Category: Deals and Cases

Sorainen, working with Wolf Theiss in Poland, has advised iCotton on obtaining a EUR 10 million loan from the Altum Capital Fund. TGS Baltic advised the lender.

According to TGS Baltic, Altum is cooperating with existing iCotton financiers Blue Orange Bank and Poland’s mBank as a part of the transaction. The firm reported that “iCotton, which sells 98% of its production in export markets, faced supply chain disruptions, rising logistics costs, and changing payment terms. At the same time, the pandemic boosted demand for the company’s hygiene products.”

According to Sorainen, the loan will improve iCotton’s cash flow and facilitate its development by introducing new products from environmentally friendly raw materials.

Hygiene product company iCotton employs 800 people at its plants in Latvia and Poland and had a turnover of EUR 80 million last year. iCotton’s products include cotton swabs and other cotton products, wet wipes, as well as the production of non-woven cotton fabric. The company’s customers include retail chains Rossmann, Carrefour, Rimi, Maxima, Biedronka, and Kaufman.

Altum Capital Fund has a total worth of EUR 100 million, half of which is public funding with the other half being private pension funds. The company can invest up to EUR 10 million in corporate capital, corporate bonds, or loans.

“iCotton is characterized by a modern production base and continuous investment in development,” Chairman of Altum’s Management Board Reinis Berzins commented. “We are pleased to make this financing of the Capital Fund and support this flagship of Latvian exports, helping to overcome the impact of COVID-19 and increasing its ability to attract new investments in the future and further increase its operations. The total amount of transactions concluded by the capital fund has already reached EUR 33 million and the fund is actively working on the preparation of future transactions.”

The Sorainen team was led by Managing Partner Eva Berlaus and Senior Associate Natalija Sestakova.

The TGS Baltic team included Partner Inese Hazenfusa and Associate Martins Galzons.

Kinstellar, working with Linklaters, has advised a consortium of banks on the Romanian law aspects of an USD 800 million joint high-yield bond issuance by Canpack Poland and Canpack US. Bulboaca & Asociatii advised Canpack on Romanian law. Morgan Lewis reportedly advised the lenders on English law. Latham & Watkins reportedly acted as international counsel for the issuers.

The banking consortium included Citigroup Global Markets Europe, HSBC Bank, ING Bank, BNP Paribas, CaixaBank, and PKO Bank Polski.

According to Kinstellar, the funds generated by the high-yield bonds are to be used for general corporate purposes and for establishing a new manufacturing plant.

Canpack is a global manufacturer of aluminum cans, glass containers, and metal closures for the food and chemical industries, operating in 95 countries worldwide.

The Kinstellar team was led by Partner Zsuzsa Csiki and included Senior Associate Razvan Constantinescu and Associate Cosmin Vasilescu.

The Bulboaca & Asociatii team was led by Partner Adrian Bulboaca and included Senior Associate Paula Cringanu-Filip and Associates Ana Adascalitei and Ioana Barbu.

Zivkovic Samardzic and Fatur Menard have advised Trigal on its investment in five urban lighting regeneration public-private partnership projects in Serbia.

The projects have a 13-year lifespan, are led by energy services provider Resalta, and include the installation of LED lights in five municipalities, with significant projected savings. 

According to Zivkovic Samardzic, “this ESCO projects portfolio is the latest one in Trigal’s infrastructure portfolio and comes after the implementation of similar projects in North Macedonia and Croatia. The term ESCO stands for energy service company and the model allows those companies to carry out energy services without the clients having to invest their own capital in the projects.”

Trigal is a joint venture founded by German Kgal and Slovenian Zavarovalnica Triglav and offers investment, operational, and asset management services for clients such as insurance companies, pension funds, and family offices. According to Zivkovic Samardzic, “Kgal and Triglav combine over EUR 23.2 billion in assets under management and joined forces to create Trigal, with the goal to become the leading real asset investment management platform for the Adriatic region.”

The Zivkovic Samardzic team was led by Partners Igor Zivkovski and Sava Pavlovic.

The Fatur Menard team was led by Senior Partner Maja Menard and included Senior Attorney-at-Law Lovro Jurgec.

Kinstellar has advised GIC on the Czech, Hungarian, Bulgarian, and Serbian aspects of its 30% stake acquisition in the Cetin Group from PPF. BDK Advokati and Lakatos, Koves & Partners advised the seller on Serbian and Hungarian aspects, respectively. Djingov, Gouginski, Kyutchukov & Velichkov, White & Case, and NautaDutilh reportedly also advised the seller. Herbert Smith Freehills also advised the buyer, with Loyens & Loeff reportedly advising the buyer in the Netherlands.

The transaction remains contingent on regulatory approval. Financial details were not disclosed.

The Cetin Group is a telecommunications infrastructure provider in Central and Eastern Europe. Cetin Serbia was founded in 2020 as a result of a spin-off from Telenor Serbia, following PPF’s acquisition of Telenor in 2018.

Singapore’s GIC is a sovereign wealth fund established in 1981.

The PPF Group operates in 25 countries, investing in sectors including financial services, telecommunications, media, biotechnology, real estate, and engineering. The group owns EUR 39.7 billion in assets and employs 94,000 people globally.

“When we entered the telecommunications sector almost eight years ago, we said that PPF wanted to offer state-of-the-art services to the European market,” PPF Group CEO Ladislav Bartonicek commented. “We are proud to partner with GIC, a major and respected international investor renowned for its unparalleled ability to identify value in stable assets capable of generating solid long-term returns.”

The Kinstellar team was led by Prague-based Partner Kamil Blazek and included Counsel Zdenek Kucera and Managing Associate Michal Kniz, Budapest-based Partner Anthony O’Connor, Associate Laszlo Palocz, and Attorney Attila Csikai, Sofia-based Partner Antonia Mavrova, Managing Associate Atanas Mihaylov, and Associate Simeon Vachev, and Belgrade-based Partner Branislav Maric, Senior Associate Nikola Stojiljkovic, and Associate Jelena Tripkovic.

The BDK Advokati team was led by Managing Partner Tijana Kojovic and included Senior Associate Pablo Perez Laya, Attorney-at-Law Djordje Zejak, and Junior Associates Vera Kojic and Tijana Martinovic.

The Lakatos, Koves & Partners team consisted of Partners Adam Mattyus and Eszter Ritter and Lawyers Kornel Dirner and Nora Szigeti.

The Herbert Smith Freehills team was led by Partners Gavin Williams, Aaron White, and John Taylor and Senior Associate Emma Stones and included Partners Veronica Roberts, David Wyles, and Isaac Zailer, Of Counsel Lyndon Coppin, Senior Associates Ali MacGregor, Dominic Rowe, Dhananjaya Chak, Omar Shafi, Perminder Gainda, Joseph Dennis, and Tatum Govender, and Associates Ivan Biros, Filip Gavanski, and Tanisha Onyenaoha.

Editor’s Note: After this article was published, White & Case confirmed its involvement in the deal. The firm’s team was led by Prague-based Partner Jan Andrusko and included Local Partners Jan Stejskal and Jan Jakoubek, Associate Iva Cechrakova, and London-based Partner Caroline Sherrell.

Shearman & Sterling and Sorainen have advised joint global coordinators and joint bookrunners Citigroup, Nordea, and Swedbank on Enefit Green’s EUR 175 million Rule 144A / Regulation S initial public offering and listing on Nasdaq Tallinn. Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton and Ellex advised Enefit Green and its owner, Eesti Energia.

Enefit Green is the renewables subsidiary of Estonian state-owned energy company Eesti Energia. According to Shearman & Sterling, “the IPO consisted of a primary offering of shares by Enefit Green and the sale of a minority stake by Eesti Energia, which will continue to remain a significant shareholder post IPO. It is one of the largest IPOs in the Baltics in recent years.”

According to Sorainen, “55% of the offered shares were allocated to retail investors and the remaining 45% to institutional investors. Due to the unprecedented number of investors participating in the offer, the share of investors subscribing to up to 1,000 shares in total demand was so large that it was additionally decided to distribute 5.5% of the excess volume to all retail investors who subscribed for more than 1,000 shares.”

Enefit Green owns a total of 22 wind farms in four markets – Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland – as well as 38 solar power plants, four combined heat and power plants, a pellet plant, and a hydroelectric power plant.

Shearman & Sterling’s team included Partners Pawel Szaja, James Duncan, Kristen Garry, and Simon Letherman, Senior Associate Woo Suk Hong, and Associates Araz Poladov, Evangelida Andronikou, Eunjee Chae, and Daniel Kachmar.

Sorainen’s team was led by Counsel Katlin Krisak and included Estonia-based Partners Kaupo Lepasepp and Paul Kunnap, Counsel Jane Eespold, Senior Associates Britta Retel, Mirjam Vichmann, Triin Toom, and Sandra Mikli, and Associates Andra Grunberg and Krista Severev; Latvia-based Partner Lelde Lavina, Senior Associates Viktorija Smirnova-Cerkasa,  Andris Vilisons, and Jorens Jaunozols, and Associate Zane Akermane; and Lithuania-based Partner Sergej Butov and Senior Associates Julija Kirkiliene and Inga Macijauskaite.

The Ellex team in Estonia included Partners Gerli Kivisoo, Martin Kaerdi, Martin Maesalu, Martin Triipan, Raino Paron, and Sven Papp, Counsels Triin Frosch, Dmitri Rozenblat, and Jaanus Ikla, Senior Associates Kadi Sink, Gerda Liik, Hanna Pahk, Maria Teder, Martin Raude, and Alla Kuznetsova, Associates Karin Tartu, Kevin Gerretz, Liisbeth Lillo, and Merlin Liis-Toomela, and Lawyers Lotte Suislepp and Miikael Tuus; in Latvia Senior Partner Raimonds Slaidins, Senior Counsel Iveta Ceple, Senior Associates Beata Plocinaa and Marta Cera, and Associates Ineta Kanepe and Eduards Dzintars; and in Lithuania Partner Paulius Gruodis, Senior Associates Mantas Juska, Gabriele Vazniokaite, Antanas Butrimas, and Edvinas Beikauskas, and Expert Gintaras Balcius.

CMS has advised plastic packaging and recycling company Alpla on its acquisition of the Wolf Plastics Group. Binder Groesswang advised the sellers on the deal.

The transaction remains contingent on regulatory approval.

Alpla is an Austria-headquartered international company active in plastic packaging solutions. Wolf Plastics is an Austrian company with three independent production facilities located in Austria, Hungary, and Romania. According to CMS, “Wolf Plastics is one of the market leaders in its field in Central and South-eastern Europe … specialized in producing plastic containers and canisters for the construction, chemical, and food industries for decades.”

“Wolf Plastics has decades of experience in product areas in which we want to increase our representation in order to expand our portfolio and grow in Central and South-Eastern Europe,” said Alpla CEO Philipp Lehner.

“Sustainability is becoming more and more important in the market segments covered by Wolf Plastics too. This is precisely where we at Alpla can apply our expertise and our market position,” added Alpla Regional Manager CEE Rainer Widmar.

The CMS team was led by Partner Alexander Rakosi and included Austria-based Partners Dieter Zandler, Jens Winter, Robert Keisler, and Sibylle Novak, Counsel Hans Lederer, Attorneys Johannes Scharf, Marie-Christine Lidl, and Florian Mayer, and Associates Anna Hiegelsperger, Christoph Birner, Thomas Liegl, Vanessa Horaceck, Marlene Wimmer-Nistelberger, Mariella Kapoun, and Andreas Lichtenberger; Romania-based Partner Horea Popescu, Counsels Claudia Nagy and Mircea Moraru, Senior Associates Elena Andrei, Raluca Ionescu, and Alexandru Dumitrescu, Associates Simona Strava, Cristina Ciomos, and Catalin Vasile, and Junior Associate Eduard Roventa; and Hungary-based Partner Aniko Kircsi, Senior Counsels Szilvia Kabacs and Marton Domokos, Senior Associates Laszlo Jokay, Dorottya Varga-Giesz, Istvan Tamas Rigo, Gabor Kutai, Miklos Boros, and Boglarka Peszeki, and Associates Mark Molnar and Zsolt Zsurzsa.

The Binder Groesswang team was led by Partner Florian Khol and included Senior Associate Christoph Schober.

Lextal has advised Estonian financial technology group IuteCredit on its EUR 75 million senior secured corporate bonds issuance. GSK Stockmann reportedly acted as a global advisor on the deal.

According to Lextal, there was an exempt offering to European institutional investors and a public offer to retail investors in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Germany. The bonds are listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq Tallinn Stock Exchange regulated markets.

“We are humbled and proud because of the trust and credit given to Iute by institutional and retail investors. The proceeds of the issue continue to support Iute in the pursuit of our mission, which is to create an extraordinary experience in the field of personal finance,” IuteCredit CEO Tarmo Sild commented.

The Lextal team included Estonia-based Partner Kristi Sild and Lawyers Henri Ratnik and Kaisa-Maria Kubpart, Latvia-based Attorney Liene Pommere, as well as Lithuania-based Partner Dziuginta Balciune and Lawyers Ingrida Steponaviciene, Jolanta Borko, and Haroldas Kupstas.

NKO Partners and Lovric Novokmet Smrcek have advised French Conforama on the sale of furniture and appliance company Emmezeta and subsidiary Emma Real Estate to Poland’s Merkury Market. Marohnic, Tomek & Gjoic advised LCN Capital Partners on the sale of a related real estate portfolio. Glinska & Miskovic, Samardzic Oreski & Grbovic, and Brzozowska & Barwinska advised the buyer.

The real estate portfolio consisted of five Emmezeta retail and warehouse units with a total leasable area of over 75,000 square meters. 

According to NKO Partners, “the takeover is part of a wider transaction which included the acquisition of the Croatian company Fliba, the manager of the Emmezeta-branded stores in Croatia.”

Merkury Market specializes in furniture, home equipment, and building materials trading and operates over 60 stores for construction materials and furniture in Poland, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia. According to SOG, “this transaction allows them to expand their business in Southeast Europe by adding 16 Emmezeta stores in the Serbian and Croatian markets.”

The NKO Partners’ team was led by Partner Djordje Nikolic.

The Lovric Novokmet Smrcek team consisted of Partner Mate Lovric and Senior Associates Katarina Simac and Tomislav Tot.

MTG’s team included Partners Josip Marohnic and Tena Tomek and Attorney-at-Law Ivona Zagajski.

The Glinska & Miskovic team included Lead Partner Beata Glinska and Senior Associate Emil Cetina.

The SOG team was led by Partner Milan Samardzic and Senior Associate Milan Novakov.

Brzozowska & Barwinska’s team included Managing Partner Beata Barwinska-Piotrowska and Lawyer Aleksandra Szymczak.

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer advised Apera and the super senior banks on the financing of pharmaceutical company Euro Vital Pharma Group. Taylor Wessing has advised the borrower. PRK Partners reportedly advised the lenders on the deal.

The transaction included term loans, various current accounts, and special loans. The pan-European debt fund Apera, together with Deutsche Bank and Hamburger Sparkasse provided the financing.

According to Taylor Wessing, the financing has been tailored to support EVP’s further growth plans as well as the refinancing of recent acquisitions in Spain, the UK, and Slovakia. The funding will be used, among others, for the acquisition of the Spain-based Korott Group, operating in the same industry.

EVP is a private label over-the-counter healthcare provider, offering a range of products and featuring its own research, development, and distribution capabilities.

The Taylor Wessing team was led by Germany-based Partner Ulf Gosejacob and included Partners Michael Stein, Michael Beyer, and Christopher Peine, and Senior Associate Kian Boehmer, UK-based Partner Martin Yells, Senior Associates Katie Horbury and Kate Bowden, and Associate Jessica Richards-Webb, Slovakia-based Partners Silvia Hlavackova and Juraj Frindrich, and Senior Associate Jana Brezinova, as well as Spain-based Partners Hector Bross and Kai Christian Fischer.

The Freshfields team was led by Germany-based Partner Michael Josenhans and included Partner Mario Huther, Counsel Nina Heym, Principal Associate Vanessa Steiner, Associates Laura Korndorfer and Matthis Grenzer, Austria-based Lawyer Anouschka Zagorski, UK-based Partner Mandeep Lotay, as well as Spain-based Partner Ana Lopez, and Associates Victoria Bobo and Arturo Dauffi.

Integrites has successfully represented seamless stainless-steel pipe manufacturer Centravis in a sunset review of antidumping measures against the import of Ukrainian pipes into the territory of the Eurasian Economic Union.

According to Integrites, the case was initiated by Russian manufacturers of the same product in 2020, due to the expiration of the 2016 antidumping measure imposed on the client’s products and their import to the EEU. “The outcome of the case enables Centravis to continue imports to the territory of the EEU with the lowest possible antidumping duty applied,” the firm announced. The duty will remain in effect until 2026.

The Integrites team was led by Counsel Yevgen Ivanets and included Counsel Sergiy Lakhno and Junior Associate Ivan Yefimenko.