Category: Deals and Cases

Kinstellar has advised Neuraxpharm Group on the acquisition of Farmax from SVUS Pharma in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary. BBH reportedly advised SVUS Pharma on the sale.

The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Farmax, located in Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic, is a central nervous system (CNS)specialty pharmaceutical company and a distributor of both branded and non-branded generics pharmaceuticals for CNS disorder in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary. Farmax will be renamed Neuraxpharm Bohemia and will commercialize its products under the Neuraxpharm brand. 

Neuraxpharm Group is a European specialty pharmaceutical company focused on the treatment of CNS disorders, and it is a part of the APAX portfolio group of companies.

Kinstellar’s team was led by Partner Lukas Sevcik and included Senior Associates Tereza Naucova and Adam Nemec, Associate Martin Holub, and Junior Associates Michal Matous, Tereza Maskova, and Vaclav Kment.

Editor’s Note: After this article was published BBH confirmed its involvement in the deal. The team was led by Partner Tomas Sedlacek, assisted by Senior Associate Alice Nytrova and Associate Ondrej Stanek.

TGS Baltic has advised Sweden’s LMT Group AB on the acquisition of PLM Group companies in Latvia, Estonia, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Iceland. The LMT Group was also advised by Sweden’s Wesslau Soderqvist Advokatbyra and Finland’s Hasto & Co.

The LMT Group is a technology trading group consisting of Ravema, with operations in Sweden, Norway, and Finland, and Din Maskin, with operations in Sweden and Norway. In partnership with the PLM Group, the LMT Group will create a platform as a basis for the company’s future competitiveness. 

The PLM Group is the Dassault Systemes SolidWorks’ partner in Northern Europe serving customers in a range of industries in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Estonia, and Latvia. The company was established in 2009 and provides product design and software solutions services. 

PLM Group also resells 3D printing machines from 3D Systems, HP, and MarkForged.  

The PLM Group’s companies include PLM Group Latvija SIA in Latvia; PLM Group Eesti OU in Estonia; PLM Group Sverige AB in Sweden; PLM Group ApS, PLM Group A/S, PLM Group 3DX ApS, and PLM Group 3D Printing ApS in Denmark; PLM Group Suomi Oy in Finland; PLM Group Norge AS in Norway; and Pronor ehf in Island.

The signing of the acquisition was announced on November 30, 2018. The acquisition-driven changes were registered in January and February 2019.

The transaction relates to Latvia, Estonia, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Iceland.

TGS Baltic’s team was led by Partners Andra Rubene and Kadri Kallas, supported by Associates Reinis Grunte and Kart Raud.

Cobalt has advised London-based Vink Group, Europe’s largest semi-finished plastics distributor, on its acquisition of three Baltic companies, OU Proplastik, SIA Proplastik, and UAB Proplastik. TGS Baltic advised the Proplastik shareholders on the transaction. Financial details were not disclosed.

Proplastik, which was founded in 1996, is a plastic distributor with offices in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. The group’s annual revenue is approximately EUR 20 million and it employs over 40 people in the Baltics. According to Taavi Reigam, CEO of Proplastik OU in Estonia, the transaction is an important milestone for the group: “Proplastik is now part of the leading international player in the sector. It allows to further improve our product offering and service level to our customers across the Baltics. It is good news for all our clients and employees.”

Vink Group operates as a federation of over 100 independent businesses in 16 European countries and China, with approximately EUR 100 million of inventory in its network of warehouses and factories. 

Cobalt’s pan-Baltic assistance was led by a team from its Estonian office consisting of Specialist Counsel Ott Aava, Partner Peeter Kutman, Associate Liina Saaremets, and Assistant Lawyer Kerli Paasoja. Partner Guntars Zile, Senior Associate Elina Locmele, and Associates Diana Zepa and Juta Gulkevica from Cobalt’s Latvian office and Senior Associates Inga Mazvilaite and Jovita Valatkaitc from the firm’s Lithuanian office assisted on local matters.

Editor’s Note: After this article was published TGS Baltic announced that it had advised the owners of Proplastik in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania on the deal. The firm’s team was led by Estonian Partner Sander Karson, supported by Associate Sille Rastas. Riga-based Partner Andra Rubene and Associate Reinis Grunte assisted on Latvian matters and Vilnius-based Partner Dalia Tamasauskaite-Ziliene and Associate Indre Vickaite-Liatuke assisted with respect to Lithuanian matters.

Tuca Zbarcea & Asociatii has advised Interbrands on the sale of 60% of the company to Orbico, one of the largest distributors of consumer goods in Central and Eastern Europe. Deloitte Legal advised Orbico on the deal, which remains contingent on the approval of the Romanian competition council.

The transaction is part of a wider international deal, in which Orbico will take control of Interbrands’ business in several countries. Interbrands is currently controlled by Holson Holdings, registered in Cyprus.

The cost of the takeover was not disclosed, but it will reportedly add around EUR 200 million of revenue to Orbico’s annual turnover, currently reported to be about EUR 2.3 billion per year.

Orbico is the exclusive distributor in Romania for a number of mainly luxury brands, including Lacoste, Gucci, Dolce & Gabanna, Hugo Boss, Puma, Burberry, Disney, and Barbie.

The Tuca Zbarcea & Asociatii team was led by Partner Cornel Popa, working with Associate Anda-Laura Tanase.

Deloitte Legal Polish team included Partners Pawel Moskwa and Karol Kicun and Associate Diana Sofu, all working in cooperation with Reff & Associates in Romania.

Sorainen has assisted the Bridgestone producer of tires and other rubber products on the implementation of the GDPR in its group company in Latvia and its branch in Lithuania.

Sorainen reports doing “a full GDPR audit, review[ing] the client’s existing data processing activities, and provid[ing] the client with a thorough list of recommendations for achieving GDPR compliance.” Sorainen notes its work was done while “also taking into account the client’s activities in Estonia.”

The Sorainen team was led by Partner Ieva Andersone and Associate Agita Sprude.

Glimstedt has advised APL Restaurants, a member of Estonia’s Apollo Group, on its acquisition of Ozo Boulingas from the Akropolis Group.

Ozo Boulingas operates bowling clubs in Akropolis shopping malls in the Lithuanian cities of Vilnius, Siauliai, and Klaipeda.

Estonia’s Apollo Group is active in restaurants, entertainment, and cinemas, among others.

The transaction is subject to merger clearance.

Glimstedt’s team consisted of Partner Andrius Ivanauskas, Senior Associate Jurgita Zakarauskiene, Expert Giedre Rimkunaite-Manke, and Associate Domantas Gudonis.

Aleinikov & Partners, working jointly with the Moscow office of DLA Piper, has advised Alfa-Bank CJSC on its acquisition of Home Credit Group’s Belarusian subsidiary.

The DLA Piper team was led by Corporate Partner Leo Batalov and included Senior Associate Andrei Sheetkin and Associate Tatiana Askarova.

Deloitte Legal has advised Currency Com Bel LLC on launching Currency.com, the world’s first regulated tokenized securities exchange.

Deloitte Legal describes Currency.com as “the world’s first fully-functional trading platform for tokenized securities. It allows investors to trade, invest in, and benefit from real-world financial instruments by means of direct using of cryptocurrencies. More than 10,000 tokenized securities will be issued (starting with over 150). Each token will correspond to the base market value of shares, commodities, indices, and other traditional financial instruments. For example, those buying Apple.CX tokens will have the same economic costs and benefits of an Apple share.”

According to Deloitte Legal, “the platform was authorized and regulated by the Hi-Tech Park as the first crypto-exchange in Belarus since the adoption of decree No. 8 – local cryptosphere regulations.”

The Deloitte Legal team was headed by Moscow-based Senior Lawyer Vitaliy Kashin, working with a Deloitte Legal team in Belarus headed by Senior Lawyer Maksim Kovalyonok.

A joint team from Sorainen and Hogan Lovells is advising RB Rail on drafting the underlying international treaties, infrastructure management agreements, and revisions to national laws that are needed for management of the Rail Baltica cross-border railway infrastructure.

Sorainen claims that the greenfield European-width fast double-track Rail Baltica railway project is known as “the project of the century,” and that it “is the largest Baltic-region infrastructure project in the last 100 years and spans three European Union countries – Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania ‒ and will eventually include two more – Poland and Finland, thus connecting Helsinki, Tallinn, Parnu, Riga, Panevezys, Kaunas, Vilnius, and Warsaw, and linking up with the wider European rail network.” Sorainen reports that the estimated cost of the Rail Baltica project is EUR 5.6 billion.

The Hogan Lovells/Sorainen team is led by Hogan Lovells Partner Bruno Cantier and Sorainen Counsel Vitalija Tamaviciute (in Lithuania) and Partners Kaupo Lepasepp (in Estonia), and Lelde Laviņa (in Latvia), and it includes Hogan Lovells Counsel Charles Ford and Sorainen lawyer Svetlana Rudaja (Lithuania), Counsel Raivo Raudzeps (Latvia), Senior Associates Valts Nerets (Latvia) and Kaspar Endrikson (Estonia), and Legal Assistant Julija Valpetere (Latvia).

BDK Advokati has advised Montenegro’s Industriaimport-Industriaimpex AD on its acquisition of 49% of the registered capital of Serbian pharmaceutical wholesaler Farmalogist d.o.o. from private equity firm Adriatic Fund B.V., and in connection with the Shareholders’ Agreement entered into with the owners of the remaining 51% of the shares. HRLE advised Adriatic, while Bojanovic & Partners advised the owners of 51% of the shares in Farmalogist.

The acquisition was completed on January 4, 2019 after merger clearances were obtained from the Montenegrin and Serbian competition authorities.

BDK Advokati’s team was led by Partner Vladimir Dasic.

The HRLE team was led by Managing Partner Jelena Hrle, assisted by Senior Associate Tanja Glisic.

The Bojanovic & Partners team advising Farmalogist’s majority shareholders was led by Partner Vladimir Bojanovic and Senior Associate Petar Delic.