Category: Serbia

Former Karanovic & Partners lawyer Milinko Mijatovic has joined Gecic Law as Head Dispute Resolution.

According to Gecic Law, Mijatovic will lead the development of the practice, which focuses on providing advice in areas such as complex litigation, regulatory proceedings, ECHR, and international arbitration.  

Mijatovic is an expert in civil and commercial litigation in the West Balkans region. He focuses on civil and commercial litigation, real estate and construction disputes, debt recovery, bankruptcy and reorganization, and misdemeanor and commercial offense proceedings. Prior to joining Gecic Law, He was a member of the Dispute Resolution practice group at Karanovic & Partners. He also worked at the Mijatovic Law Office and the Gucunja Law Firm.

Mijatovic received his LL.B. and LL.M. from the University of Novi Sad School of Law.  He is a member of the Vojvodina Bar Association, Serbia. 

BDK Advokati has advised Dubai’s P&O ports on its EUR 23 million acquisition of Port Luka Novi Sad, in the Vojvodina province of northern Serbia.

According to BDK Advokati, the acquisition and investments are expected to help Port Luka Novi Sad renovate its devastated infrastructure and reach its full capacity of two and half million tons of cargo loading and discharging per year.

P&O ports is a member of the DP World group. Upon the acquisition of Luka Novi Sad, DP World will operate a port on the Danube international waterway for the first time, which the firm describes as “a significant addition to its already large portfolio that, among others, includes the ports of Antwerp and Rotterdam.”

The BDK Advokati team was led by Senior Partner Vladimir Dasic, supported by Senior Associate Tomislav Popovic and Associate Mladen Vujic. 

Karanovic & Partners has advised Japanese automotive company Calsonic Kansei on its EUR 5.8 billion acquisition of Magneti Marelli, a high-tech components manufacturer for the automotive industry, from Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. Dentons reportedly advised the seller.

This transaction, which has received all the necessary regulatory and anti-trust approvals, combines two businesses with total revenues of EUR 14.6 billion, making it the world’s 7th largest global independent automotive supplier. It will operate out of 170 facilities and R&D centers across Europe, Japan, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific under the name Magneti Marelli CK Holdings.

The Karanovic & Partners team was lead by Partner Ivan Nonkovic.

Zivkovic Samardzic has advised South Central Ventures on its investment in LeanPay, a consumer financing startup that helps people pay for consumer goods on credit in installments.

Zivkovic Samardzic describes SCV, which has offices in Belgrade, Zagreb, and Skopje, as being focused on tech companies in the Balkans. According to the firm, “the EUR 40 million fund is dedicated primarily to early stage and growth investments. Within the fund’s ‘seed pocket,’ EUR 1.5 million is allocated for investments of up to EUR 100,000 per company. The majority of the fund is allocated for early stage and growth investments of up to EUR 3 million per company. These investments are intended to fuel the international business expansion and growth of the most promising tech startups that can show traction and prove their potential to ‘make it big.’”

And according to Zivkovic Samardzic, “LeanPay’s solution provides advantages for both consumers and merchants. For consumers, it is easy to see the appeal of LeanPay POS financing. It is instantaneous and digital and can offer greater transparency on the total cost of the purchase, and it provides more flexibility when it comes to paying for goods and services. For merchants, the key selling proposition is getting more customers and higher sales. LeanPay’s solution increases conversion rates by offering consumers intuitive, seamless, and error-free loan processes and delivers high approval rates for loan applicants.”

Zivkovic Samardzic previously supported SCV with investments in dryTools (as reported by CEE Legal Matters on March 16, 2016), City Expert (as reported by CEE Legal Matters on July 4, 2016), Alchemy Cloud Inc. (as reported on March 16, 2017) and CUBE Risk Management Solutions (as reported on March 27, 2017).

The Zivkovic Samardzic team was led by Partner Igor Zivkovski and included Partner Ana Popovic and Senior Associate Sava Pavlovic.

Vladimir Bojanovic, Managing Partner of Bojanovic & Partners in Belgrade, rejects the idea that legislative or regulatory updates are of critical importance in his country. “In Serbia it’s not legislative reform that would fuel the development on its own,” he says. “It’s closely connected with new investments that require modern legislation — so in a way recent investments (which are by and large the biggest in the recent history) are shaping and pushing forward modern legislation – the relation of these two is symbiotic.” And he reports that four sectors — Energy, Technology, Distressed Assets, and Corporate/M&A — are particularly active in Serbia at the moment.

“I’d say that the energy sector is currently dominating in Serbia — by far,” says Bojanovic. “That’s my personal impression, at least. The biggest projects are in Energy.” He concedes, laughing, that he may be slightly biased, as his firm is working, along with JPM, on Gazprom’s TurkStream project, which he describes as “the biggest energy project of all time in Serbia — worth billions and billions of euros.” Serbia started the construction of its section of the TurkStream pipeline for transit of Russian natural gas to Europe this spring. Gastrans, the company in charge of the project, is owned by Switzerland-based South Stream Serbia, in which Russia’s Gazprom holds a 51 percent stake and Srbijagas the remainder. The planned 400-km stretch through Serbia will link the Serbian natural gas transmission system with those of Bulgaria and Hungary, and reports claim that the project on Serbian territory should be completed by Dec. 15 of this year.

Bojanovic’s pride in his firm’s mandate radiates. “The project is extremely exotic,” he says. “A project of this kind has never happened before. It has high strategic importance, and it will guarantee a steady gas supply for many years ahead.” He notes that that “we created legal history with this project, which started last year,” describing it as “like a thunderstorm in the Serbian market.” He explains that, “the market was so silent — it was sleepy, and then this project came, and it shook the market up a lot. A lot contractors, a lot of subcontractors, and a lot of subcontractors of subcontractors,” and he repeats that “we’re very privileged to work on it.”

As for the Tech sector, Bojanovic notes that Serbia has “seen several big entrances in the market in recent years, including Vodafone,” which his firm recently helped obtain a license to operate in the country from Serbia’s Republic Agency for Electronic Communications and Postal Services.

“The third segment would be distressed assets,” says Bojanovic, “because things are not going so well in Serbia.” He reports that “we are at the end of the cycle for the sale of the distressed assets in Serbia, and the last one was the 2018 sale of NLB’s NPL portfolio, which is going to be worth several millions.”

Finally, he says, the fourth active sector is Corporate/M&A, as he reports that “some of the biggest funds in Europe have entered the market and are expected to be exiting soon.

Bojanovic & Partners has helped British company Vodafone obtain a license to work in Serbia from the Republic Agency for Electronic Communications and Postal Services.

The license will allow Vodafone to perform electronic communications activities in the area of ​​public communications networks and services. According to Bojanovic & Partners, the Vodafone Enterprise Equipment Limited branch at Belgrade will use the network for the transmission of optical signals only through Serbia. For the time being, there will be no access points for connecting to other networks of electronic communications operators and they will not be able to provide services to end users in Serbia.

The Bojanovic & Partners team consisted of Partner Vladimir Bojanovic and Senior Associate Petar Delic.

Bojovic Draskovic Popovic & Partners has advised Turkish car part manufacturer Feka Automotive on the acquisition of 40 thousand square meters of land in the Municipality of Cuprija, Serbia, for the purposes of constructing a production plant.

According to BD2P, the investment is worth over EUR 11 million, and more than 130 workers are to be employed.

Feka Automotive is a family-owned company which has been producing parts and components for the auto industry — primarily lighting signalization, interior lights, rear view mirrors, and water tanks — for 30 years.

The BD2P team advising on the transaction was led by Partners Uros Popovic and Ivan Gazdic and included Senior Associate Mario Kijanovic.

Prica & Partners is advising the Serbian government on the privatization process of Komercijalna Banka, the country’s second largest lender.

According to Prica & Partners, the government, which owns a 41.7% stake in the bank, making it the single largest shareholder, has announced plans to complete the sale by the end of September 2019. The firm describes Komercijalna Banka as “among the market leaders, with 202 branches in Serbia, approximately 2,700 employees, and branches in the Republic of Srpska and Montenegro.” 

The Prica & Partners team is led by Partner Danica Gligorijevic, working with Of Counsel Aleksandar Preradovic.