Category: Deals and Cases

Primus Derling has advised GrECo International Holding AG on the acquisition of an 80% stake in Uzdaroji Akcine Draudimo Brokeriu Bendrove Sagaut, an insurance and reinsurance brokerage company operating in Lithuania. SPC Legal reportedly advised Sagaut on the deal.

GrECo International Holding is a family-owned international company operating in the insurance markets of Middle, East, and South East Europe and providing insurance agency and brokerage services for a range of insurance types, a member of Austrian-based GrECo group. 

The Primus Derling team included Partner Giedre Dailidenaite, and Senior Associates Greta Bagdanaviciute and Sarune Prankonyte-Segen.  

Dentons has advised Raiffeisen Bank International AG and Raiffeisen Bank SA on a EUR 34 million facility agreement granted to VGP Park Timisoara SRL to refinance an industrial project, including four prime logistic buildings in Timis, Romania. Nestor Nestor Diculescu Kingston Petersen reportedly advised VGP Park on the deal.

Dentons lawyers from Romania, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Luxembourg, and Belgium advised on Romanian and English law matters.

The Dentons team was led by Romania Managing Partner Perry Zizzi, supported by Senior Associate Oana Ionascu, Associates Cosmin Vasilescu and Isabela Gheorghe, and Junior Associate Adelina Seserman all in Bucharest. The team also included Bratislava-based Partner Marcell Clark, Brussels-based Partner Nora Wouters and Associate Mathieu Raedts, and Luxembourg-based Partner Stephane Hadet and Associate Christophe Renaudin.

Editor’s Note: After this articles was published NNDKP confirmed their involvement in the deal and notified CEE Legal Matters that its team advised a joint venture between Allianz Real Estate, the dedicated real estate investment manager within the Allianz Group, and VGP, on the agreement. The NNDKP team included Partners Alina Radu and Valentin Voinescu and Senior Associate Monia Hantig. 

Pohla & Hallmagi, Merkants, and Proventus Law have advised the shareholders of Nortire OU on the sale of 100% shares of the company to Global Rubber Industries Ltd. TGS Baltic reportedly advised GRI on the acquisition.

Nortire is a distributor of industrial, construction, and agro tires and wheels, rubber and steel tracks, polyurethane wheels and castors, axles and stub axles for agro and forest trailers. In addition to its headquarters in Estonia, Nortire has two distribution facilities in Lithuania and one in Latvia. The transaction included the sale of the subsidiaries in Latvia and Lithuania.

Pohla & Hallmagi advised the company on Estonian law matters related to the sale, Merkants advised it on Latvian law, and Proventus Law advised it on Lithuanian law.

The Pohla & Hallmagi team was led by Partner Juri Ploom, assisted by Associates Risto Sidok, Teele Viilup and Madli Astok.

Editor’s Note: After this article was published TGS Baltic confirmed its involvement in the deal and informed CEE Legal Matters that its team was led by Tallinn-based Partner Sander Karson, supported by Junior Counsel Mirko Kikkamagi and Associates Kart Raud and Indrek Kangur. The team in Latvia consisted of Partner Nauris Grigals and Associates Reinis Grunte and Kaspars Treilibs and the team in Lithuania included Partner Dalia Tamasauskaite-Ziliene and Associate Indre Vickaite-Liatuke. 

Karanovic & Partners acted as Serbian legal counsel for Vale Canada Limited on its acquisition of the option to earn-in in four of Mundoro Capital Inc’s exploration licenses in the Timok mining complex.

The earn-in relates to the Sumrakovac, Osnic, Dubrava and Padina properties.

Under the agreement, Mundoro has granted the option to earn up to a 75% interest in the projects over two phases to Vale by funding expenditures of up to USD 45 million.

The Karanovic & Partners team included Senior Partner Dragan Karanovic, Partner Petar Mitrovic, and Junior Associate Katarina Tomic. 

CMS has advised Constantia Flexibles on its acquisition of Russian TT-print. FCG-Partners reportedly advised the sellers on the deal.

Founded in 2004, Constantia Flexibles is a global manufacturer of flexible packaging. The company is headquartered in Vienna and operates in approximately 32 production sites in 18 countries, predominantly in Europe, North America, and Asia.

According to CMS, with this acquisition, the Austrian Constantia Flexibles Group will serve the growing Russian packaging market. More than 100 employees work in the plant in the Russian city of Voskresensk, which will now operate under the name Constantia TT, and which supplies customers in Russia, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan. It mainly produces products for the pharmaceutical, food, and dairy industries.

The CMS team was led by Vienna Partner Johannes Trenkwalder, supported by Vienna Associates Marie-Christine Lidl and Marco Selenic and Moscow Partners Thomas Heidemann and Maxim Boulba and Associate Nikolai Molostov in Moscow.

ODI Law in Slovenia and the LTA Legal Tax Audit firm in the Czech Republic have advised the Czech Ministry of Finance and IMOB and PRISKO, the Ministry’s two state-owned subsidiaries, on the cross-border sale of a majority stake in VIPAP VIDEM KRSKO, the largest paper mill in Slovenia, as well as on the sale of claims against it, all to Czech-based RIDG Holding. RIDG was advised by Schoenherr.

The transaction, which was governed by Slovenian and (partly) Czech law, and was subject to various conditions precedent (including merger clearance in various jurisdictions), was preceded by a lengthy and complex ODI-led restructuring process of VIPAP that involved the sale of claims against the company by other financial creditors, including the two largest Slovenian banks (NLB and NKBM) and TCK, to RIDG. (As reported by CEE Legal Matters on December 16, 2016).

The ODI team on the sale to RIDG Holding was led by Partner Suzana Boncina Jamsek. 

The LTA team was led by Counsel Zdenek Rosicky. 

The Schoenherr team was led by Prague-based Partner Vladimir Cizek and Ljubljana-based Attorney at Law Jurij Lampic.

Motieka & Audzevicius has advised Petstart UAB on its exit from a joint venture with a Romanian PET packaging waste company. The buyer was advised by Karanovic & Partners.

The joint venture enabled the parties to create a stream of trade of PET packaging waste collected in Lithuania in 2017. The transaction is subject to competition clearance in Serbia and North Macedonia. 

The Motieka & Audzevicius team consisted of Partner Giedrius Kolesnikovas, Associate Rokas Jankus, and Junior Associate Laurynas Ramonas. 

Sorainen has advised Autolux on the takeover of operations and exclusive administration of the Hertz franchise in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.

The Sorainen team was led by Estonia Partner Piret Jesse and Lithuania Partner Zygimantas Pacevicius. Its Estonia-based team included Senior Associates Olivia Kranich and Piret Lappert and Associate Robin Teever, and its Lithuania team included Senior Associates Evaldas Dudonis and Jurgita Karvele and Associate Monika Tukaciauskaite. Sorainen Latvia-based Associate Toms Vilnis also provided assistance.

Cobalt has advised Silberauto on the sale of its enterprises in Estonia and Lithuania to Scandinavian vehicle dealer Veho. Ellex advised Veho on the deal.

Silberauto, launched in 1990 in Estonia, represents brands within the Daimler group, Jeep, Mitsubishi, and Maserati. Since 2002, the company has also been operating in the Lithuanian market.

Veho was established in Finland in 1939, and it also operates in Sweden and the Baltic countries.

The Cobalt team in Estonia consisted of Partners Peeter Kutman and Aivar Taro, Specialist Counsel Jesse Kivisaari, Senior Associates Heleri Tammiste, Tonu Kolts and Mart Blondal, and Associate Helen Sool. Cobalt Partner Juozas Rimas and Assistant Lawyer Milda Vaznelyte supported the team from Lithuania.

The Ellex Raidla team in Estonia consisted of Partner Risto Vahimets and Senior Associate Karl-Erich Trisberg. Ellex Valiunas Partner Paulius Gruodis, Senior Associate Mantas Juska, and Associate Arvydas Gruseckas worked on the deal from Lithuania.

Editor’s Note: After this article was published, CEE Legal Matters reported that Finland’s Castren & Snellman and Sorainen advised the OP Corporate Bank on its provision of financing to the Veho Group for Veho’s acquisition of Silberauto from entrepreneur Vaino Kaldoja. Finland’s Dittmar Law Firm and Ellex’s three offices in the Baltic advised Veho on the financing, as they had on the acquisition itself.

Image Source: caverion.com

JPM is assisting Serbia’s Institute for Molecular Genetics and Genetics Engineering with its implementation of the Balkan Genome Project.

JPM describes IMGGE as “one of the leading Serbian institutions in the field of genetics research,” and explains that “the Project is aimed at sequencing of the whole genome (DNA) of at least 1000 individuals whose ancestors are from different regions of the Balkan Peninsula.” According to the firm, “the data obtained by DNA sequencing will be combined and deposited in publicly available data basis and will be used by researches in other scientific and health institutions and companies.”

According to JPM, “the goal of the Project is the creation of detailed and complete catalogue of genetics variants for the Balkan Peninsula. As the changes in DNA sequence may lead to diseases, data obtained by sequencing may contribute to determination of a connection between genetics variants and diseases, such as malign diseases, schizophrenia and heart diseases. The results of the  Project will be of significant importance for researches worldwide in many other fields of research such as pharmacogenomics (these will enable further developments, i.e. how and why different persons react on different medicines, which further may help health practitioners in the future to determine dosage of some medicines without necessity for comprehensive testing) medical genetics, population genetics, history of human populations, evolutions, anthropology and forensics.”

The JPM team is led by Partner Ivan Milosevic, working with Senior Associate Andrea Cvetanovic.