Category: Poland

Polish legal advisor Robert Gago has brought several members of his Hogan Lovells Competition team to Greenberg Traurig’s Warsaw office, which he joins as Local Partner and Head of Competition.

Gago specializes in Polish and European competition and consumer protection law. According to a Greenberg Traurig press release, “in his practice he represents, among others, entities in matters related to the merger control and antitrust proceedings, as well as in proceedings concerning infringement of collective consumer interests.”

Gago spent over 16 years at Hogan Lovells, after spending two years at CMS’s Warsaw office, after spending the previous two at Jeantet Associes. He is joined at Greenberg Traurig by former Hogan Lovells lawyers Ewa Tabor-Maciejewska and Radoslaw Pawluk. 

“In recognition of our clients’ needs, we decided to expand another team,” said Greenberg Traurig Managing Partner Jaroslaw Grzesiak. “After the recent development of the Real Estate, Litigation, and Labor law practices, we have acknowledged that the development of the Competition team builds on our strategy to provide our clients with comprehensive legal services.”

“Mr. Robert Gago and his team are excellent specialists in competition law,” added Senior Partner Lejb Fogelman, Head of M&A at Greenberg Traurig Warsaw. “We are delighted that their knowledge and experience will strengthen our existing practice and contribute to the further development of Greenberg Traurig in Poland.”

Editor’s Note: This article has been updated with correct information about Robert Gago’s previous time with CMS and Jeantet Associes.

KKLW has successfully represented Gulermak on a challenge to the Terms of Reference for the design and construction of the S3 road between Legnica and Lubawka in southwestern Poland by Poland’s General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways (GDDKiA) as containing excessive conditions for potential contractors.

According to KKLW the conditions in the ToR were “too excessive for the work contracted and limited the number of potential contractors.” GDDKiA agreed and accepted all proposed changes. KKLW reports that the GDDKiA decision was subsequently confirmed by Poland’s National Appeals Chamber.

KKLW also recently represented Gulermak on its selection via tender (along with partner Przedsiebiorstwo Budowy Drog i Mostow) to construct Part B of the Warsaw bypass road (as reported by CEE Legal Matters on June 23, 2017).

The KKLW team representing Gulermak in its challenge to the ToR for the construction of the S3 road was led by Partner Jacek Kosinski, supported by Attorney Wojciech Kowalczuk.

Act BSWW has advised both Reino Partners and Buma Group on their joint venture construction project in Wroclaw, consisting of two office buildings with a total area of 23,000 square meters. The first offices will be delivered to tenants by the end of 2018.

The construction of the first, bigger (13,000 square meter) office building began recently, while the second, smaller building will have an area of 10,000 square meters. According to act BSWW, “the buildings will stand out among other projects thanks to green terraces in the eight-floor buildings as well as modern bicycle facilities.”

The Warsaw lawyers of act BSWW handled both the due diligence of the real estate and its acquisition for the purpose of building Cu Office, as well as additional advice throughout the process. The firm also supported Reino Partners and Buma Group in terms of establishing and operating a joint venture and in terms of the investment process.

Michal Wielhorski, act BSWW Managing Partner, supervised the work of the legal team with the support of Associates Michał Soltyszewski and Mateusz Prokopiuk.

DZP has advised FBSerwis on its PLN 155 million purchase of 100% of shares in Przedsiebiorstwo Higieny Komunalnej Trans-Formers Wroclaw and 100% of shares in Trans-Formers Karpatia. Gide Loyrette Nouel advised the sellers, Hossanova Sp. z o.o. (formerly Trans-Formers Holding Sp. z o.o.)

PHK Trans-Formers Wrocław and Trans-Formers Karpatia operate in the municipal waste management and collection and sanitation area. According to Gide, the companies, which have been active in the municipal services sector since the beginning of the 1990s, “were among the first companies in Poland to introduce the segregated collection of waste for recycling.”

FBSerwis, with Ferrovial Services International Ltd. and Budimex S.A. as shareholders, is active in the real estate management, infrastructure management, and environmental services sectors.

The acquisition marks FBSerwis’s third acquisition of municipal waste management sector companies in the last three years, following its 2015 acquisition of Pro Eko Natura in Dolny Slask (now FBSerwis Dolny Sląsk) and its 2016 acquisition of 80% of shares in Amest Kamiensk in the Lodz area (now FBSerwis Kamiensk). DZP advised the company on both of those deals as well.

The DZP team included Partner Marcin Krakowiak and Associate Michal Przychoda.

The Gide team was led by Partner Mateusz Chmielewski, assisted by Associates Dorota Jenerowicz, Anna Ratajczyk-Salamacha and Pawel Wasiel.

Act BSWW has advised the ECC Group on lease agreements signed for space in the Nowa Stacja shopping center near Warsaw with Danish household goods distributor Jysk, Vision Express, and Martes Sport, which produces and imports sports clothing, footwear, and accessories.

The Nowa Stacja shopping center has a leasable area of 26,000 square meters over three floors, with over 120 commercial premises. In addition to shops and service outlets, the firm reports, shopping center customers will also enjoy sports and entertainment facilities.

Act BSWW reports that it “advised ECC Group during negotiations of the lease agreements, starting with preparing a draft agreement, through negotiations with tenants and, ending with issues related to the performance of the agreements.”

The firm’s team was headed by Managing Partner Michal Wielhorski and the project was coordinated by Associate Katarzyna Okonek. The team also included Partners Alicja Soltyszewska and Katarzyna Marzec and Associate Izabela Zmijewska.

“We see the growing potential of shopping centers located outside the main Warsaw commercial zones,” said Michal Wielhorski. “It is definitely an answer to the needs to those who live on the outskirts of the capital but often work in Warsaw.”

Wierzbowski Eversheds Sutherland is announcing that, on July 1, 2017, lawyers Marta Gadomska-Golab and Aleksandra Kunkiel-Krynska, the co-heads of the firm’s Consumer Product Compliance & Life Sciences practices, were promoted to Partner.

According to Wierzbowski Eversheds, Marta Gadomska-Golab “has extensive experience in regulatory advice, product liability, distribution, consumer relations and advertising for clients in the pharmaceutical, household appliances, audio/video devices, FMCG, textiles, furniture and cosmetics industries. She also deals with legal aspects of new technologies in the healthcare system, particularly telemedicine. She actively works for popularization and development of personalized medicine issues as a member of the Polish Coalition for Personalized Medicine. She regularly speaks at conferences and lectures at Jagiellonian University. She has been with the firm for 11 years.”

The firm reports that Aleksandra Kunkiel-Krynska specializes in consumer law and says that “she has extensive experience advising domestic and foreign clients from the household appliances, audio/video devices, FMCG, textiles, furniture and cosmetics industries. She works for leading manufacturers, importers, distributors and retailers, providing comprehensive legal advice on consumer law, including product safety, consumer and warranty claims, as well as contract law and advertising law. Her professional experience also includes day-to-day corporate advice and implementation of public procurement projects. In 2012 she defended her dissertation on European consumer law at the Institute of Law Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences. She regularly speaks at conferences and also develops and conducts consumer law workshops. She is the author of numerous publications on the subject. She has been with the firm for 11 years.”

Their promotions increase the size of the Wierzbowski Eversheds Sutherland partnership to 12.

Allen & Overy has advised PZU SA on its PLN 2.25 billion issuance of subordinated bonds in compliance with the requirements of the Solvency II Directive — the first issuance of subordinated debt instruments by a Polish insurance company.

The underwriters were Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego, Bank Polska Kasa Opieki S.A., Bank Zachodni WBK S.A., ING Bank Slaski S.A., mBank S.A., and  Kasa Oszczednosci Bank Polski S.A.

The Allen & Overy team was led by Partner Piotr Lesinski, supported by Senior Associate Lukasz Walczyna.

DZP has announced five of its lawyers were promoted to partners on July 1st. The new Partners are: Przemyslaw Furmaga, Anna Glapa, Agata Mierzwa, Pawel Piorunski, and Jose Luis Villacampa Varea.

Przemyslaw Furmaga advises clients mainly on domestic and foreign M&A transactions, acting for large corporations, private equity funds, and smaller companies. He also supports enterprise owners, especially family firms.

Anna Glapa specializes primarily in state aid, EU funds, and other forms of aid, and also offers support to the transport sector. She works with public and private companies, and with public institutions and the European Commission.

Agata Mierzwa advises clients on labor and social security law and plays an active part in negotiations with trade unions, employment restructuring, and — in her words — “modeling optimum remuneration systems.” Her specialist area is anti-discrimination law.

Pawel Piorunski has headed DZP’s Wroclaw office since 2012. He specializes in commercial and civil law, focusing primarily on international M&A transactions and commercial contract negotiations. He also advises clients in corporate matters at the pre-litigation stage and in court.

Jose Luis Villacampa Varea, from Spain, mainly advises clients in the construction and energy sectors on operations in Poland. He also heads the DZP team advising Italian clients. 

The partnership of act BSWW has expanded by two as a result of the promotions to junior partner of Iwona Kurylak and Lukasz Piekarski, who both specialize in capital markets and securities. 

“The corporate bond market in Poland has been growing steadily over the last few years thanks to relatively low interest rates,” said act BSWW Partner Piotr Smoluch. “The debt market has also benefited from the stagnation on the share market. As a result of those two factors as well as deeper specialization and expansion of the client portfolio of our law firm, our team handling security-related issues is growing strong. The fact that Iwona Kurylak and Lukasz Piekarski have been made partners is the natural consequence of our growing share in the security market.”

According to act BSWW, Iwona Kurylak “provides legal services with respect to issuance of securities, with particular emphasis on the issuance of secured bonds,” and she “has comprehensive experience in mergers and acquisitions (i.e, preparation of NDA, supervision and performance of a due diligence analysis, preparation and negotiation of transaction structure, preparation and negotiation of transaction documents, including investment contracts, share purchase agreements or agreements for the sale of undertakings/their organized parts/assets, preparation of contracts related to a joint venture).” According to act BSWW, “Iwona also participates in legal services related to bankruptcy law and restructuring processes. She also provides day-to-day corporate assistance to commercial companies, including listed companies. Her practice extends to capital markets law, commercial law as well as bankruptcy and reorganization law.”

Act BSWW reports that Lukasz Piekarski “deals with the broad area of commercial and criminal law, including criminal-economic cases,” and that he “also possesses experience in civil and criminal litigation as well as advising on the issue of bonds.”

Greenberg Traurig has represented the shareholders of Grupa Pracuj sp. z o.o. in its June 28, 2017 sale of a minority stake in the Company to TCV, an international investment firm. Weil Gotshal & Manges advised TCV on the deal.

According to Greenberg Traurig, “Grupa Pracuj is one of the fastest developing technological companies in Central Europe, leading provider of solutions that help companies with employee recruitment, retainment, and development.” The firm reports that “40 thousand clients from 40 countries use the company’s products and services.”

The Greenberg Traurig team was led by Local Partner Daniel Kaczorowski, supported by Senior Associate Anna Cienkus and Associates Paulina Kimla-Kaczorowska, Maja Gawrysiuk, and Anna Chrabota.

The Weil team was led by Partners Pawel Rymarz and Piotr Tomaszewski and included Counsel Monika Kierepa, Senior Associates Lukasz Blazejczyk and Jakub Zagrajek, and Associates Leszek Cyganiewicz, Marzena Iskierka, Jerzy Rostworowski, and Witold Stupnicki.