Category: Poland

WKB Lawyers has advised the Raben Group on a EUR 23.4 million financing from mBank that will also support the development of a new zero-emission logistics park in Silesia. Deloitte Legal advised mBank.

The Raben Group is a Dutch logistics company group. Its operations include contract logistics, warehousing, international road forwarding, domestic distribution, sea and air freight, intermodal transport, and logistics services for fresh products.

According to WKB, the financing will also provide for “the construction of a new logistics park in the Silesian Voivodeship in a zero-emission standard, equipped with photovoltaic panels and heat pumps.”

The WKB team included Senior Associate Weronika Groskrejc and Junior Associate Julia Dukat.

The Deloitte Legal team included Partner Katarzyna Jakubiak, Partner Associates Konrad Bisiorek and Jan Bagatela, and Senior Associate Mariusz Bujacz.

Schoenherr has advised Grupa Zywiec on executing a conditional agreement to sell the Lezajsk brewery to Mycofeast. Rymarz Zdort Maruta advised Mycofeast.

The transaction remains contingent on regulatory approval. “The agreement is a significant milestone for both parties and signals a new chapter for the brewery,” Schoenherr reported.

Grupa Zywiec is the Polish subsidiary of the Heineken Group. The company recently announced changes to its production strategy in Poland, focusing on consolidating operations in four key breweries.

Mycofeast is an industrial biotechnology company.

The Schoenherr team included Partner Marcin Czaprowski and Associates Maciej Korzon and Kamil Jurzak.

The Rymarz Zdort Maruta team included Managing Partner Pawel Zdort, Partner Marcin Pieklak, Senior Associates Aleksandra Kabac, Marta Szczepkowska, Tomek Bakowski, Hanna Bachowska, Klaudia Cholewa, and Michal Matysiak, Associate Szymon Marciniak, Junior Associate Karol Wojtkowski, Paralegal Barbara Gawin, and Expert Pawel Mirosz.

Gessel has advised Poland’s Elemental Strategic Metals on forming a joint venture with US-based Ascend Elements to recycle lithium-ion batteries and production waste from battery factories in Poland and other European countries. The Iurico Law Office advised Ascend Elements.

Grodzisk Mazowiecki-based Elemental Strategic Metals is part of the Elemental Holding Group, a manufacturer of raw materials sourced in a sustainable and environment-friendly way.

Westborough, Massachusetts-based Ascend Elements is a provider of sustainable, closed-loop battery materials solutions.

According to Gessel, “the joint venture aims to engage in the construction and management of facilities for recycling lithium-ion batteries and production waste from battery factories and extracting metals from black mass obtained from recycling lithium-ion batteries and production waste from battery factories.”

The Gessel team included Partner Karol Sokol, Counsel Inarda Bielinska, Managing Associate Michal Osowski, and Senior Associates Maciej Kiraga and Michal Bragiel.

The Iurico team included Partners Maciej Skory, Stanislaw Lach, and Boguslaw Soltys.

Rymarz Zdort Maruta has advised Dutch company Northland Power International Holdings on its joint venture with Energa Wytwarzanie to provide asset management services through the newly established Baltic Offshore Service Solution company.

Baltic Offshore Service Solution will provide technical management of offshore wind farm infrastructure, commercial asset management, health and safety, and environmental protection services. “The first offshore wind farm in the Baltic Sea to be serviced by Baltic Offshore Service Solution will be a facility of Baltic Power with a capacity of up to 1.2 gigawatts that is to be commissioned in 2026,” Rymarz Zdort Maruta reported.

Energa Wytwarzanie is an Orlen Group company providing system services for RES electricity generation.  It manages Poland’s Wloclawek hydropower plant and 44 other small hydropower plants.

Northland Power International is a holding company of the Canadian-listed Northland Power Inc. and a power producer dedicated to developing, building, owning, and operating clean and green global power infrastructure assets in Asia, Europe, Latin America, and North America.

The Rymarz Zdort Maruta team was led by Partners Marek Durski and Iwona Her and included Partner Jakub Krzemien, Counsel Irmina Watly, Senior Associate Aleksandra Kabac, and Associates Szymon Rutecki and Justyna Niezgoda.

Rymarz Zdort Maruta did not respond to our inquiry on the matter.

Dentons has advised Santander Bank Polska, Erste Group Bank, and Rand Merchant Bank on their EUR 145.2 million loan extended to EPP and Echo Investment for the refinancing of the Galeria Mlociny shopping center in Warsaw. Clifford Chance advised EPP and Echo Investment.

“It is the first such large-scale transaction on the Polish retail property market since the pandemic,” Dentons announced. “The financing was classified as meeting the EU taxonomy for sustainable activities because Galeria Mlociny complies with the environmental objective of adapting to climate change.”

According to the firm, Galeria Mlociny is one of the newest shopping centers in Warsaw and holds the BREEAM In-Use certificate at the Excellent level. The building offers about 81,000 square meters of retail and office space with more than 200 shops and 50 cafes. Retail real estate asset manager EPP owns a 70% stake in Galeria Mlociny, while developer Echo Investment holds the other 30%.

The Dentons team was led by Partner Bartosz Nojek and Counsel Patrycja Polasz and included Co-Managing Partner Bartlomiej Kordeczka, Counsel Pawel Dlugoborski, and Associates Katarzyna Kaptur, Aleksandra Grzeskowiak, and Karolina Kordulska.

The Clifford Chance team included Partner Milosz Golab and Associates Bartosz Zielinski and Krzysztof Burda.

Editor’s Note: After this article was published, CEE Legal Matters learned that DLA Piper’s Vienna office advised Erste Bank on Austrian law aspects of the transaction. The firm’s team included Partners Marcell Nemeth and Dimitar Hristov and Senior Associates Michail Fouzailov and Lukas Krenn.

Former CMS Warsaw Senior Associate Przemyslaw Karolak has joined banking-as-a-service cloud-native platform Vodeno as its General Counsel.

Vodeno describes itself as a European banking-as-a-service provider “that combines its proprietary blockchain-based, cloud-native platform with services based on the ECB banking license of partner Aion Bank. Together, Vodeno/Aion are uniquely positioned to offer comprehensive embedded financial services for banks, lenders, and merchants across multiple sectors.”

Before joining Vodeno, Karolak spent two and a half years with CMS as a Senior Associate. Earlier, he spent a year with Baker McKenzie, being seconded to the EBRD as a Counsel, between 2020 and 2021. Before that, he spent four years in-house with Aon, two of which as its Head of Commercial Law. Even earlier, he spent two years as an Associate with Clifford Chance and two more with Greenberg Traurig.

Originally reported by CEE In-House Matters.

WKB Lawyers has advised Euroklimat on its acquisition of Instal Bud Pecyna.

Euroklimat specializes in air conditioning installations, refrigeration systems, and ventilation as well as electrical, teletechnical, and IT installations. It is a subsidiary of the Elevion Group in Poland, a European provider of end-to-end decarbonization and energy efficiency solutions.

Instal Bud Pecyna provides technical, project management, and complex construction services, including HVAC installations, as well as plumbing, construction of sewage treatment plants, and warranty and post-warranty support.

Back in 2019, WKB advised on CEZ’s acquisition of shares in Euroklimat (as reported by CEE Legal Matters on September 11, 2019).

The WKB team included Partners Anna Kratiuk, Jakub Jedrzejak, and Wojciech Kulczyk and Attorneys at Law Sebastian Wozniak, Zuzanna Cybulska, and Filip Rybak.

WKB did not respond to our inquiry on the matter.

Clifford Chance has advised Hillwood on the financing of the construction of the Hillwood & LCube Wroclaw East warehouse park in Dobrzykowice, near Wroclaw, provided by mBank and amounting to over EUR 28.4 million. CMS reportedly advised mBank.

Hillwood is a developer of production and warehouse space.

According to Clifford Chance, the Hillwood & LCube Wroclaw East is a “warehouse complex located directly next to the eastern ring road of Wroclaw, just 15 kilometers from the city center. The project comprises almost 60,000 square meters of modern A-class warehouse space. Convenient access to the A4 motorway, the S8 expressway, and proximity to Poland’s south-western border guarantees excellent access to Western European markets.”

The Clifford Chance team included Counsel Maciej Bochenski.

Rymarz Zdort Maruta has advised Emeis Polska on its sale of a one-hectare land plot in Poznan to AP Marchewka Investment.

Emeis, formerly Orpea Polska, is a private long-term care home operator active in Poland since 2001.

According to Rymarz Zdort Maruta, the land plot in question is the site of a former hospital and it allows for “the construction of an estimated 23,000 square meters of usable floor space for residential use.” Additionally, the firm reports that AP Marchewka Investment “plans to work closely with the Poznan-based VOX brand owned by Piotr Voelkel on the project.”

The Rymarz Zdort Maruta team included Partner Piotr Fedorowicz, Senior Associate Karolina Bakowska, and Associate Alicja Szymanska.

Rymarz Zdort Maruta was unable to disclose additional information on the matter.

Norton Rose Fulbright has advised ING Bank Slaski on financing the construction of a 44-megawatt photovoltaic portfolio in Poland for Doral Energy. CMS reportedly advised Doral Energy.

The Doral Group is a renewable energy company. In Poland, the Doral Group is currently developing 468 megawatts of PV plants and 205 megawatt-hours in energy storage systems.

The Norton Rose team included Partner Tomasz Rogalski, Lawyers Wiktoria Jadczak, Bartosz Odziemkowski, and Mikolaj Wolczynski, and Associates Przemyslaw Piasecki, Karolina Majcher, Mateusz Czuba, and Aleksandra Szostak.