Category: News

Allen & Overy and RTPR have advised Dutch life insurance, pension, and asset management company Aegon on the EUR 830 million sale of its operations in Romania, Hungary, Poland, and Turkey to the Vienna Insurance Group. Wolf Theiss and Turkey’s Paksoy Law firm advised the buyer on the deal. 

The transaction is subject to regulatory and competition authority approval and is expected to close in the second half of 2021.

RTPR’s team in Romania consisted of Partner Mihai Ristici, Managing Associates Vlad Stamatescu and Vicu Buzac, Counsel Roxana Ionescu, Associates Cezara Urzica and Marina Fecheta-Giurgica, and Junior Associates Andrei Costea, Petrus Partene, Radu Manu, and Laura Costea.

Allen & Overy’s core team in Amsterdam included Senior Partner Brechje van der Velden, Partners Katinka Middelkoop, Tim Stevens, and Yvo de Vries, Counsels Rens Bondrager and Tjarda van der Vijver, Senior Associates Samuel Garcia Nelen, Diyashen Pillay, and Daphne van der Houwen, and Associates Iradj Nazaryar, Julius Hackeng, Dennis Budde, Jochem de Kok, Flora van Laar, and Tim de Raad.

The Wolf Theiss team consisted of, in Vienna, Partners Horst Ebhardt, Markus Bruckmuller, Hartwig Kienast, and Robert Wagner, Counsel Christine Siegl, and Associates Rahim Rastegar, Christopher Junger, and Christoph Raab; in Budapest, Partner Janos Toth, Counsels Barnabas Buzasi and Melinda Pelikan, Senior Associates Mark Chiovini and Marietta Molnar, and Associates Zoltan Bodog, Peter Ihasz, Laszlo Lovas, Andras Mozsolits, and Bela Madarasz; in Warsaw, Partner Jacek Michalski, Counsel Maciej Olszewski, Senior Associates Joanna Wajdzik, Agnieszka Nowak-Blaszczak, Iwona Huryn, Michal Kulig, and Jakub Pietrasik, and Associates Klaudia Dabrowska, Michal Koperski, Monika Gaczkowska, and Anna Nowodworska; and in Bucharest, Partners Ileana Glodeanu and Anca Jurcovan, Counsels Adelina Iftime-Blagean, Flaviu Nanu, and Mircea Ciocirlea, Senior Associates Andreea Stan and Adina Aurel, and Associates Cornelia Postelnicu, Iulia Cumparatu, Nina Lazar, Andreea Tudorache, Andrei Salageanu, and Ramona Enache.

Paksoy’s team consisted of Partner Togan Turan, Counsel Nazli Bezirci, and Associate Asli Eryilmaz.

Editor’s note: After this article was published, NautaDutilh informed CEE Legal Matters that it had advised the Vienna Insurance Group on the deal. The firm’s team included Partners Jaap Stoop, Pieternel Verhoeven-van den Brink, and Larissa Silverentand, Counsels Joost Kloosterman and Roderick Watson, Senior Associate Erik Poorthuis, and Associates Eva van Rooijen and Sanne Mesu.

SSW Pragmatic Solutions has advised the Cotta Group on its acquisition of seven production properties in southwest Poland, and has advised Cotta’s sister company, Kanizsa Trend, on its acquisition of a production plant in Hungary, from Standard Properties. Germus & Tarsai, Wolf Theiss, and Clifford Chance reportedly advised the seller on the deal.

According to SSW Pragmatic Solutions, the Cotta Group’s acquisition in Poland “is the last element of the divestment process, as a result of which the Steinhoff International group withdrew from the Polish market.” The firm described the sale price as “several dozen million euros.” 

The SSW Pragmatic Solutions team consisted of Partner Maciej Duch and Senior Associate Robert Wodzynski.

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.