Category: Deals and Cases

CMS has advised Hungarian company Rossi Biofuel on its acquisition of Lotos Biopaliwa. Rymarz Zdort advised Grupa Lotos on the sale.

CMS’ team included Partners Lukasz Szatkowski, Blazej Zagorski, Rafal Zwierz, Piotr Ciolkowski, Malgorzata Urbanska, Agnieszka Skorupinska, Eva Talmacsi, and Helen Rodwell, Senior Associates Rafal Burda, Piotr Prawda, Magdalena Zmyslowska, Grzegorz Paczek, Adam Kedziora, Jagoda Nowakowska, Eliska Copland, Krzysztof Sikora, Wojciech Szopinski, and Maciej Olejnik, and Associates Szymon Klimkowski, Anis Ben Amer, Pawel Ura, Michal Tutaj, Mateusz Mazur, Patrycja Styczynska, and Moritz Kopka.

Rymarz Zdort’s team included Managing Partner Pawel Rymarz, Partners Jakub Zagrajek, Iwona Her, and Robert Krasnodebski, Counsels Aleksandra Dobrzynska-Grezel and Irmina Watly, Associates Kamil Klopocki, Diana Sofu, and Pawel Mazur, and Junior Associate Filip Goledzinowski.

This transaction is part of a greater number of deals arising from the ongoing PKN Orlen – Grupa Lotos merger.

Havel & Partners has advised Smart Comp majority owners Marek Bukal and Pavel Vavra on the sale of their shares to Nej.cz. BBH advised Nej.cz on the deal.

According to Havel & Partners, “Smart Comp is a major provider of Internet and mobile services and the operator of the Netbox network offering fibre-optic Internet connection, Kuki Internet TV, and the services of the virtual mobile operator Netbox Mobil.”

Nej.cz, a member of the Kaprain Karel Prazak group, currently provides Internet connections to more than 200,000 households and 10,000 companies.

Havel & Partners’ team included Partner Vaclav Audes, Senior Associate Juraj Petro, and Legal Assistant Filip Pavlik.

BBH’s team included Partner Petr Pricechtel and Senior Associate Andrea Adamcova.

Ellex, working with Jankovic Popovic Mitic, has successfully represented the interests of Alita before the Court of Appeals of Lithuania.

According to Ellex, “after almost ten years of litigation, the Court of Appeals of Lithuania has ruled in favor of Alita, AB group of companies – and refused to recognize and enforce the partial and final arbitral awards of the Foreign Trade Court of Arbitration in Belgrade.”

According to the firm, “in this international dispute the Serbian Agency for Dispute Resolutions in Privatization Procedures attempted to claim damages suffered after then-largest Lithuanian alcoholic beverages producer Alita, AB undertook and allegedly failed to perform obligations arising out of the privatization of Serbian brewery Beogradska Industrija Piva. Despite the fact that the privatization agreement was concluded with Alita, AB the arbitral tribunal rendered the partial arbitral award including Alita, AB group of companies as a defendant in the arbitration proceedings. The long years of litigation before the courts of the Republic of Serbia, including the Serbian Constitutional Court, resulted in a victory for the Alita, AB group of companies, with the partial arbitral award being annulled in its entirety and the final arbitral award being annulled in favor of the Alita, AB group of companies.”

Ellex’s team included Partner Vilija Vaitkute Pavan and Senior Associate Agne Kisieliauskaite.

JPM’s team included Partner Djordje Novcic.

Noerr has advised the Normeston Group on the sale of 79 Lukoil-branded service stations in Hungary to MOL, the country’s largest oil and gas company. CMS advised MOL on the acquisition.

The 79 service stations were simultaneously traded by MOL to PKN Orlen, as part of a broader asset swap between the two, following Orlen’s planned merger with Grupa Lotos.

Noerr’s team was led by Counsels Akos Bajorfi and Akos Mates-Lanyi.

CMS’ team included Partners Lukasz Szatkowski, Blazej Zagorski, Rafal Zwierz, Piotr Ciolkowski, Malgorzata Urbanska, Agnieszka Skorupinska, and Eva Talmacsi, Prague and Bratislava Managing Partner Helen Rodwell, Senior Associates Rafal Burda, Piotr Prawda, Magdalena Zmyslowska, Grzegorz Paczek, Adam Kedziora, Jagoda Nowakowska, Eliska Copland, Krzysztof Sikora, Wojciech Szopinski, and Maciej Olejnik, and Associates Szymon Klimkowski, Anis Ben Amer, Pawel Ura, Michal Tutaj, Mateusz Mazur, Patrycja Styczynska, and Moritz Kopka.

Lakatos, Koves & Partners and BDK Advokati advised Indotek on its acquisition of 11 office buildings and five business parks in Belgrade from GTC for EUR 267.6 million. Dentons and Zavisin Semiz i Partneri advised GTC on the deal.

With this acquisition, Indotek Group enters the Serbian real estate market with a portfolio of more than 122,000 square meters.

LKT’s team included Partners Szabolcs Mestyan and Ivan Solyom and Lawyer Gyorgy Toth.

BDK Advokati’s team was led by Senior Partner Dragoljub Cibulic and included Partners Milan Dakic and Dragoljub Sretenovic, Senior Associates Djordje Zejak and Marija Gligorevic, Associate Igor Matic, and Junior Associates Tijana Martinovic, Jovana Dukovic, and David Vucinic.

Dentons’ team included Partners Judit Kovari and Marcell Szonyi.

ZSP’s team included Partner Stojan Semiz, Consultants Jasna Milosavljevic-Stepanovic, Jelisaveta Stanisic, and Nikola Sugaris, and Associate Aleksandar Milanovic.

Dentons and BASEAK have assisted Volkswagen in obtaining antitrust and merger control clearances for a joint venture with Italian energy supplier Enel X. 

According to Dentons, “the joint venture will build and operate a high power charging network in Italy. The network will comprise more than 3,000 fast charging points in Italy, each with a charging speed of up to 350 kilowatts. The focus will be on city centers as well as important commuter routes and connecting roads outside of cities.”

Dentons’ team included Ukraine-based Partner Volodymyr Monastyrskyy and Senior Associate Evgenia Prudko, Istanbul-based Dentons affiliate firm Balcioglu Selcuk Ardiyok Keki Attorney Partnership Partner Sahin Ardiyok, Counsel Evren Sesli, and Associate Cigdem Okkaoglu, with further teams in Germany, Italy, Morocco, Chile, Saudi Arabia, and Cairo.

Boyanov & Co, working with BDK Advokati, has advised the Eurobank Group on the restructuring of the financing to two hotels. K. Argyridou and Associates reportedly advised Eurobank as well.

The hotels in question are the Sofia Hotel Balkan in Sofia and the Metropol in Belgrade. The total amount of restructured debt, including new loans, was over EUR 82 million.

The firms did not respond to our request for confirmation.

TGS Baltic has advised Pax8 on its acquisition of cloud services and software distributor TVG. Cobalt advised TVG’s shareholders on the sale.

According to TGS Baltic, “the acquisition will provide Pax8’s entrance into the Baltic States to continue advancing digital transformation globally.”

Riga-headquartered TVG has been operating in the Baltic States for over 20 years. The company provides solutions for Adobe, Corel, Altaro, TeamViewer, ManageEngine, and several other technologies.

“With its technology and vision, Pax8 is having an incredible impact on small and midsize business worldwide by empowering them with enterprise-grade cloud solutions,” Pax8 Europe Managing Director Harald Nuij commented. “We are thrilled to welcome TVG to offer partners in the Baltic States access to innovative solutions, streamlined processes, professional services, and comprehensive support to build robust technology stacks, delivering greater value to their clients.”

The TGS Baltic team included Latvia-based Partners Andra Rubene and Nauris Grigals, Associates Ilga Valko, Toms Tidemanis, Kaspars Treilibs, and Rudolfs Vilsons, Lithuania-based Partner Aurimas Pauliukevicius and Associate Paulius Dabulskis, and Estonia-based Partner Kadri Kallas and Junior Counsel Mirko Kikkamagi.

The Cobalt team included Managing Partner Lauris Liepa and Associate Anna Vladimirova-Kryukova.

Sorainen has advised Stockmann on the sale of its Tallinn and Riga department store properties to Viru Keemia Grupp.

“This was one of the biggest real estate transactions in the Estonian and Latvian markets in 2021,” Sorainen informed. “The sale is a part of the corporate restructuring program and proceeds will be used to reduce secured restructuring debts. Stockmann will continue its department store operations in Tallinn and Riga under long-term leaseback agreements made with the new owner.”

Tallinn department store property was built in 1996, with a net leased area of 22,980 square meters. The department store property in Riga was built in 2003 and has a net leased area of 15,965 square meters.

VKG Invest is VKG’s investment arm, focusing on financial investments primarily in the real estate area. VKG is a privately owned Estonian industrial corporation.

“We are pleased to have found a stable and reliable Baltic owner for the properties, that wants to develop the properties and our department stores in cooperation with us,” Stockmann CEO Jari Latvanen commented. “Our department stores will continue their operations as normal.”

“We are excited to be partnering with Stockmann in the Baltics,” VKG Invest CEO Sten Pisang added. “Both landmark properties are exceptionally well-positioned in the growing capital cities of Estonia and Latvia, and we are looking forward to exploring follow-on investment opportunities to support the core business of Stockmann going forward.”

The Sorainen team was led by Estonia-based Partner Paul Kunnap and included Senior Associate Mirjam Vichmann and Associate Andra Grunberg, as well as Latvia-based Partner Lelde Lavina, Counsel Janis Bite, and Senior Associate Viktorija Smirnova-Cerkasa.

Sorainen did not respond to our inquiry on the matter.

Editor’s Note: After this article was published, Cobalt announced that it had advised VKG on the deal. The firm’s team included Estonia-based Partner Aivar Taro, Senior Associate Sandra Sillaots, and Associate Helen Sool, and Latvia-based Managing Partner Dace Silava-Tomsone, Senior Associates Inga Tenisa, Martins Tarlaps, and Marija Berdova, and Associate Juta Meimere.

Stratulat Albulescu has advised XVision on a EUR 1 Million seed funding round led by bValue. SSK&W Stoklosa Syp & Wspolnicy advised bValue on the deal.

Founded in 2018, XVision is a MedTech start-up developing artificial intelligence algorithms for medical imaging, with the aim of helping radiologists.

The round also included investors from Romania – GapMinder VC, RocaX, Cleverage, Growceanu, and Cristian Pop – and Poland – ResQMed and Marek Dziubinski.

This is the second funding round obtained by XVision, with the company attracting a total of EUR 1.5 million so far. 

According to Stratulat Albulescu, “XVision will use the entire amount to grow its current team with business development, software development, and imaging specialists, in order to expand the company to Western Europe and, starting with 2023, also to the United States of America.”

Stratulat Albulescu’s team was led by Partner Cristina Man and included Managing Associate Elena Stan and Associate Roxana Ioncu.

SSK&W’s team included Partner Szymon Syp and Counsel Iga Wojtczak-Opala.