Category: Deals and Cases

Kinstellar, working with Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, has advised on the combination of KTP Kunststoff Palettentechnik and ConTeyor International. Soltysinski Kawecki & Szlezak advised on the merger as well.

The transaction remains contingent on regulatory approvals.

Germany-based KTP Kunststoff Palettentechnik is a portfolio company of VR Equitypartner. 

Belgium-based ConTeyor International is majority-owned by Gilde Equity Management.

According to Kinstellar, “the transaction creates a leading group in the sustainable packaging sector, combining KTP’s foldable container expertise with ConTeyor’s textile inner packaging solutions. The newly formed group is expected to generate sales of approximately EUR 200 million annually and employ around 1,000 people.”

The Kinstellar team in Prague included Partner Karla Rundtova, Managing Associate Adam Nemec, and Senior Associate Tereza Holubova.

The SK&S team included Partner Slawomir Uss and Senior Associate Pawel Bochnia.

CMS has advised TurboVolt on its sale to Eleport. Ellex advised Eleport and, reportedly, Schoenherr advised Eleport on Austrian, Croatian, and Slovenian law.

TurboVolt is a Vienna-based EV charging infrastructure start-up focusing on the development and operation of fast charging networks in CEE and SEE.

Eleport is an Estonian-based EV charging provider in CEE.

According to CMS, “With the strategic acquisition of TurboVolt, Eleport accelerates its expansion in Croatia and Slovenia and takes a decisive step towards becoming the leading EV charging network in CEE.”

The CMS team included Partners Georg Gutfleisch, Marija Musec, and Sasa Sodja, Attorney at Law Ana Slovenec, and Associates Alexandros Hantasch and Rebecca Herlitz.

The Ellex team included Partner Sven Papp and Counsels Gerda Liik and Gerd Laub.

Greenberg Traurig has advised CCC Group on the up to PLN 1.8 billion term and revolving facilities provided by a consortium of banks and finance institutions. Clifford Chance and Lakatos, Koves and Partners advised the lenders.

The financing consortium included mBank, EBRD, Bank Pekao, BNP Paribas Bank Polska, PKO Bank Polski, Santander Bank Polska, and Bank Handlowy w Warszawie as well as four factoring entities including Santander Factoring, mFaktoring, PKO Faktoring, and BNP Paribas Faktoring.

According to Clifford Chance, “the funds will be used to refinance the existing bank debt and to finance operating activities, including the further development of CCC and HalfPrice. The financing is partly based on export guarantees granted by KUKE.”

The Greenberg Traurig team included Partner Andrzej Wysokinski, Counsel Mateusz Koronkiewicz, and Associates Patrycja Knerek and Wiktor Zien.

The Clifford Chance team included Warsaw-based Partner Milosz Golab, Senior Associate Mateusz Chmura, Of Counsel Grzegorz Namiotkiewicz, Counsel Anna Biala, Associates Anna Miernik, Gabriela Kobak, Joanna Korycinska, Marta Swiderska, Piotr Weclawowicz, and Krzysztof Burda, Prague-based Managing Partner Milos Felgr, Senior Associate Hana Cekalovaa, Associate Tomas Kubala, and Junior Lawyer Radek Sikora, and Bucharest-based Counsels Cosmin Anghel and Radu Ropota and Junior Lawyer Martha Busuiocescu.

The Lakatos, Koves and Partners team included Partner John Fenemore, Associate Agnes Abraham, Attorney at Law Veronika Bakonyi, and Trainee Sara Anna Nagy.

Editor’s Note: After this article was published, Kinstellar informed CEE Legal Matters that it advised CCC on the deal as well. The firm’s team included Romania-based Special Counsel Magdalena Raducanu, Managing Associate Razvan Constantinescu, Associate Alexandra Maria Sofineti, and Junior Associate Horatiu Cretu, Czech Republic-based Counsel Martina Brezinova, Junior Associate Dominik Ctvrtnicek, and Lawyer Tomas Blazek, Hungary-based Partner Levente Hegedus, Associates Dorottya Bito and Veronika Heiszer, and Junior Associate Kinga Farkas, Croatia-based Partner Mihovil Granic and Senior Associate Franciska Fadljevic, and Slovakia-based Counsel Dominika Bajzathova.

Schoenherr has advised BlackPeak Capital and Catalyst Romania Fund II on a EUR 10 million Series B funding for Leanpay.

Leanpay is a Slovenia-based pioneering Buy Now Pay Later and Point-of-Sale lending platform. According to Schoenherr, “this investment, led by BlackPeak Capital and co-led by Catalyst Romania Fund II, aims to support Leanpay’s plans to become the digital consumer lending champion in the Central and Eastern European region.”

BlackPeak Capital is a private equity firm focused on investing in growth equity in Southeast Europe. Currently, it manages two funds with total assets under management of EUR 150 million. Catalyst Romania is a venture capital investor in Romanian technology companies with the potential to become regional leaders or global challengers.

In 2022, Schoenherr advised Blackpeak Capital on its EUR 7.5 million equity investment into EUShipments.com and its subsidiary InOut Trade (as reported by CEE Legal Matters on April 12, 2022).

The Schoenherr team was led by Romania-based Partner Madalina Neagu and included Croatia-based Partner Vice Mandaric, Hungary-based Partners Gabor Pazsitka and Kinga Hetenyi and Attorney at Law Miklos Klenanc, Romania-based Managing Attorneys at Law Andrei Muresan and Mihaela Popescu, Slovenia-based Office Managing Partner Vid Kobe, Partners Peter Gorse and Marko Frantar, Attorney at Law Manja Hubman, Senior Associates Tilen Zagar and Hana Serbec, and Associates Miriam Gajsek and Borce Malijanski, and Serbia-based Partner Igor Zivkovski and Attorney at Law Bojan Rajic.

Schoenherr did not respond to CEE Legal Matters’ request for details on the matter.

Taylor Wessing, Stratulat Albulescu, and Moral Kinikoglu Pamukkale, working with PedersoliGattai, have advised Sennder Technologies on the acquisition of the European surface transportation operations of C.H. Robinson Worldwide. HVG Law reportedly advised C.H. Robinson.

According to Taylor Wessing, the transaction remains contingent on the “completion of the corporate structuring of the EST business unit to be acquired, as well as mandatory employee consultations and applicable merger control proceedings, and is expected to close in Q4 2024.”

Sennder Technologies is a European digital road freight forwarder.

C.H. Robinson Worldwide is a provider of logistics solutions with a freight volume of USD 22 billion.

The Taylor Wessing team included Poland-based Partners Olav Nemling and Krystian Stanasiuk, Counsel Katarzyna Matusiak, and Associate Michal Zabost, Hungary-based Partner Torsten Braner, Counsel Gabor Helembai, and Senior Associate Zsombor Lenner, Czech Republic-based Partner Thomas Rechberger and Senior Associate David Volek, as well as further team members in Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, the UK, Spain, and France.

The Stratulat Albulescu team included Managing Partner Silviu Stratulat, Counsel Raluca Gabor, Senior Associate Bogdan Florea, and Associate Adriana Ion.

The Moral Kinikoglu Pamukkale team included Managing Partner Vefa Resat Moral, Partner Serra Haviyo, Senior Associate Dilara Kaymaz, and Associate Selen Akgun.

Ellex has advised Ergo International on the acquisition of ADB Gjensidige from Gjensidige Forsikring ASA.

Ergo is one of the largest insurance groups in Europe.

According to Ellex, “ADB Gjensidige has 659 employees and provides general insurance products to both private and commercial customers in Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. Through this transaction, ERGO will expand its footprint across all three Baltic countries, further strengthening its local market position.”

The Ellex team included Lithuania-based Partners Ramunas Petravicius and Sarunas Keserauskas, Senior Associates Augustinas Macionis and Arvydas Gruseckas, Estonia-based Partner Sven Papp and Counsel Gerda Liik, and Latvia-based Senior Partner Filips Klavins and Associate Partner Maris Brizgo.

Ellex did not respond to our inquiry on the matter.

TGS Baltic has advised AB Agathum on its EUR 2 million bond issuance and listing on the Nasdaq Vilnius Baltic First North market in Lithuania and Latvia.

AB Agathum, founded in 2012, invests in real estate objects with long-term tenants.

According to TGS Baltic, “in the future, the company will have the opportunity to increase the issue to EUR 4 million. Agathum will pay 11% annual interest on the raised funds.”

The TGS Baltic team included Partner Dalia Augaite, Associates Kotryna Visockyte and Nortautas Zenevicius, and Legal Assistant Gabija Sidlauskaite.

Kocian Solc Balastik and Hillbridges have advised J&T Banka on Discovery Group’s Centro Nitra refinancing. DLA Piper reportedly advised Discovery Group.

Centro Nitra is a shopping center in Nitra, Slovakia.

Discovery Group is engaged in real estate investment and development of commercial real estate in Central and Eastern Europe.

The KSB team included Partner Martin Krejci, Lawyers Josef Kriz and Tomas Travnicek, and Junior Lawyer Jakub Mehl.

The Hillbridges team included Partner Martin Cabak and Associates Katarina Dedinska and Alzbeta Spitova.

Taylor Wessing has advised VakifBank International on the implementation of a core banking system.

According to Taylor Wessing, VakifBank International is a subsidiary of VakifBank. VakifBank was founded in Turkey in 1954 and, with its more than 900 branches and subsidiary VakifBank International, is the second largest state-owned Turkish bank.

“The bank opted for a strategic changeover to a CBS, a software that will support the bank’s core processes and frequent transactions,” commented Taylor Wessing Vienna Partner Andreas Schuetz. “We reviewed the relevant contracts for Austria and Hungary, provided the bank with strategic support, and accompanied the preparations for any negotiations with providers/parties involved.”

The Taylor Wessing team included Schuetz, Vienna-based Counsels Carmen Redmann-Wippel and Tugce Yalcin, and Associate Tereza Gruendvaldska.

Cobalt has advised BaltCap on its investment in Fitekin and Onea software platforms of the Unifiedpost Group.

BaltCap is a private equity investor in the Baltic States.

Fitekin is a digital purchase invoice management system facilitating the management and workflow of e-invoices, PDFs, and paper invoices. Onea creates cloud-based pre-accounting solutions that provide real-time insight from financial data. Fitekin and Onea serve customers in 13 countries across Europe. UnifiedPost Group is a fintech firm headquartered in Belgium.

In 2019, Cobalt advised BaltCap on the sale of its 95% stake in Baltic-based Fitek Holding to the UnifiedPost Group (as reported by CEE Legal Matters on April 5, 2019).

The Cobalt team included Estonia-based Partner Peeter Kutman, Managing Associates Ott Aava and Tonu Kolts, Senior Associate Kerli Salu, Associates Elis Toim, Liis Leedo and Kristiina Kraav, and Junior Associate Kerstin Tang, Latvia-based Senior Associate Martins Tarlaps and Associate Vadims Zvicevics, and Lithuania-based Specialist Counsel Deimante Pagiriene and Associate Agne Saliamone.

Cobalt could not provide further information on the matter.