Category: Poland

Former Bird & Bird Counsel Ida Komorowska-Moj has joined Kochanski, Zieba & Partners as a Partner and Head of M&A.

According to KZP, Komorowska-Moj “provides legal services in complex M&A transactions both on the Polish and international markets.” The firm reports that “she has extensive experience in leading unique transactions and ventures, and also specializes in providing corporate services to enterprises. She has advised the largest state-owned companies on acquisitions and joint venture projects and provided assistance in the most demanding transactions on the Polish market. Ida has worked for both private and public companies, private equity and venture capital funds as well as for international companies acting on the Polish market.”

In addition, the firm reports, “Ida has prepared and carried out complex restructurings, divisions, mergers and liquidations of companies of numerous sectors of the economy, as well as restructurings within a single group of companies. She has created legal structures for fund of funds and advised on investments in research and development projects. She has also advised on a number of public offerings of both domestic and foreign companies. Ida also specializes in matters related to the management of groups of companies and corporate governance. She has developed and optimized the existing principles of corporate governance and intra-group reporting in companies from various sectors of the economy. She has taken part in the preparation of and commented on draft laws for the capital market sector, as well as in the works of the Council for the Development of Financial Markets at the Ministry of Finance, where she co-created the development strategy of the Polish capital market. Since 2016 she has been a member of the Board of Brokers and Investment Advisors at the Association of Brokers and Investment Advisers, and has cooperated with the Association of Stock Exchange Issuers and the Chamber of Brokerage Houses.”

Komorowska-Moj graduated from the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Silesia in Katowice. She is also a graduate of political sciences, specializing in journalism. In addition to Bird & Bird, which she joined in May 2013, she has for the Warsaw offices of CMS Cameron McKenna and Dewey LeBoeuf (currently Greenberg Traurig).

SPCG has won a dispute before the Court of Appeal in Wroclaw, Poland, for Tesco Polska concerning the admissibility and effects of the parties’ conclusion of an agreement on the negative recognition of debt.

According to SPCG, the agreement, which was based on the parties’ signing of commercial terms for the next year of collaboration, was designed to fully settle their existing collaboration and to eliminate the state of uncertainty as to possible mutual settlements of the parties. The supplier alleged that the agreement was not effective because it did not specify the claims being released and thus, at the date of conclusion, the parties did not know whether they were entitled to any claim, and to what amount.

Both the Court of First Instance and the Court of Appeal in Wroclaw agreed with Tesco’s arguments and ruled that under Polish law contracts in which creditors recognizes the non-existence of debtors’ debt are enforceable.

The claimant’s appeal against the judgment of the Court of First Instance in favor of the retail chain was also dismissed.

Tesco Polska was represented by SPCG Partner Jakub Gorski, Senior Associate Pawel Wec, and Associate Pawel Lekawski.

Act BSWW has advised a consortium made up of Polish General Aviation Services Sp. z o.o. and Dutch Heli Holland Air Service B.V. on its entrance into a three-year air transport services agreement with Lotos Petrobaltic S.A.

Act BSWW advised the consortium on bid preparations and other elements of the process, including responses to the contracting authority’s notices. The firm also helped the consortium during appeal proceedings, including one appeal which led to the revocation of a decision to cancel the procurement process and reinstate the consortium’s tender, as well as another two appeals resulting from the actions of another contractor, which had challenged the selection of the consortium’s bid.

In the appeal proceedings the consortium was represented by Act BSWW Associate Marcelina Daszkiewicz, and Managing Partner Marek Wojnar and Junior Associate Magdalena Piotrowska were also involved.

Greenberg Traurig has represented Cyfrowy Polsat Group in the acquisition of 100% of shares in companies owning the Eska TV, Eska TV Extra, Eska Rock, Polo TV, and Vox Music TV channels from ZPR Media Group, and 34% of the shares in the company owning the Fokus TV and Nova TV stations, as well as in connection with the preliminary agreement to purchase a further 15% of shares in the company in the future. The total value of the transaction is approximately PLN 103 million and will be financed from the group’s own funds.

According to Greenberg Traurig, “Cyfrowy Polsat Group is one of the leading media and telecommunications groups in the CEE region. The Group includes the Cyfrowy Polsat satellite platform, the operator of the Plus-Polkomtel mobile network, the Telewizja Polsat TV station and the interactive entertainment platform ipla.tv. Cyfrowy Polsat Group is listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. “

Greenberg Traurig describes the ZPR Media Group as “one of the most dynamic media groups in Poland” and as “one of the largest press publishers, radio and TV broadcasters, and website owners.” The group also conducts activities in the area of organizing events, concerts, and fairs.

The transaction was led for Greenberg Traurig by Local Partner Daniel Kaczorowski and Associate Paulina Kimla-Kaczorowska, supported by Associates Maja Gawrysiuk, Iga Czerniak, and Anna Chrabota-Bajson.

Greenberg Traurig is representing Goldman Sachs International, through its affiliate Bricks Acquisition Limited, on the announced PLN 1 billion tender offer for 100% of shares in Robyg S.A., a prominent Polish stock-exchange listed developer. The announced tender offer marks the finalization of the strategic investor selection process.

The tender offer is subject to customary anti-trust approval and certain other conditions, including a 66% acceptance threshold and a successful vote on the amendment of the Company’s articles of association.

Greenberg Traurig provided legal advice with respect to the transaction, including the legal due diligence review and negotiation of the transaction documentation.

The Greenberg Traurig team was led by Partners Agnieszka Stankiewicz and Rafal Sienski and included Managing Partner Jaroslaw Grzesiak, Partners Henrietta Walker and Rafal Baranowski, Of Counsel Anna Hałas-Krawczyk, and Local Partner Magdalena Zyczkowska-Jozwiak, supported by Robert Carlon, Malgorzata Kercz, Mateusz Zalenski, Tomasz Szekalski, Milena Medrzycka, and Maciej Pietrzak (all in Greenberg Traurig’s London Office).

Greenberg Traurig is representing Cyfrowy Polsat Group on the acquisition of a block of approximately 32% of shares in Netia from two major shareholders, with the total purchase price amounting to PLN 638.8 million, and on the announcement of a tender offer in order to achieve 66% of the total number of votes at the General Meeting of Netia.

According to Greenberg Traurig, Warsaw Stock Exchange-listed Cyfrowy Polsat, “has been implementing a multiplay operator strategy for several years, expanding its portfolio of services provided and offering, together with the Plus mobile network, the SmartDOM program. Currently, the group offers its flagship services of pay-TV, mobile telephony and LTE Internet, and in addition services connected with electricity, gas, home monitoring, banking and insurance as well as telecommunications equipment, consumer electronics and household appliances.”

Netia S.A. is a telecommunications operator and a television, fixed-line and mobile telephony, and Internet provider. It is a public company listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange.

Greenberg Traurig reports that it “provided comprehensive legal advice with respect to the transaction, including development of the transaction structure, drafting contracts with the major shareholders, legal advice in the area of regulatory matters, which also involved the preparation of an application to the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection, as well as legal advice on the tender offer.”

The transaction was led by Managing Partner Jaroslaw Grzesiak and Local Partner Daniel Kaczorowski, supported by Local Partner Karolina Dunin-Wilczynska and Associates Paulina Kimla-Kaczorowska, Anna Chrabota-Bajson, and Grzegorz Socha.

Clifford Chance Warsaw has advised Warburg Pincus on its sale of a majority stake in INEA, the fibre-to-the-home and cable operator in Western Poland, to Macquarie European Infrastructure Fund 5, managed by global infrastructure investor Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets. Macquarie was advised by Allen & Overy. 

According to Clifford Chance, INEA, which was founded in 1992 and is headquartered in Poznan, Poland, “offers triple and quadruple-play telecommunications services to its residential and business customers, including cable TV, broadband, fixed and mobile telephony.”

Warburg Pincus initially invested in INEA in 2013 when the firm acquired a strategic minority stake in INEA and subsequently acquired a majority position in INEA to support the ongoing growth of the business. Under Warburg Pincus’ ownership, INEA constructed a 4,500 km fibre optic backbone network (Wielkopolska Siec Szerokopasmowa) and increased its last mile network footprint from 360,000 Homes Passed (HP) to 500k HP, with further 200k HP expansion already contracted with support of EU funds. As a result, according to Clifford Chance, “Wielkopolska enjoys today the best quality telecom infrastructure in Poland.”

Clifford Chance further reports that, “thanks to very substantial capital expenditure during Warburg Pincus’ ownership, INEA rapidly modernized and expanded its network and became the fastest broadband provider in the country, offering commercially 1,000 Mb/s download speeds. INEA’s internet quality became the best in the country as testified by independent studies. INEA’s EBITDA doubled since Warburg Pincus’ investment, driven by healthy growth of revenue and margins. In the last four years, INEA implemented numerous initiatives leading to higher cross-sell of services, higher service quality, and more streamlined processes. INEA also relocated its headquarters, became a name sponsor of Lech Poznan stadium (now called INEA Stadion), launched Lech TV and expanded its product portfolio with collocation and hosting services served from its newly built data centre in Wysogotowo. Finally, during Warburg Pincus’ ownership, a new infrastructure wholesale strategy has been finalized and put into practice, which creates multiple growth avenues for the future outside of Wielkopolska.” 

The Clifford Chance Warsaw team was led by Partner Wojciech Polz. The core transactional team consisted Warsaw Senior Associate Mateusz Stepien, Of Counsel Nick Fletcher, and Associate Joanna Pominkiewicz.

The A&O Warsaw M&A team was led by Partner Jarosław Iwanicki and Senior Associate Maciej Skoczynski, with support from Warsaw consultant Hugh Owen. Advice on EU funding issues was provided by Partner Marta Sendrowicz, Counsel Małgorzata Dobrzynska-Dabska, and Associate Elzbieta Krajewska.

DZP has advised Toyota Motor Manufacturing Poland on its receipt of financial support from Poland’s Minister of Development and Finances to create a new production line in its factory in Jelcz-Laskowice for a new generation 1.5 liter petrol engines. Production is set to start in 2020 with a capital expenditure of PLN 400 million, which increases Toyota’s production investments in Poland to nearly PLN 4.5 billion.

According to DZP, “the new engine was designed based on Toyota’s new global design platform (Toyota New Global Architecture). The engine and battery will be used in hybrid drives and in the conventional version (for Toyota models sold from 2020).”

DZP reports that it “advised Toyota from the start of the process — i.e., from the conclusion of a letter of intent with the Minister of Development and Finances. We then advised on drawing up an application to the Polish Trade and Investment Agency, the Ministry of Development, and the Walbrzych Special Economic Zone.” The firm’s team was headed by Partners Marcin Krakowiak and Anna Glapa and Associate Aneta Wloszek.

Greenberg Traurig has advised Hansainvest Real Assets GmbH on its acquisition of Generation Park X – the first building of Warsaw’s Generation Park office project in Warsaw — from Skanska. Dentons advised Skanska on the deal, which was reportedly priced at around EUR 83 million. 

According to a Hansainvest press release, “the first out of three office buildings of the Generation Park complex was completed in November 2017, [consisting of] approximately 21,000 square meters. Almost the entire office space is leased to Citi Service Center Poland, creating one of the company’s biggest shared service centers in a single location. The building enjoys an excellent position on a prominent corner location in the new business district of Warsaw, directly next to a metro line. The project is expected to receive a LEED Platinum certification.” The acquisition is Hansainvest’s second in Poland, following its December 2016 acquisition of the Atrium 2 project in December 2016.

Generation Park will comprise three office buildings with a total leasable area of around 84,000 square meters. The highest building, a 34-story tower, stands at 140 meters — 180 meters including the spire. 

Greenberg Traurig’s team advising Hansainvest Real Assets in the acquisition was led by Partner Radomił Charzynski, supported by Senior Associate Olga Durawa and Associate Kamil Majewski.

The Dentons team advising Skanska was led by Partner Bartlomiej Kordeczka, supported by Senior Associate Martyna Racz-Suchocka. 

Image Source: skanska.pl