Category: Poland

Wierzbowski Eversheds has announced that Ewa Lachowska-Brol, Ewa Szlachetka, and Gerard Karp have become the fifth, sixth, and seventh equity partners at the firm.

With over 25 years of professional experience, Lachowska-Brol manages the Wierzbowski Eversheds Labor Law practice, and according to the firm, “she specializes in providing comprehensive advice on employment law for leading Polish and international companies. She has been with the firm since 2000, after spending eight years as a Senior Manager & Head of Legal Division of the Tax and Legal Department at PWC, and became a Partner in 2008.

Szlachetka, who has over 20 years of experience herself, focuses on both Corporate/M&A and Banking and Finance. According to the firm, “she specializes in corporate and legal support for M&A transactions, including acquisitions of public companies and restructuring of capital groups,” in addition to working in capital markets. She advises on transactions conducted by private equity and venture capital funds. She joined the firm as a Partner in 2014, after spending two and a half years as a Partner at Gessel, four years before that as a Senior Associate at CMS, and eight years before that as an Associate with Baker & McKenzie.

Karp works in the firm’s Technology, Media & Telecommunications and Compliance practices. He specializes in the law of data protection, new technologies, IT, Internet, and electronic communications. He has been with the firm since 2006, and he became a Partner in 2014 (as reported by CEE Legal Matters on February 3, 2014).

Krzysztof Wierzbowski, Managing Partner of Wierzbowski Eversheds, commented: “Inviting Ewa Lachowska-Brol, Ewa Szlachetka, and Gerard Karp to join the group of equity partners is an expression of appreciation for their contribution and commitment to the development of their practices as well as our entire organization. I am delighted that the new equity partners have expressed their willingness to increase their responsibility for selected areas of our firm, and that from now on we will jointly decide on the direction of our business. I also hope that in the near future the group of Equity partners will expand further.”

The Public Procurement Law Firm Robert Siwik has announced another succesful representation of the Polish Association of Construction Employers (PACE) before Poland’s National Chamber of Appeals (NCA) in a case involving A4 motorway maintenance.

According to Robert Siwik, “On 19.12.2016 the NCA accepted in the majority the arguments which were advanced as part of the appeal by PACE in the awarding of the contract for ‘the year-round full maintenance of the section of the A4 motorway from Rzeszoow East (junction excluded) to Jaroslaw West (junction included) including all the ancillary infrastructure, administered by the General Road and Highway Authority, Rzeszow branch.’”

Siwik continued that “the NCA held that the share of PACE’s participation, as set out in the original claim, in the supply of the relevant technical assets used for snow clearing was disproportionate to the value of the contract and distorted market competition; it further held that the subject matter of the contract regarding the required period of employment under a full-time employment agreement lacked rationale when viewed in terms of the contract. Furthermore, the NCA rejected in part the new contract evaluation criteria set by the contracting authority, specifically that referred to as ‘Contractual Independence’, which favoured independent completion of the contract (prohibiting subcontracting) or setting forth in Contract Description higher snow clearing equipment requirements than presented in the invitation to tender.”

DZP is reporting that on November 24, 2016, Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal ruled that a Polish regulation allowing payments for international transport drivers to be made in the form of overnight allowances is not compliant with the Polish Constitution, in the process accepting the argument made by DZP’s lawyers on behalf of the Transport & Logistics Poland Employers’ Association. The firm’s application for a ruling on the constitutionality of article 21a of the Act on Drivers’ Working Time was filed by the firm in February 2015.

The disputed regulation meant that professional drivers were subject to the same regulations as public sector workers for whom business trips are not usually a basic duty. The confusion over it, according to DZP, “caused serious turmoil on the market,” as “employers were flooded with a wave of claims from drivers, demanding high overnight allowances for spending the night in their cabs on international trips.” The firm reports that “a different interpretation of the issue was made by, e.g., the Supreme Court, [and] the situation therefore posed a business risk for the entire sector.”

The Transport & Logistics Poland Employers’ Association was represented by DZP Counsel Tomasz Zalasinski and Bogusław Kaplon, Head of the firm’s Labor Law Practice.

The Robert Siwik Public Procurement Law Firm is reporting that it successfully represented two large trade associations — the Polish Association of Construction Employers and the Polish Association of Aggregates Producers — in appeal proceedings before Poland’s National Chamber of Appeals (NCA) involving the award of a contract for the redevelopment and extension of a section of the “inter-regional road” 559. The two associations had joined their claim to that of appellant Skanska SA.

The NCA appeal concerned the removal of ambiguous terms in the contract notice concerning the use of limestone chippings in road building which were in breach of the fair trading rules.

Both trade associations were represented before the NCA by Managing Partner Robert Siwik.

The Public Procurement Law Firm Robert Siwik has represented a consortium of Saferoad group companies in appeal proceedings before Poland’s National Chamber of Appeals (NCA) concerning a tender for the maintenance of a section of the country’s highway around Poznan. The contracting authority was the General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways – Division in Poznan (the “Directorate”).

The appeal was brought as a result of, among other things, failure of the Directorate to comply with the requirements set out in another appeal brought by the Saferoad group companies, which had been met in full.

The NCA panel reviewing the appeal referred the matter to the Court of Justice of the European Union to rule on the issue of admissibility of tender evaluation (and inclusion of the tenders in the ranking of tenders) where the tender was submitted out of time.

The Saferoad consortium was represented by Managing Partner Robert Siwik.

Robert Siwik has announced that former Partner Artur Bierc has “ceased to be a partner in Bierc Siwik & Partners (BS&P) and engaged in the practice of the legal profession in another organizational structure,” and that, going forward, his firm will do business as The Robert Siwik Public Procurement Law Firm (in Polish, the “Kancelaria Prawa Zamowien Publicznych Robert Siwik”).

According to a press release issued by Siwik, “the restructuring is solely of an administrative nature and bears no impact on the company’s operational activities, which will be continued in the hitherto manner, especially in public procurement law, infrastructure, & energy sector.”

Norton Rose Fulbright has advised a consortium of banks consisting of Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego, Bank Zachodni WBK S.A., Powszechna Kasa Oszczednosci Bank Polski S.A., and the European Investment Bank on a PLN 629 million loan facility to be made available to Polish transport company Przewozy Regionalne sp. z o.o. Hogan Lovells advised Przewozy Regionalne on the deal. 

The facility agreement was signed on December 16, 2016. The signing ceremony was attended, among others, by Mateusz Morawiecki, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Economic Development and Vazil Hudak, Vice-President of the European Investment Bank. The investment is the first Polish project benefiting funds under The European Commission’s Investment Plan for Europe known as the “Juncker Plan.”

Przewozy Regionalne is the largest passenger carrier in Poland for domestic rail travel. The purpose of the facility is to enable Przewozy Regionalne to purchase new rolling stock and to modernize existing stock.

Norton Rose Fulbright advised the lenders throughout the transaction and negotiated the finance documentation, as well as structuring and drafting the inter-creditor agreement setting out the relationship between the various lenders and the borrower. The firm’s team was led by Partner Grzegorz Dyczkowski, assisted by Of Counsel Piotr Milczarek, Senior Associates Tomasz Rogalski and Joanna Braciszewska-Szarapa, Associates Maksymilian Jarzabek and Konrad Leszko, and Paralegal Adrian Wieslaw.

The Hogan Lovells team was led by Partner Rafal Grochowski, supported by Senior Associate Elzbieta Rablin-Schubert and Associate Anna Kuczewska.

Wierzbowski Eversheds has advised Rolls-Royce PLC and Rolls-Royce Polska Sp. z o.o. on the November 28, 2016 framework cooperation agreement they signed with Polska Grupa Zbrojeniowa S.A.

According to Wierzbowski Eversheds, “the signing of the framework agreement begins the cooperation of the Polska Grupa Zbrojeniowa and Rolls-Royce in the areas of design, supply, operation, maintenance, servicing, product, and systems repair. Its purpose is to examine and evaluate potential business cooperation between entities in the marine, civil, and military aviation sectors, propulsion systems, and the energy sector.

The cooperation between Rolls-Royce and PGZ will be established by Rolls-Royce Polska Sp. z o.o. and companies from Polska Grupa Zbrojeniowa, including, among others, MS Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych, Osrodek Badawczo-Rozwojowy Centrum Techniki Morskiej in Gdynia, Wojskowe Zakłady Motoryzacyjne in Poznan, Stocznia Remontowa “Nauta” in Gdynia, as well as Energomontaz-Polnoc Gdynia Sp. z o.o. 

Wierzbowski Eversheds Of Counsel Krzysztof Feluch advised on the preparation of the agreement.

When asked by CEE Legal Matters, Wierzbowski Eversheds said it did not know the name of the firm that represented PGZ.

Linklaters has advised Echo Investment S.A. on its sale of the Q22 tower in Warsaw to the US-based Invesco Real Estate fund. Greenberg Traurig advised Invesco on the deal (which was valued at over PLN 1 billion net) and on its financing. 

The state-of-the-art 155-meter Q22 office tower in Warsaw, which opened in June 2016, is situated at the intersection of Aleja Jana Pawla II and ulica Grzybowska in the city’s business district. It has an area of approximately 53,000 square meters and has a distinctive glass facade, inspired by the structure of quartz, and designed by Autorska Pracownia Architektury Kurylowicz & Associates. Current tenants include Deloitte, Allegro, and Citibank, among others.

According to Greenberg Traurig, “the acquisition of Q22 was the largest investment transaction for an office building in the real estate market in Poland in 2016 and one of the largest transactions in the CEE region.”

The Linklaters team consisted of Counsel Rafal Zboch, Senior Associates Judyta Sawicka and Piotr Zawadzki, Associate Kacper Piorecki, and Junior Associate Mateusz Cieslak.

The Greenberg Traurig team was supervised by Partner Agnieszka Stankiewicz and was led by Senior Associate Karolina Kuzniak, supported by Associate Michal Niecko.

Image Source: echo.com.pl