Category: Poland

Dentons has advised Enterprise Investors on the acquisition financing from Bank Pekao for its purchase of a significant minority share in Advanced Protection Systems. SSW Pragmatic Solutions reportedly advised the bank.

APS is a technology company founded by Maciej Klemm, CEO, and Radoslaw Piesiewicz, COO. According to Dentons, the company’s proprietary radar technology allows for faster high-precision detection and classification of multiple low, slow, and small flying objects at lower altitudes, and is complemented by intuitive and customizable software.

Enterprise Investors has been active since 1990 and has raised ten funds. These funds have invested and committed EUR 2.2 billion in 155 companies and exited their investments in 137 companies.

“With the support of Enterprise Investors, APS plans to sustain its dynamic growth and accelerate the development of its technological, manufacturing, and organizational capabilities,” the firm announced.

CEE Legal Matters reported on the acquisition transaction back on August 30, 2023.

The Dentons team was led by Partner Bartosz Nojek and Counsel Pawel Dlugoborski and included Partner Mark Segall, Senior Associate Aleksandra Czyz, and Associates Mateusz Ciechomski and Daria Dabrowska as well as a team in Luxembourg.

Clifford Chance has advised PAD RES on a PLN 240 million financing agreement with the Polish Development Fund for the construction of two photovoltaic farms with a total capacity of 117 megawatts in northern Poland. Wardynski & Partners advised the PDF.

PAD RES is a clean energy asset space developer in Poland.

According to Clifford Chance, the two PV farms will be built in northern Poland – near the town of Sztum and the village of Mikolajki Pomorskie. The area of the planned photovoltaic farms is about 140 hectares, and their total target capacity is 117 megawatts, which will supply as many as 65,000 Polish households with clean energy.

Earlier in 2023, Clifford Chance advised PAD RES on a EUR 38 million financing for the construction of a 76-megawatt photovoltaic portfolio in Poland (as reported by CEE Legal Matters on February 21, 2023).

The Clifford Chance team included Partner Andrzej Stosio, Counsel Michal Jadwisiak, Senior Associate Marcin Markowski, and Lawyers Joanna Korycinska, Weronika Patzer, Julia Piotrkowicz, Zuzanna Rosnowska, and Maria Majchrzak, as well as further team members in Amsterdam.

The Wardynski & Partners team included Partners Lukasz Szegda and Radoslaw Wasiak, Counsel Konrad Werner, and Associates Sylwia Boguska and Rafal Pytko.

Norton Rose Fulbright has advised Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego on its PLN 350 million financing of Europejski Fundusz Leasingowy’s business activity.

Europejski Fundusz Leasingowy is one of the oldest leasing companies established in Poland. It began operations in June 1991.

Earlier this year, Norton Rose also advised BGK on the financing for the construction of a Budimex-sponsored wind farm (as reported by CEE Legal Matters on February 3, 2023).

The Norton Rose team was led by Counsel Jacek Smardzewski and included Partner Grzegorz Dyczkowski and Associate Patryk Gelar as well as further team members in France.

SSW Pragmatic Solutions has advised the Lerg Group on the acquisition of a 76% stake in WeButex Kunststoffbearbeitung. Reportedly, Germany-based Goerg advised the Lerg Group as well, while Ferox Legal advised the sellers.

The Lerg Group is a chemical group in the CEE region. It operates in the production of synthetic resins, films, flexible packaging, coloring agents, plastics, and electrical insulating laminates.

WeButex operates in plastics processing and treatment in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

The SSW Pragmatic Solutions team included Partners Pawel Chyb and Marcin Czaprowski, Senior Associate Leszek Cyganiewicz, and Associate Maciej Korzon.

B2RLaw, working with Cooley, has advised Sprout Social on its USD 140 million acquisition of Tagger Media, including software developed by Tagger’s Polish IT hub.

Chicago-based Sprout Social is a provider of social media management and analytics software. According to B2RLaw, “their unified platform puts powerful social data into the hands of more than 34,000 brands so they can make strategic decisions that drive business growth and innovation.”

According to the firm, Los Angeles-headquartered Tagger Media is “revolutionizing how top brands and agencies harness data and analytics to drive creator and influencer marketing strategies” with a platform that provides powerful analytics, all-in-one capabilities, and strategic integrations for efficient campaign workflows.

The B2RLaw team was led by Partner Roman Iwanski and included: Counsels Paulina Wyrostek and Malwina Niczke-Chmura, of Counsel Aleksander Lozykowski, Senior Associate Paulina Milewska-Mroz, Associate Martyna Szpakowska, and Junior Associates Danyila Zubach, Boguslaw Dlugowolski, Eryk Czajkowski, and Julia Stroinska.

Editor’s Note: After this article was published, CEE Legal Matters was informed that US firm Husch Blackwell represented Tagger Media on the sale. The firm’s team was led by Kansas City Partner Edward Wilson.

DZP has advised French energy group Engie company Engie Zielona Energia on the acquisition of five photovoltaic project companies from Columbus Energy in a transaction valued at over PLN 50 million. Gessel reportedly advised Columbus Energy.

Columbus Energy is a Poland-based company engaged in the renewable energy equipment and services industry.

The five photovoltaic farms have a total capacity of 12.97 megawatts and represent the third and final tranche in a larger transaction between the two companies.

According to DZP, “the transaction, which was finalized at the end of August, closes the preliminary conditional agreement for the purchase of 100% of shares in companies implementing PV farm projects with a total capacity of 102.5 megawatts, which the parties concluded in December 2022” (as reported by CEE Legal Matters on January 6, 2023).

The DZP team included Partner Marcin Krakowiak, Senior Associates Malgorzata Wezyk, Tomasz Kalicki, and Pawel Karasinski, and Associates Michal Pytkowski and Katarzyna Wojcik.

Allen & Overy has advised OX2 on the sale of a 20-megawatt onshore wind farm in Bejsce, Poland, to the Enea energy group’s Enea Nowa Energia. DZP advised the buyer.

The Bejsce wind farm will consist of six turbines. According to DZP, Enea Nowa Energia has acquired 100% of the shares in Farma Wiatrowa Bejsce, which owns the 19.8-megawatt wind project located in the Swietokrzyskie voivodship from Swedish company OX2 Holding Poland. The transaction value was in excess of EUR 57 million.

The installation will start operating in the second half of 2025, while the estimated annual electricity production from the farm is expected to be around 65 gigawatt-hours, which will enable around 20,000 households to be supplied, DZP reported.

“The acquisition of the Bejsce wind farm is yet another RES project developed by the Enea Group in recent weeks,” Enea Management Board President Pawel Majewski commented. “As announced, we have started the process of dynamically increasing our generation potential based on RES, both in photovoltaics and wind. This is our contribution to the transformation of the energy sector, and the group’s special purpose vehicles are implementing further projects for an additional several hundred megawatts of green energy.”

The A&O team was led by Partner Jaroslaw Iwanicki and Counsel Kamil Jankielewicz and included Senior Associate Antoni Roszkowski and Associates Mateusz Kwolek, Pawel Grzesik, Julia Pytko, and Natan Fischer.

The DZP team was led by headed by Partner Rafal Hajduk and included Senior Associates Pawel Karasinski and Malgorzata Wezyk and Associates Michal Pytkowski, Karina Krzoska, and Tymon Grabarczyk.

SSW Pragmatic Solutions has advised Polish video game developer Starward Industries on the prospectus for the transfer of its shares from the alternative trading system NewConnect to the main market of the Warsaw Stock Exchange.

The prospectus was approved by the Polish Financial Supervision Authority.

According to SSW, Starward Industries is a Polish developer of computer and console games which debuted on the alternative NewConnect market in 2020. The release of their upcoming game – The Invincible, based on Stanislaw Lem’s novel – is scheduled for November 6, 2023.

The SSW team included Partners Szymon Okon and Kinga Regulska-Hofses, Senior Managing Associate Dawid Brudzisz, Manager Rafal Kmiecik, Associates Urszula Sleszycka and Olga Koncerewicz, and Financial Analyst Janusz Szlanta.

DLA Piper has advised the EBRD on its financing for the expansion of Resi4Rent’s subscription housing portfolio in Poland.

Resi4Rent is a rental market company in Poland.

According to DLA Piper, back “in December, the first phase of the financing was implemented, and now the second phase is being implemented. The initially granted amount of EUR 50 million has now been increased to EUR 75 million. The project addresses urgent housing needs in Poland, especially for refugees from Ukraine. Funds will be used to build safe and friendly housing for both Polish residents and those seeking refuge in the country.”

CEE Legal Matters covered the initial phase of the project earlier this year, on January 5, 2023.

The DLA Piper team included Partners Karen Young and Katarzyna Waclawek, Senior Associate Eszter Fodor, and Junior Associate Jakub Wiatrzyk.

DLA Piper did not respond to our inquiry on the matter.

On September 11, 2023, Deloitte Legal announced that Stock Spirits’ acquisition of Polmos Bielsko-Biala (reported by CEE Legal Matters on August 2, 2022) had closed at the end of August, when the Stock Spirits group – through its Polish subsidiary Stock Polska – took control over Polmos Bielsko-Biala.

As previously reported, Greenberg Traurig advised the Stock Spirits Group while Deloitte Legal advised Polmos Bielsko-Biala on the deal. Allen & Overy represented the Stock Spirits Group in merger control proceedings before the Polish Competition Authority (as reported by CEE Legal Matters on September 8, 2023).

Stock Spirits is a portfolio company owned by a fund managed by the CVC Capital Partners private equity platform. Its portfolio includes more than 70 brands of vodka, vodka-based fruit liqueurs, rum, brandy, bitters, and limoncello.

Polmos Bielsko-Biala is a producer of vodka brands, including Bialy Bocian, Oginski, Extra Zytnia, and Advocaat.

Deloitte Legal’s team included Partner Ryszard Manteuffel, Partner Associate Robert Semczuk, Managing Associate Krystian Kowalski, and Senior Associate Blazej Badera.

Greenberg Traurig’s team included Partners Robert Gago, Andrzej Wysokinski, and Rafal Baranowski, Local Partners Michal Bobrzynski, Barbara Pancer, and Filip Kijowski, Senior Associates Filip Drgas, Tomasz Denko, and Joanna Kuc, and Associates Adam Andula, Anna Brynska, Iga Czerniak, Katarzyna Goljan, Marcin Gralewski, Wiktoria Grotkowska-Szostak, Marta Poplawska, and Krzysztof Poplawski.

The Allen & Overy team included Partner Marta Sendrowicz, Senior Associates Olga Wisniewska-Lukasiuk and Aleksander Braksator, and Associate Edyta Stopyra.