, which led to the submission of incomparable offers.”

The National Appeal Chamber agreed with the Polish Association of Construction Employers’ position and upheld the appeal, according to Wierzbowski Eversheds Sutherland, “ordering the contracting entity to modify the specifications by describing the subject of the contract for construction works using design documentation and technical specifications for completion and acceptance of the construction works.”

Contractors Budimex SA, Strabag and ZUE also joined the proceedings, supported the appeal.

Wierzbowski Eversheds Sutherland Managing Partner Tomasz Zalewski and Counsel Witold Slawinski represented the Polish Association of Construction Employers.