Category: Poland

Greenberg Traurig has advised HB Reavis Group on the sale of an A class office building to Golden Star Estate. The SRC Law Firm advised the buyers on the deal, which was valued at EUR 120 million.

Konstruktorska Business Center is a modern A class office building located located at 13 Konstruktorska St. in Mokotow, a popular office district in Warsaw. According to Greenberg Traurig, “it is Mokotow’s first office building with lavish greenery on the building’s two patios and offers approximately 45,000 square meters of modern office space for rent on Poland’s largest office floors – almost 7,500 square meters each.” 

The Transaction was led by Greenberg Traurig Partner Radomil Charzynski, supported by Associate Dobroslaw Plaska.

The SRC team was led by Partner Marcin Rogala, supported by Associate Wojciech Majdiuk.

DZP is reporting that it served as main advisor and coordinator of the Polish-Swedish team of lawyers and tax and financial advisors on the USP Zdrowie Group’s July acquisition of the Polish-Swedish Naturell Group.  

According to DZP, “this transaction indicates the potential strength of Polish pharmaceutical companies that are entering highly developed and advanced markets such as the Nordic market. The investment has enabled USP Zdrowie to significantly increase its share of the growing dietary supplements market in Poland. Although this highly demanding direction for foreign expansion of Polish entrepreneurs was until recently rare, it is now becoming more commonplace.” 

DZP’s advice to USP Zdrowie was provided within the firm’s “DZP Go Global” project, which is aimed at helping Polish entrepreneurs wishing to invest abroad. The firm’s team consisted of Partners Bartosz Marcinkowski and Tomasz Kaczynski and Senior Associates Marcin Kulinski and Jaroslaw Konecko, as well as Magdalena Purol, Michal Tracz, and Sabina Sztaba.  

DZP did not reply to our inquiry about counsel for the sellers on the deal.

Kochanski Zieba & Partners has advised the Skanska Group on the acquisition of property located in the center of Warsaw, adjacent to Lucka Street from the Boryszew Group S.A., and the firm will advise on the related investment process.

The net value of the transaction amounted to approximately PLN 96 million, which KZP claims “places the transaction as one of the largest ever on the Polish land investment market in terms of value.”

The conditional sale agreement regarding the property that was concluded on July 18, 2016 and executed on August 3, 2016 also provides the Skanska Group with indirect ownership of the rights to the resulting investment project.

KZP’s team on the transaction consisted of Managing Partner Rafal Zieba, Partners Kamil Osinski and Pawel Cholewinski, and Senior Associate Andrzej Zajac.

The firm was unable to provide information about counsel for the Boryszew Group.

Magnusson has advised a joint venture of Valad and Oaktree Capital Management on the acquisition of four office properties in the Wisniowy Business Park in Warsaw from Peakside Polonia Management.

The Wisniowy Business Park is a modern office complex located at 1 Sierpnia Street and Ilzecka Street, on the edge of the Mokotow and Wlochy districts in Warsaw, within a three-minute drive to the Chopin Airport and three kilometers from the city center.

Magnusson’s team consisted of Senior Partner Warsaw Andrzej Tokaj, Senior Associate Dawid Demianiuk, and Partner Katarzyna Sawa-Rybaczek.

Bierc Siwik & Partners is reporting success in its representation of Poland’s PORR Polska Infrastructure in proceedings before Poland’s National Chamber of Appeals (KIO) against the Province Roads Authority Lodz in a dispute involving a public service contract for the expansion of provincial road no. 710 by constructing a bridge across the Warta river in the city of the same name.

According to the firm, “finding BS&P’s arguments persuasive, the National Chamber of Appeals ordered the restoration of the PORR’s offer to the tender proceedings [that had been] previously rejected as inconsistent with the specification of essential terms of contract and as an act of unfair competition within the meaning of the provisions concerning the combating of unfair competition.”

As a result of the appeal, the KIO – in its ruling of August 3, 2016 – confirmed the charges filed by Bierc Siwik & Partners and ordered the Province Roads Authority Lodz to re-evaluate the bids and prepare a new offer validation.

PORR Polska Infrastructure was represented in the KIO appeal proceedings by BS&P Managing Partner Robert Siwik, who heads the firm’s public procurements team.

With Eversheds as global counsel to Parker Hannifin in the July 1, 2016 acquisition, Wierzbowski Eversheds has advised the American engineering company on Polish aspects of its acquisition of the German company Jager Automobil-Technik GmbH and the Polish company Jager Automotive Polska Sp. z.o.o.

Following the acquisition, the companies will be integrated into Parker’s Pradifa Technology Division, part of the Parker Engineered Materials Group. 

Eversheds describes Parker Hannifin, which reported sales of approximately USD 13 billion in 2015, as “the global leader in the motion and control technology industry,” and it reports that Jager Automobil-Technik “has approximately 250 employees who produce rubber and plastic products for vehicle construction at two German locations (Osterode und Hildesheim), and one Polish site (Gryfino).” 

Parker Hannifin was advised by an Eversheds‘ team led by Munich-based Counsel Holger Holle. The Wierzbowski Eversheds team supporting Parker Hannifin on Polish aspects of the transaction included Krzysztof Feluch, Malgorzata Sajkiewicz, and Natalia Burchardt.

DJBW Danilowicz Jurcewicz Biedecki i Wspolnicy has advised P.H.U Lokomotiv on the sale of forty-seven locomotives to Industrial Division sp. z o.o. Elzanowski Cherka & Wasowski (ECh&W) advised Industrial Division on the sale.

The transaction involved the conclusion of three contracts for the sale of locomotives to Industrial Division. The locomotives are currently leased by the company to, among others, companies in the Lotos S.A. group, Kolej Baltycka S.A., and Polmiedz-Trans sp. z o.o. 

DJBW describes Lokomotiv as “a leader in rail services,” and reports that “its services include transport, repair and leasing of rolling stock and sidings’ support.” According to DJBW, “Industrial Division operates in the brokering of rolling stock and is the leading company in the lease of locomotives on the Polish market.” 

DJBW’s team consisted of Partner Radoslaw Biedecki and Attorney Radoslaw Matusiak.

The ECh&W team consisted of Partners Adam Szalc and Malgorzata Cur, Legal Advisor Rafal Wlodarski, and Trainee Marek Kowalski.

Adam Kowalczyk has been hired to head the Litigation and Regulatory Disputes team of PwC in Poland.

Kowalczyk worked for almost a decade in the dispute resolution departments of DLA Piper (3 years) and Weil Gotshal (almost 7 years). According to Kowalczyk, “as a lead counsel I was involved in over one hundred high-profile disputes of various kinds – mostly for energy, financial and transportation sector clients. Regarding the latter, I was involved in disputes concerning the delivery of Boeing 787 aircrafts to Polish Airlines, high-speed trains Pendolino from French Alstom to Polish Rail Operator and Inspiro Siemens metro-trains to Warsaw Metro. I was also involved in several high-profile regulatory disputes against the Polish Financial Supervisory Authority and in international arbitrations (gas and electricity trading contracts), including investor-state disputes. Recently, I was also involved in a dispute concerning telecommunication frequency allocation in Poland on T-Mobile side (EUR 2 billion). I have gained litigation experience not only in Poland but inside the whole CEE region. I was also involved in several high profile arbitration proceedings under ICC, UNCITRAL, VIAC, and SCC rules in several EU jurisdictions.” 

At PwC Kowalczyk will focus on developing the general litigation practice especially in the areas of regulatory litigation, M&A litigation, professional negligence,and competition litigation – “all areas,” according to Kowalczyk, “where we can deliver something more than traditional law firms,” as “when representing clients we are going to use all PwC’s resources, i.e. valuation services, audit, business/regulatory advisory and forensic,” and “provide it all as a single comprehensive package.”

Kowalczyk, who joins PwC as Counsel, received his Master of Law degree in 2008 from the Jagiellonian University in Krakow.

DZP has announced that life science lawyers Michal Czarnuch and Tomasz Kaczynski have become Partners at the firm.

Czarnuch, who joined DZP in 2007, advises on pharmaceutical and medical law, with a special focus on the reimbursement and financing of health care services. He also advises on creating medicinal product distribution and trading systems and health protection systems, including aspects of forming and restructuring health care entities, telemedicine and health insurance.

Kaczynski, who joined the firm in 2006, specializes in pharmaceutical law, from product registration to reimbursement matters, manufacturing and distribution aspects, and advertising law and clinical trial regulations. He focuses particularly on creating a distribution structure in the pharmaceutical market. He also advises business in the food market on matters related to their daily operations.

The DZP Life Sciences Practice is led by Warsaw University Professor Marcin Matczak.

The firm also announced that Aleksandra Auleytner (the Head of DZP’s IP & TMT Practice), tax specialist Artur Nowak, and Joanna Wierzejska (Head of DZP’s Tax Practice) became Equity Partners at the firm on July 1, 2016 as well.

Bierc Siwik & Partners has reported success in a claim it made before Poland’s National Chamber of Appeals (KIO) on behalf of Saferoad Grawil and Saferoad Kabex against the Poznan Division of the Polish General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways (GDRM) regarding a public tender for year-round, comprehensive maintenance in a segment of Poland’s s11 motorway.

As a result of the appeal, the KIO confirmed charges filed by Bierc Siwik & Partners and ordered the GDRM to re-evaluate the bids and prepare a new offer validation. In addition, the KIO ordered the GDRM to declassify part of the offer previously considered to be most advantageous and provide it to Bierc Siwik & Partners’ clients.

In a second case, the KIO denied — in its ruling of July 26, 2016 — an appeal by one of Saferoad’s competitors against Saferoad’s offer. 

Saferoad was represented in the KIO appeal proceedings by Managing Partner Robert Siwik, who heads the firm’s public procurements team.