Category: Deals and Cases

Ketler & Partners, member of Karanovic, has advised ARX Equity Partners on its acquisition of Instrumentation Technologies and Red Pitaya, a handheld electronics lab, from its founders. The sellers were advised by Acuity Advisors.

Financial details were not disclosed, and the transaction remains contingent to customary closing conditions.

Founded in 1998 and headquartered in Solkan, Slovenia, I-Tech develops and assembles high-specification instrumentation for data acquisition and signal processing used in scientific particle accelerators. 

The Ketler & Partners team included Senior Partner Marko Ketler and Senior Associate Ziva Nucic.

Dentons has advised Kommunalkredit Austria AG on its provision of a EUR 23 senior term loan to Green Genius in Lithuania. Binder Groesswang and Glimstedt reportedly advised Kommunalkredit in Austria and Lithuania, respectively.

Kommunalkredit is an Austrian bank that specializes in infrastructure and energy financing, with a focus on sustainable infrastructure projects.

Green Genius, a subsidiary of Modus Group, is a renewable energy company developing solar energy and biogas projects across Europe. According to Dentons, Green Genius’s biogas portfolio in Lithuania reduces carbon dioxide emissions by 120 thousand tons every year and boasts one of the first biodegradable waste recycling lines in the Baltic States, installed at the power plant near Vievis.

According to Dentons, the loan will be used to refinance the existing indebtedness of 11 biogas power plants with a total capacity of 10.8 megawatts. In addition, the firm reported that the financing was granted by Kommunalkredit together with its Fidelio debt fund.

The Dentons team included Partner Piotr Nerwinski and Associate Jakub Walawski.

The Kapolyi law firm has helped Connecticut-based international brokerage company Interactive Brokers establish its Central European headquarters in Budapest.

Interactive Brokers Group provides automated trade execution and custody of securities, commodities, and foreign exchange services to individual investors, hedge funds, proprietary trading groups, financial advisors, and introducing brokers.

According to Kapolyi, the Hungarian National Bank authorized the company’s activity on December 12, 2020. The company now operates ten subsidiaries across the US, Australia, Asia, and Europe.

The Kapolyi team included Managing Partner Jozsef Kapolyi and Partner Viktor Krezinger.

Sorainen has advised Fenner Dunlop, a part of the Michelin Group, on its acquisition of Technobalt Estonia.

Financial details of the transaction, which remains subject to approval from the Estonian Competition Authority, were not disclosed.

Technobalt designs, operates, and maintains conveyor systems in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.

Sorainen’s team included, in Estonia, Partner Piret Jesse, Counsels Lauri Liivat and Pirkko-Liis Harkmaa, Senior Associates Piibe Lehtsaar and Robin Teever, Associates Liisa Maria Kuuskmaa and Nele Suurmets; in Latvia, Partner Eva Berlaus, Counsel Andis Burkevics, and Senior Associates Natalija Sestakova and Marika Grunte; and in Lithuania, Senior Associates Monika Malisauskaite-Vaupsiene, Aurelija Daubaraite and Jonas Kiauleikis, Associates Lukas Vaisvila, Dobile Minkute, Jurgita Tekoriene, and Sidas Sokolova.

The firm did not reply to an inquiry about the deal.

Cobalt has helped Swedbank on its internal restructuring in the Baltics, as a result of which the bank’s existing subsidiaries in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania will continue under the ownership of the bank’s new subsidiary, Swedbank AB.

Swedbank is a Nordic-Baltic banking group headquartered in Stockholm. According to Cobalt, the holding company will create a sub consolidated group within a single supervisory mechanism.

“The changes aim to ensure a simple and transparent governance structure with clear decision making that supports the bank’s long-term strategy in all four of Swedbank’s home markets – Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Sweden,” said Jens Henriksson, President and CEO of Swedbank.

Cobalt’s team consisted of, in Estonia, Partners Kristel Raidla-Talur, Egon Talur, and Karina Paatsi, Managing Associate Monika Koolmeister, Senior Associates Karli Kutt, Heleri Tammiste, and Heili Haabu, Associate Peep Vahi, and Assistant Lawyer Julija Kostomarova; in Latvia, Partners Gatis Flinters, Sandija Novicka, and Toms Sulmanis, Specialist Counsel Andrejs Lielkalns, Senior Associate Ivo Cimdins, and Associate Krisjanis Buss; and in Lithuania, Partners Eva Suduiko, Akvile Bosaite, and Rokas Daugela, Senior Associate Jovita Valatkaite, and Associate Milda Vaznelyte.

Dentons has advised automotive supplier Brandl Industries on the sale of its operating subsidiaries in the Czech Republic and Romania and its German management service company to International Alexander Holding. Financial details were not disclosed.

Brandl Industries is an industrial manufacturer engaged in metal forming and the production of complex assemblies and tools.

Dentons’ team included Prague-based Partner Tomas Bilek, Senior Associate Adam Prerovsky, Associates Vojtech Novak, Michael Mracek, Bohuslav Hrdy, Jan Sedlak, Justina Bodlakova, and Petr Muller, and Honorary Member Petr Kotab, Bucharest-based Partners Perry Zizzi and Cristina Daianu, Counsel Oana Ionascu, Senior Associates Lawrence Florescu, Argentina Rafail, and Andreea Lepadatu, and Associate Andrei Vartires. The firm’s Berlin and Frankfurt worked on the deal as well.

Lawyers from Norton Rose Fulbright’s Moscow and Warsaw offices participated in the firm’s multi-jurisdictional team advising Sandvik AB on its EUR 943 million acquisition of DSI Underground, a multinational underground mining solutions company, from Triton Partners.

DSI Underground provides ground support and reinforcement technology for underground mines and tunnels and is active in over 70 countries. The transaction is expected to close by mid-2021 and is subject to relevant regulatory approvals.

Warsaw-based Partner Piotr Strawa ad Moscow-based Partner Julian Traill were on the firm’s team, which was led by London-based Partner Chris Grieves and included New York-based Partner Mara Rogers, Mexico City-based Partner Hernan Gonzalez, Toronto-based Partner Troy Ungerman, Shanghai-based Partner Justin Wilson, Munich-based Partner Frank Henkel, Luxembourg-based Partner Torsten Sauer, Brisbane-based Partner Keira Brennan in Brisbane, and Sydney-based Partners Nick McHugh and Shamim Razavi, as well as Johannesburg-based Consultant Georg Kahle and Director Amber Kardamilakis, and London-based Senior Associate Sam Morrey and Associates Victoria Morris and Florence Childs. Ian Giles, the firm’s London-based Head of Antitrust and Competition, Europe, Middle East and Asia, led on competition matters.

TGS Baltic has advised Latvian cars and light motor vehicles sales company SIA BRC’s Estonian subsidiaries Balti Realiseerimiskeskus OU and BR Merger OU on their internal merger into SIA BRC.

According to TGS Baltic, “SIA BRC, owned by OU United Partners Investments, is the largest used cars seller in the Baltic countries, with a turnover of EUR 9.7 million in 2019.

TGS Baltic’s team was led by Partner Sandis Petrovics.

Act Ban & Karika has helped Germany’s Bader Group reorganize within the framework of the cross-border insolvency proceeding of its Hungarian subsidiary.

According to Act Ban & Karika, “the multi-million euro transaction was the first cross-border insolvency proceeding in Hungary, in which a Hungarian company initiated its main reorganizational insolvency proceeding in another member state, but it was also a curiosity in Germany. The reorganization affected the Romanian subsidiary as well, thus the transaction required multinational cooperation of companies and professionals.”

Act Ban & Karika’s team included Managing Partner Marton Karika and Attorney Tibor Nyitrai.

Sorainen and Kirkland & Ellis have advised Vista Equity Partners an unspecified investment in Estonia’s Pipedrive, a cloud-based provider of customer relationship management services. Latham & Watkins reportedly advised Pipedrive on the deal.

Sorainen reported that “as a result of this deal, the Estonian-born startup is now valued at USD 1.5 billion and reaches unicorn status, being the fifth company in Estonia to do so.” In addition, the firm reported that “the deal at hand was Estonia’s second-biggest exit yet after Skype, which was acquired by eBay in 2005 for USD 2.6 billion.”

According to Sorainen, “Pipedrive’s existing investors Bessemer Venture Partners, Insight Partners, Atomico, DTCP, and Rembrandt Venture Partners will continue as minority investors in the company and will partner with Vista and the Pipedrive team to accelerate the company’s growth trajectory.” The firm also reported that Vista’s investment will help Pipedrive expand abroad, increase its customer base, and optimize its product portfolio.

Sorainen’s team consisted of, in Estonia, Partner Piret Jesse, Counsel Pirkko-Liis Harkmaa, Senior Associates Kaido Kunnapas, Tanel Molok, Robin Teever, Piibe Lehtsaar, and Maria Pihlak; and in Latvia, Managing Partner Eva Berlaus, Partner Janis Taukacs, Counsel Andis Burkevics, Senior Associate Aija Lasmane, and Legal Assistants Erika Buzinska and Kate Berlaua.