Category: Deals and Cases

Cobalt has advised Flugger on its acquisition of 70% of the shares in the Eskaro Group. Baker McKenzie reportedly also advised the buyer on the deal.

Financial details of the transaction, which remains subject to approval by the relevant competition authorities, were not disclosed. The deal is expected to close in early 2021.

Flugger, which is headquartered in Denmark and reports an annual turnover of approximately DKK 1.9 million, develops and produces building and home decorating materials and markets paints, wood stains and wood preservatives, wallpaper, and painting equipment.

The Eskaro Group is an international producer of paintwork materials. The company operates in Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, Estonia, Latvia, and Finland, and generates annual revenues of approximately DKK 420 million.

Cobalt’s team consisted of, in Estonia, Partner Martin Simovart and Specialist Counsel Jesse Kivisaari; in Latvia, Partner Guntars Zile and Senior Associate Elina Locmele; and in Belarus, Managing Partner Darya Zhuk and Managing Associate Anastasia Bykowskaya. 

Cobalt could not disclose any further information about the deal. 

Editor’s note: After this article was published, Baker McKenzie confirmed that it advised Flugger on the deal. The firm’s team included Warsaw-based Partner Weronika Achramowicz and Associates Ewa Marcisz and Pawel Jaros, Stockholm-based Partner Anna Orlander and Associate Erik Holmgren, Kyiv-based Partners Olha Demianiuk and Oksana Simonova, and Moscow-based Partners Nadia Goreslavskaya and Andrei Afanasiev and Senior Associate Olga Komleva.

MPR Partners has helped J. Christof E&P Services S.R.L. and Christof Private Firefighting Services S.R.L. provide notification to Romanian and Serbian competition authorities of the economic concentration arising from OMV Petrom’s externalization of several operations and general surface services ancillary to extraction and production of petroleum as well as natural gas, together with the relevant assets and dedicated staff. D&B David and Baias and Karanovic & Partners provided advice to J. Christof E&P and Christof Private Firefighting Services.

According to MPR Partners, “the outsourcing concerns surface and transport services, operation and minor maintenance, firefighting and ambulance services, field operation services, and treatment facilities operation services for five lots throughout Romania. The consortium composed of J. Christof E&P Services S.R.L. and Christof Private Firefighting Services S.R.L. has been awarded two of the auctioned lots.”

“The merger control notifications were successful,” MPR Partners reports, and “the competition authorities from both Romania and Serbia concluded that this operation does not raise significant competition obstacles in neither of the jurisdictions.”

MPR Partners’ team included Partner Alina Popescu. Senior Associate Magda Grigore, and Associates Oana Savulescu and Andreea Badiceanu.

Karanovic & Partners’ team included Partner Bojan Vuckovic, Senior Associate Veljko Smiljanic, and Associate Stefan Savic.

D&B David and Baias’s team included Managing Partner Sorin David, Managing Associate Lucian Bozian, and Junior Associate Andreea Toncu.

Havel & Partners has advised Austria’s Innofreight Consulting & Logistics on the formation of a joint venture with Slovakia’s Budamar Logistics. Hamala Kluch Viglasky advised Budamar Logistics on the deal.

According to Havel & Partners, “Innofreight operates in 14 countries in the field developing innovative wagons, containers, and unloading systems. The new joint venture, [called] Budamar Innovations, engages in the transport of iron ore from Ukraine and Russia to the Czech Republic. Both companies have retained an equal 50% shareholding in the new joint venture.”

Havel & Partners’ team included Partner Pavel Nemecek and Associate Juraj Petro.

Hamala Kluch Viglasky’s team included Partner Lukas Michalik and Associate Jozef Boledovic.

Clifford Chance and Switzerland’s Lenz & Staehelin have advised the KKCG AG investment company and pan-European lottery operator the Sazka Group on the EUR 500 million investment into the Sazka by funds managed by affiliates of Apollo Global Management. Baker McKenzie advised Apollo.

According to Clifford Chance, “Apollo’s investment will be used by the newly established Sazka Entertainment AG, a previously wholly-owned subsidiary of KKCG, which upon closing of the investment, will become part of the Sazka Group. Most of the Apollo Funds’ EUR 500 million investment will be used to capitalize on acquisition and growth opportunities in Europe and North America, with a focus on lotteries. The transaction values Sazka Entertainment at EUR 4.2 billion (approximately CZK 111 billion).”

Clifford Chance’s team included, in London, Partner Nigel Wellings and Associate Zahrah Mohammad, and in Prague, Partner David Kolacek, Counsel Michal Jasek, and Associate Mayowa Kalesanwo

Baker McKenzie’s team included London-based Partner David Allen, Zurich-based Partner Matthias Courvoisier, Vienna-based Partners Gerhard Hermann and Philipp Maier, Counsel Kathrin Hornbanger, and Associate Andrea Polzer, and Prague-based Partner Tomas Skoumal and Associate Dusan Hlavaty.

Arendt & Medernach has helped INVL Asset Management launch the INVL Sustainable Timberland and Farmland Fund II.

The target size for the fund is EUR 100 million after a first close of EUR 32 million from institutional and private investors, with a hard cap positioned at EUR 200 million. The fund is specifically intended to target both institutional and private investors from European countries generally.

These funds will look to target investments into both sustainably managed forests and agricultural farmland in the Baltic Sea region, as well as the neighboring countries of Central and Eastern Europe more broadly.

“We see this fund as an exciting continuation of INVL’s Baltic Forests Fund I which was launched in 2017,” said Head of Private Equity at INVL Vytautas Plunksnis. “However, this time around there will be a much more extensive approach and a broader geographical footing. Further to the experience we have gained and subsequent investor confidence, we have been encouraged to establish longer-term portfolios of top-quality forests and agricultural land assets. We intend to manage and develop them in accordance with the strictest standards of sustainable forestry and agriculture. The fund’s maximum size will be limited however with a hard cap in the region of  EUR 200 million, though its investor composition may change over time as some of its participants take advantage of their right to leave the fund within a certain period of time and others replace.”

“We intend to build on our existing pipeline across the Baltic countries more generally,” commented Martynas Samulionis, Partner at the INVL Sustainable Timberland and Farmland Fund II. “We will initially look to invest in Baltic coniferous forests and agricultural land that presents a high level of productivity and significant potential to consolidate. We then plan to expand the portfolio into Eastern European countries where investment returns are attractive, and the regulatory framework environment is stable. As a standard protocol, we will heavily emphasize the sustainable management of both forests and arable land, ensuring nature conservation as a core focus, as well as the social responsibility of investing in these asset classes. The fund will of course function according to sustainable forestry standards, and we will implement sustainable farming principles on the agricultural land as a matter of course.”

Arendt & Medernach did not reply to our inquiry on the matter.

DLA Piper and Kirm Perpar have successfully represented the Slovenian municipality of Kranjska Gora in an arbitration proceeding adjudicated at the Vienna International Arbitration Center against WTE Wassertechnik GmbH, a German supplier for municipal and industrial water management.

According to DLA Piper, the dispute was initiated by WTE against Kranjska Gora in 2017 subsequent to the expiry of the concession for the municipal sewage system. After three years of arbitration proceedings, the VIAC seated tribunal decided in favor of Kranjska Gora and dismissed the claims brought by WTE against the municipality in their entirety.

DLA Piper’s team included Partners Jasna Zwitter-Tehovnik and Andreas Daxberger and Associates Manca Kisovec and Andreas Winkler.

Kirm Perpar’s team included Partners Matej Perpar and Jan Gorjup and Senior Associate Ajda Okrslar.

Kinstellar has advised GTT Communications on the USD 2.15 billion sale of its business infrastructure in Central, Southern, and Eastern Europe to I Squared Capital. Linklaters advised the buyer on the deal.

The acquisition, which is subject to regulatory approvals in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Ukraine, and Serbia, is expected to close during the first half of 2021.

GTT Communications is a multinational telecommunications and Internet service provider company with headquarters in Tysons, Virginia.

I Squared Capital is an independent global infrastructure investment manager focusing on energy, utilities, telecom and transport in the Americas, Europe and Asia. The firm has offices in Hong Kong, London, Miami, New Delhi, New York and Singapore.

Kinstellar’s multi-office team consisted of, in Bulgaria, Partner Diana Dimova, Managing Associate Nina Tsifudina, Senior Associate Zornitsa Georgieva, and Junior Associate Petar Popov; in the Czech Republic, Partner Jan Juroska and Junior Associate Matej Vececa; in Hungary,  Partner Anthony O’Connor and Senior Associate Agnes Zsofia Szabo; in Romania, Partner Zsuzsa Csiki and Senior Associate Mihai Coada; in Slovakia, Partner Adam Hodon and Junior Associate Livia Miklencicova; in Ukraine, Partner Iryna Nikolayevska and Senior Associate Viktoriia Dobrynska; and in Serbia, Partner Branislav Maric and Senior Associate Andreja Vrazalic.

Linklaters’ team in London included Partners Will Aitken-Davies, Nemone Franks, Chris Smale, and Marly Didzian, Counsel Jamie Coomber, Senior Associate Daniel Law, Managing Associates Peter McCabe and Marcus Bagnall, Associates Rohan Dey, Danny Greenland, Jennifer Au, Sahana Keshav, and Kaiya Kim-Saville. The firm’s team in Brussels was led by Managing Associate Neil Hoolihan.

Allen & Overy has advised Lamda Hellix on its sale to Digital Realty subsidiary Interxion. Linklaters advised the buyer on the deal. 

Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed. 

Digital Realty is a provider of data center, colocation, and interconnection services. According to Allen & Overy, ‘through its PlatformDIGITAL, the company provides customers methodology for scaling digital business and efficiently managing data gravity challenges. According to the firm, “the acquisition further enhances Digital Realty’s global footprint, which spans more than 700 connectivity providers in over 280 data centers across 22 countries.”

Lamda Hellix is an Athens-headquartered carrier-neutral colocation provider. The company offers cloud and colocation services while also serving as a hub connecting telecoms, customers, and partners. 

According to Allen & Overy, “Lamda Hellix’s management team will remain with the company, including its founder and current CEO and Chairman Apostolos Kakkos, who will continue to oversee operations in the region.” 

The Allen & Overy team was led by London-based Partner Will Samengo-Turner, who was assisted by Senior Associate Eimear Coady.

Linklaters’ Warsaw-based team consisted of Partner Daniel Cousens, Managing Associate Christopher Quinn, and Senior Associate Klaudia Owsianka, among others.

Editor’s note: After this article was published, Zepos & Yannopoulos announced that it had advised Lamda Helix as well. The firm’s team included Partner Athina Skolarikou and Senior Associate Antonis Giannakodimos.

DLA Piper has advised the PORR construction company on the sale of all its shares in Stal-Service to the Celsa Huta Ostrowiec steel plant in Poland. Linklaters reportedly advised Celsa Huta Ostrowiec.

PORR is an international construction group that was established over 150 years ago. PORR’s core business areas are infrastructure, cubature, and railroad construction, as well as construction engineering, power construction, and hydro-technical construction.

Stal-Service is a producer of reinforcing with customers in Poland, Sweden, the Czech Republic, and Norway.

DLA Piper’s team in Warsaw included Co-Managing Partner Krzysztof Kycia, Partners Jakub Domalik-Plakwicz and Agnieszka Lechman-Filipiak, Counsel Mateusz Zalenski, Senior Associates Anna Chrabota-Bajson Miroslaw Calka, and Szymon Sakowski, Associate Michal Kuratowski, and Junior Associate Bartosz Kuziola.

Editor’s note: After this article was published, Linklaters confirmed that it had advised Celsa Huta Ostrowiec on the deal. The firm’s team included Partners Marcin Schulz, Janusz Dzianachowski, and Malgorzata Szwaj, Managing Associates Jakub Dabrowski and Monika Krzyszkowska-Dabrowska, Senior Associates Magdalena Szewczyk, Krzysztof Gorny, Jakub Wozniak, and Szymon Sieniewicz, Associates Zuzanna Lipska, Anna Laszczyk, Barbara Wanat, Joanna Koterbska, and Lukasz Burakowski, Junior Associates Ada Zahorodna, Ryszard Jamka, and Lawyer Katarzyna Grodzka.

Working pro bono, White & Case has successfully represented a Crimean applicant in his request for asylum in the United States.

According to White & Case, in 2012 the unnamed asylum-seeker — who the firm identifies only as “M.I.” — was a medical student in Crimea when he was attacked and beaten unconscious by members of what the firm calls a “sophisticated anti-gay group,” at least one of whom was wearing a police uniform, then received poor medical treatment for his “severe injuries” once doctors discovered he was HIV positive.

Several months after the initial attack, the firm reported, M.I. “was approached by men in police uniforms who demanded that he pay them money or they would hurt him again, and would tell his university that he was gay. M.I. paid large sums of money to his persecutors over several years. But the threats never stopped.”

In 2014, having completed his medical coursework, M.I. fled Crimea, seeking refuge in the United States. 

According to White & Case, “through a referral from its longtime pro bono Partner Whitman-Walker Health … David Courchaine and John Dalebroux, associates in White & Case’s Washington, DC office, volunteered to represent M.I. pro bono before the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) Asylum Office in Arlington, Virginia.” In addition, the firm reports, “to help build M.I.’s case for asylum and prepare him for USCIS interviews, Courchaine and Dalebroux assembled an asylum team, which included Associates Sadie Pulliam, Claire Leonard, and Alexander Andresian from the Washington, DC office and Associate Vivake Prasad from White & Case’s New York office.”

Finally, after many years, the firm reports, “in July 2020, two years after M.I.’s second interview, USCIS granted his request for asylum in the United States.”

“I am proud of the asylum team’s tenacity and determination in this long and challenging representation,” said Courchaine, who has previously helped to win asylum for four separate LGBT+ pro bono clients. 

According to White & Case, “now 35 and secure, M.I. plans to finish earning his M.D and to practice medicine in his new home country, free from fear of being forced to return to the threats and violence that had nearly ended his life.”