Category: Deals and Cases

Dentons has advised the CPI Property Group on the EUR 1.25 billion bridge loan facility to help finance its takeover offer for all outstanding shares for S IMMO.

The banks that provided the financing include Banco Santander, Bank of China, Barclays Bank, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs Bank, Raiffeisen Bank International, Societe Generale, Komercni Banka, UniCredit Bank Austria, and UniCredit Bank Czech Republic and Slovakia.

CPI Property Group is one of the largest owners of income-generating real estate in Europe, focused primarily on the Czech Republic, Berlin, and the CEE region.

According to Dentons, “CPIPG requested S IMMO to convene an extraordinary shareholders’ meeting of S IMMO to resolve on the abolishment of the S IMMO’s voting cap and announced CPIPG’s intention to launch a cash offer to all S IMMO shareholders to acquire their shares. The property portfolio of S IMMO is complementary to CPIPG’s regional and sector exposure. Through its expanded shareholding, the company intends to play a more active role in the future development of S IMMO’s business.”

Dentons’ team included Prague-based Partner Jiri Tomola, Senior Associate Martin Mandulak, and Associate Ondre Vales, Warsaw-based Partner Mark Segall, along with a further team in Luxembourg.

Dentons did not reply to our inquiry on the matter.

DLA Piper has advised the Aareal Bank on providing EUR 360 million senior facility for Pradera European Retail Parks’ international retail property portfolio financing.

According to DLA Piper, the portfolio comprises 17 retail properties in Germany, France, and Poland with a total of over 400,000 square meters of lettable area.

Aareal Bank Group is a Wiesbaden-headquartered international property specialist, providing smart financings, software products, and digital solutions for the property sector and related industries.

Pradera is a retail real estate, asset, investment, and fund management specialist active in continental Europe, the UK, and China.

The DLA Piper team was led by Germany-based Partner Torsten Pokropp, and included the Czech Republic-based Partner Miroslav Dubovsky and Associates Marcel Janicek and Petr Varvarovsky, Poland-based Partners Mariusz Hyla and Michal Pietuszko, Counsel Bartlomiej Palusiak, Senior Associate Anna Jarczok, Associates Jaroslaw Spodar, Wojciech Sulimierski, and Maciej Rafalowski, Junior Associate Wojciech Sobieraj, and Paralegals Karol Danilczuk and Katarzyna Soszynska, as well as teams from Germany, Luxembourg, and UK.

Aareal Bank’s in-house team included Katrin Schellberg, Aminata Omog, and Paulina Kotecka.

Cobalt has advised Avena Nordic Grain on the sale of its Estonian and Lithuanian grain trade businesses to the Scandagra Group. Walless advised Scandagra on the deal.

According to Cobalt, Avena Nordic Grain is a subsidiary of the Apetit Group. Apetit is a food industry company firmly rooted in Finnish primary production. Apetit’s shares are listed on Nasdaq Helsinki.

The Scandagra Group is an agriculture company operating in the Baltics.

Cobalt’s team included Estonia-based Partners Peeter Kutman and Karina Paatsi, Specialist Counsel Jesse Kivisaari, and Senior Associate Heleri Tammiste and Lithuania-based Partner Juozas Rimas, Managing Associate Jovita Valatkaite, and Senior Associate Zygintas Voronavicius.

The Walless team included Managing Partner Dovile Burgiene and Senior Associate Domas Sileika.

Cerha Hempel and DWF have advised Teufelberger on its joint acquisition with Sigma Plastics Group of Maillis Plastics Solutions from Maillis Holdings. Reportedly, Wolf Theiss advised Sigma Plastics Group on the deal and Germany-based Renzenbrink & Partner advised the sellers.

Maillis Holdings is a part of the portfolio of H.I.G Capital.

According to Cerha Hempel, ”Maillis Plastics Solutions had been part of the international Maillis Group since 2000. Maillis Group is the world’s second-largest manufacturer of end-of-line packaging equipment and supplies its customers with consumables such as strapping and film products. The group employs more than 750 people and generates sales of around EUR 200 million.”

According to the firm, “Teufelberger, an owner-managed family business based in Wels, Austria, is a diversified, international group with around 1,350 employees and sales of approximately EUR 290 million, successfully specializing in fiber ropes, steel wire ropes, and strapping. The US-based co-investor, Sigma Plastics Group, has over 40 manufacturing facilities producing an annual throughput of over 2 billion pounds of resin.”

Cerha Hempel’s team included Partners Clemens Hasenauer, Johannes Prinz, Lorenz Pracht, and Anna Wolf-Posch and Associates Julia Digruber, Michael Ebner, and Philipp Schaubach.

DWF’s team included Managing Partner Michal Pawlowski, Local Partners Rafal Wozniak and Anna Wietrzynska-Ciolkowska, Counsel Lech Najbauer, and Associate Mateusz Bak.

DLA Piper has advised PPF Real Estate on its acquisition of an 8,000 square-meter construction site plot in the Orhideea area of Bucharest from RC Europe. Baker McKenzie reportedly advised RC Europe.

RC Europe is a development and investment group constructing and managing business centers, residential, and commercial properties. PPF Real Estate is a real estate investment platform established by the PPF Group.

According to DLA Piper, PPF’s aim for the acquisition is “achieving their next major project, the ARC Office Building, by 2024.”

DLA Piper’s Bucharest team included Partner Alin Buftea and Counsel Florin Tineghe.

Suciu Popa has advised the Ford Motor Company on the sale of its Craiova assembly plant in southern Romania to its partner Ford Otosan in Turkey. CMS advised Ford Otosan.

The transaction is expected to close by the third quarter of 2022.

According to Ford, “through the transfer of ownership, the Craiova plant will benefit from a wide network of skills and know-how transfer through the vast experience of the Ford Otosan team in the design, development, and construction of commercial and electric vehicles.”

Suciu Popa’s team included Managing Partner Miruna Suciu and Partners Cleopatra Leahu, Mihai Caragui, and Dan Ciobanu.

The CMS team included Romania-based Managing Partner Horea Popescu, Partner Rodica Manea, Senior Counsel Laura Grigore, Counsel Claudia Nagy, Senior Associates Raluca Ionescu, Valentina Parvu, and Andrei Cristescu, Associates Catalin Vasile, Simona Strava, Cristina Ciomos, Alexandru Trandafir, and Sorin Predescu, and Lawyers Eduard Roventa and Bianca Banateanu, Poland-based Partner Iain Batty, and further team members in the Netherlands.

TGS Baltic has advised the Auga Group and its main shareholder on delisting the company’s shares from the regulated market of the Warsaw Stock Exchange and the related mandatory tender offer. Reportedly, Deloitte Legal advised the Auga Group as well.

According to TGS Baltic, the Auga Group is “one of Europe’s largest from-field-to-shelf organic food companies. The group cultivates some 38,000 hectares of organically certified farmland, carrying out a sustainable model of agriculture which is based on new technologies and includes crop, livestock, poultry, and mushroom farming.”

In 2019, TGS Baltic advised the Auga Group on a bond program worth up to EUR 60 million and a EUR 20 million issuance of green bonds in Lithuania (as reported by CEE Legal Matters on December 31, 2019). In 2018, the firm also advised Auga on a secondary public offering of shares (as reported by CEE Legal Matters on August 31, 2018).

TGS Baltic’s team included Partner Vidmantas Drizga, Associate Partner Mantas Gofmanas, and Associate Elvinas Kizys.

Dentons has advised Minit and its shareholders on its sale to Microsoft. Reed Smith advised the buyer.

Minit is a Slovakia-based company, specializing in process mining technology. The company offers services for enterprises from banking, insurance, logistics, and other sectors to optimize their processes and achieve their business objectives.

“With Minit as part of the Microsoft family, we believe this strengthens the value Microsoft provides to its customers in the field of digital transformation,” Minit CEO James Dening commented. “This acquisition will further empower Microsoft to help customers digitally transform and drive operational excellence by creating a complete picture of their business processes, enabling every process to be easily and automatically analyzed and improved.”

The Dentons team was led by Budapest-based Partner Rob Irving and Associate Kamran Pirani and included Associates Sebastian Ishiguro and Tamas Enzsol, Bratislava-based Partners Juraj Gyarfas and Stanislav Durica, Amsterdam-based Counsel Bram Bloemers and Associate Nick de Rooij, London-based Partner Alex Thomas, Counsels Alastair MacLeod and Sonal Khimji, and Associate Ivan Jelocnik, and Milton Keynes-based Partner Christopher Colclough.

Editor’s note: After this article was published, Majernik & Mihalikova announced that it had also advised Minit. The firm’s team included Partners Katarina Mihalikova and Ivan Kormanik and Attorney-at-Law Michaela Lipkova. 

Sorainen has advised the Titanium Baltic Real Estate fund on acquiring Kesko Senukai’s stores in Vilnius, Lithuania, and Daugavpils, Latvia. Motieka & Audzevicius and Walless advised the sellers on the deal.

The Titanium Baltic Real Estate fund is managed by the Finnish asset management company Titanium Fund Management Company.

According to Sorainen, “Delta Turtas and SIA Daugavpils Project 1, the companies which own the stores, have been transferred to the fund by KS Holding, which is co-owned by the Finnish company Kesko, Arturas Rakauskas, and the investment group Zabolis Partners. The deal value is EUR 20 million.”

The Vilnius store, which opened at the end of 2021, has an area of 10,000 square meters. The real estate development company KS Holding invested EUR 10 million out of the total investments into the store of EUR 12.6 million. The leased area of the store in Daugavpils is 9,000 square meters.

Sorainen’s team included Partners Kestutis Adamonis and Eva Berlaus, Senior Associates Mindaugas Dominykas Baniulis, Julija Kirkiliene, Julius Raskauskas, Rasa Mikutiene, Liva Aleksejeva, and Andris Vilisons, Associates Jurgita Mikucioniene and Julija Terjuhana, and Assistant Lawyer Barbora Bernatonyte.

Motieka & Audzevicius’ team included Partner Rokas Jankus, Senior Associate Aivaras Grigas, and Associate Darius Amsiejus.

Walless’ team included Managing Partner Kristine Gaigule-Saveja and Senior Associates Andis Ozolins, Baiba Krievina-Sutora, Liucija Bitinaite

Popovici, Nitu, Stoica & Asociatii and Efrim, Rosca & Asociatii have advised Bico Industries on its acquisition of the Terra Impex Group. Zlate & Partners reportedly advised the seller, Mihai Vaida.

According to PNSA, “founded in 2006, Bico Industries is one of the largest fiberglass mesh producers in Eastern Europe and the leading Romanian fiberglass fittings producer.”

The Terra Impex Group, founded in 2010, is producing fiberglass products for construction in EU countries as well as Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia.

In 2020, PNSA had advised Bico Industries and its majority shareholder Mihai Birliba on the acquisition of a 30% stake in Bico by Roca Investments (as reported by CEE Legal Matters on October 6, 2020).

PNSA’s team was led by Partner Silviu Stoica along with Managing Associate Vlad Ambrozie.

Efrim, Rosca & Asociatii’s team included Partners Oleg Efrim and Vladislav Rosca and Lawyers Maxim Macovei and Gicu Blosenco.

Editor’s note: After this article was published, Deloitte Legal’s Reff & Associates told CEE Legal Matters it also advised Bico Industries on the deal. The firm’s team included Partners Georgiana Singurel and Florentina Munteanu, Senior Managing Associate Andrea Grigoras, Senior Associate Mihnea Radu, and Associate Anca Olar.