CEE Legal Matters

Category: News

  • Dentons Appoints Partners to European Practice and Sector Leadership Roles

    Dentons has announced the appointment of three partners to European practice and sector leadership roles, with Anita Horvath to co-lead the Europe Energy group, Christopher Rose to lead the Global Private Services sector group within Europe, and Thomas Schubert to lead the Europe Venture Technology and Emerging Growth Companies group.

    As Co-head of the Europe Energy group, Budapest-based Partner Anita Horvath will serve alongside fellow co-head, Warsaw Managing Partner Arkadiusz Krasnodebski, to develop Dentons’ transactional offering within the energy sector. Dentons describes Horvath as “among the premier lawyers advising on complex domestic and cross-border M&A, joint ventures, and private equity transactions in Hungary, and frequently leads multi-jurisdictional deals.” In addition to her regional appointment, Horvath was recently named Co-head of the Corporate and M&A practice in Hungary, alongside Partner Rob Irving (as reported by CEE Legal Matters on May 29, 2020). She has been a Partner at Dentons since 2015.

    ”Having advised most of the premier energy players on their strategic projects in Hungary and CEE, I look forward to replicate our Energy team’s success on a European level,” commented Horvath. “As Dentons is home to the largest energy-focused team of lawyers in the world, in my new role, I plan to further enhance our strength in advising developers, investors, contractors, financiers, governments and regulators on their energy sector related projects.”

    Christopher Rose, who works out of the firm’s London, Prague, and Moscow offices, will establish and lead the Global Private Services group within continental Europe to provide cross-sector and cross-practice legal advisory services to ultra-high-net-worth individuals and family offices around the world. Rose has been a Partner and Head of the Europe Venture Technology and Emerging Growth Companies group at Dentons since 2017. He advises on cross-border venture and growth capital investments, as well as mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures. Dentons describes him as “an emerging markets specialist,” and reports that “he has advised on over 250 transactions in Russia, the Middle East, Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, and Africa.” According to the firm, “he regularly represents emerging growth companies in all stages of development, with a particular focus on e-commerce, food and beverage, technology, and entertainment.”

    “Over the past several years, I have worked extensively with high-net-worth individuals and family offices, advising them primarily on their investments and acquisitions. This new role goes far beyond that,” said Rose. “Whether our clients need support with their venture capital, private equity or real estate deals, tax issues, estate planning, dispute resolution, or regulatory matters, our Global Private Services group will act as their ‘concierge’ to our global firm. We will pull together the right team of Dentons professionals, provide them with transparent fee quotes and manage their projects from beginning to end to ensure the best results.”

    Berlin-based Partner Thomas Schubert will take over from Rose as Europe Head of the firm’s Venture Technology and Emerging Growth Companies practice. According to Dentons, “Schubert has significant experience in technology M&A and in assisting aspiring growth companies on the implementation of innovative digital business models, including blockchain technology.” The firm describes him as “a well-regarded transactional lawyer [who] advises on M&A deals, private equity investments, venture capital transactions and joint ventures,” and reports that “he is also respected for his work in the energy and renewable energy sector, and he will continue in his role as Co-Head of the Energy section of the Europe Regulatory group.” He has been a Partner at Dentons since 2015.

    “Digitization is fundamentally changing about every industry sector,” noted Schubert, “This calls for a totally new approach of doing business. Continued investments in new innovative business models by VC funds as well as corporate investors will be key for a successful transition. I am honored to taking over the coordination and lead of Dentons’ European Venture Technology Group with the goal of further growing our interaction with and impact on the global ecosystem.”

    Tomasz Dabrowski, CEO of Dentons Europe, commented on the appointments: “Dentons remains strongly committed to our strategy to enhance our offering in key sectors and practices across the European continent. I am therefore delighted that three talented partners – Anita, Chris, and Thomas – will use their experience and creativity to further develop quality, innovative solutions for our clients.”

  • TGS Baltic Announces New Board and Chair

    TGS Baltic has appointed Estonian Partners Kadri Kallas and Leonid Tolstov, Latvian Managing Partner Ivars Grunte and Partner Andra Rubene, and Lithuanian Executive Partner Marius Matonis to the firm’s board and has elected Lithuania Managing Partner Vilius Bernatonis as Chair of the Board.

    Vilius takes the role of Chair from Estonian counterpart Martin Tamme, who headed the Board since 2018.

    TGS Baltic describes Vilius Bernatonis as “an internationally recognized expert with over 20 years of legal experience mainly in the Energy and Finance sectors, who also holds a Global Executive MBA from IESE, the leading business school worldwide according to the Financial Times.” According to the firm, “the newly appointed Chair elected for a two-year mandate says his focus will rely on two main areas: regional integration and reinforcement of a business-oriented approach.”

    “The ability to provide comprehensive legal services in all Baltic countries is a benefit for a client allowing to receive all types of legal services from one hand, to save money and time as well as to better manage risks,” said Bernatonis. “However, to ensure the highest possible quality of services, it is essential to enable a sharing culture within the organization, allowing an exchange of best legal practices, markets insights, and client feedback. Another priority of ours is providing highly business-centric services. The most innovative solutions we have come up with over the past years, as well as the key victories of our clients, are related precisely to that unconventional approach going beyond the legal, thus this is definitely the direction to go.”

  • Andersen Tax, Andersen Legal, and Andersen Tax & Legal Rebrand as “Andersen”

    After operating under the brands Andersen Tax, Andersen Legal, and Andersen Tax & Legal, the member firms of Andersen Global in Europe, will now operate under a single brand: “Andersen”.

    According to Andersen, similar brand changes in other regions around the world will follow throughout the year, and the firm reports that the decision to simplify the brand “demonstrat[es] the unified and seamless approach of the global tax and legal firm.”

    According to Andersen, “this announcement comes on the heels of the U.S. member firm’s transition of its brand from ‘Andersen Tax’ to ‘Andersen’ last year. In total, member firms in 12 European countries — Cyprus, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom — will adopt the Andersen brand. The transition of OrienTax and Szabo Keleman & Partners [which joined Andersen Global a year and a half ago, as reported by CEE Legal Matters on February 14, 2019] marks the debut of the Andersen brand in Hungary. Additionally, B.A. Tax Accountants will adopt the brand as it joins the team in Luxembourg.”

    Within Europe, Andersen Global also has a presence in Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kazakhstan, Moldova, the Netherlands, North Macedonia, Republic of Kosovo, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Ukraine through its collaborating firms. and the firm reports having “plans to expand its regional footprint in Central and Eastern Europe and Scandinavia.”

    “Our common brand, Andersen, is reflective of our ‘one firm’ culture and encompasses all that we do as a global organization,” said Mark Vorsatz, Andersen Global Chairman and Andersen CEO. “It signifies our ability to provide best-in-class service and our deep commitment to investing in our people. Each of the member and collaborating firms that are a part of our organization promote stewardship and maintain transparency. Our global expansion continues to be driven by client needs and the recognition that we can best serve clients with independent and synergistic services.”

    Andersen Global is an international association of legally separate, independent member firms. The organization began in 2002 when 23 former Arthur Andersen tax partners created the tax-only firm WTAS. In 2014, the group adopted the brand Andersen Tax. According to Andersen, “the European region began with just two locations in 2013 and has since expanded to more than 50 locations, nearly 2,000 tax and legal professionals, and over 300 partners today.”

  • Five New Partners at Wolf Theiss

    Austrian lawyers Clara Gordon, Matthias Schimka, and Robert Wagner have been promoted to Partner at Wolf Theiss Vienna, and Croatian lawyers Dora Gazi Kovacevic and Sasa Jovicic made Partner at Wolf Theiss Zagreb.

    According to Wolf Theiss, “Gordon advises large Austrian and international corporations as well as medium-sized companies and investment companies on complex domestic and cross-border M&A transactions, joint ventures and corporate structuring” She has a Masters’ and a Ph.D. from the University of Vienna. Prior to joining Wolf Theiss in 2013, she spent almost half a year at the District Court in Vienna. 

    “Matthias Schimka is a member of the Banking and Finance team in Vienna and specializes in restructuring and financing advice,” reports Wolf Theiss. He too is a graduate of the University of Vienna. Prior to joining Wolf Theiss in 2010, he spent three years as a Research and Teaching Assistant at Wirtschaftsuniversitat Wien.

    Wagner is “an expert in EU and Austrian Competition law as well as State Aid law,” according to Wolf Theiss. “His practice includes cartel investigations and leniency applications, abuse of dominance cases, distribution and cooperation agreements, merger control, and private enforcement of competition law.” He is a Magister of the University of Vienna and has an LL.M. from the College of Europe. Prior to joining Wolf Theiss in 2009, he spent two years as an Academic Assistant at the College of Europe.

    Dora Gazi Kovacevic “represents companies in cross-border corporate, M&A, and HR restructuring projects and heads the Employment team at Wolf Theiss’s Zagreb office,” the firm reports. She has LL.M.s from the University of Zagreb and the Technische Universitat Dresden. Prior to joining Wolf Theiss in 2008, she spent over a year with the Croatian Ministry of Foreign Relations and European Integration and almost three and a half years with Posavec, Rasica, Liszt & Partners.

    Sasa Jovicic, who joined Wolf Theiss in 2011, “heads the Projects team at Wolf Theiss’s Zagreb office as one of Croatia’s most renowned lawyers for infrastructure and energy projects,” according to the firm. “He focuses particularly on clients in the energy and transport sectors and advises on all stages of project development.” He has an LL.B. from the University of Zagreb. 

    “Especially in times of rapid economic and social development, we are happy to promote our talented young lawyers and share responsibility with them,” said Andrea Gritsch, Managing Partner of Wolf Theiss. “With their commitment to our clients, our new partners already make an important contribution to our success and actively help to shape the future of our firm.”

  • Sorainen Advises Vienna Insurance Group on Consolidating Business of Baltic Non-Life Insurance Companies

    Sorainen has advised the Vienna Insurance Group on consolidating the businesses of its group non-life insurance companies Compensa and Seesam in Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. 

    As a result of the transaction, VIG consolidated the businesses of Lithuania’s Compensa with branches in Latvia and Estonia, Estonia’s Seesam with branches in Lithuania and Latvia, and Compensa’s subsidiaries in Lithuania and Latvia – both insurance intermediaries.

    “The aim of the merger is to optimize and simplify group structure,” Sorainen reports, adding that “all rights and obligations of Seesam Insurance have been taken over by Compensa Vienna Insurance Group, which will execute all contracts concluded between Seesam Insurance and its customers without changes.”

    Sorainen’s team was led by Vilnius-based Partner Mantas Petkevicius and Senior Associates Agne Sovaite and Inga Macijauskaite. The firm’s team included, in Lithuania, Partners Tomas Kontautas and Saule Dagilyte, Senior Associates Rasa Mikutiene and Irma Kirklyte, and Associate Aurelija Daubaraite; in Latvia, Partners Eva Berlaus and Rudolfs Engelis and Senior Associates Zane Paeglite, Santa Rubina, and Aija Lasmane; and in Estonia, Partners Karin Madisson and Reimo Hammerberg, Counsel Isabella Barbara Aavik, Senior Associates Monika Tomberg and Tanel Molok, and Associate Nele Suurmets.

  • Cerha Hempel and Schoenherr Advise on MK Group’s on Acquisition of HETA Loan Portfolio and Slovenian Wind-Down Entities

    Cerha Hempel has advised MK Group Global Limited on the acquisition of a loan portfolio from Heta Asset Resolution AG and the acquisition of the direct and indirect shareholdings of HETA in three Slovenian wind-down entities that manage receivables from non-performing loans granted by the former Hypo Alpe-Adria-Bank International AG and its subsidiaries to customers in Slovenia. Schoenherr advised the Republic of Austria as the owner of HETA. 

    HETA is a wind-down company owned by the Republic of Austria set to dispose of the remaining assets of Hypo Alpe-Adria-International AG, which was nationalized in 2009. According to Cerha Hempel, “the buyer was found as part of a complex, multi-stage bidding process that lasted several months, at the end of which the Republic of Austria … finally selected MKG as the best bidder.”

    MKG is a Cypriot holding company. The group consists of a number of  service companies active in the agricultural, wholesale, real estate, and banking sectors. 

    Cerha Hempel’s team included Managing Partner Albert Birkner and Counsel Wolfgang Sindelar.

    Schoenherr’s team in Vienna included Partner Sascha Hoedl, Attorney Clemens Gaugusch, and Associate Alexander Gruber, while its team in Ljubljana included Partners Vid Kobe and Eva Skufca, Attorney Peter Grose, and Associate Lea Avesnik.

  • Schoenherr Advises European Commission on Legislative Options for Upgrading European Gas Markets

    Schoenherr, acting as leader of a consortium of European law firms, has conducted what it describes as “a comprehensive study on the regulatory and administrative requirements for entry and trade on the gas wholesale market in the EU for the European Commission, Directorate General Energy.”

    According to Schoenherr, “the study takes stock of the regulatory and administrative requirements to enter the wholesale gas market, and explores legislative means to facilitate access and trading on gas wholesale markets by setting out measures to overcome possibly disproportionate administrative and regulatory requirements which could constitute barriers to entering and trading on wholesale gas markets. The study is now published on the website of the European Commission.”

    “Combining desk and field research, conducting an online survey [and] interviews and holding a stakeholder workshop in the premises of the European Commission,” Schoenherr reports, “Schoenherr, together with its partners, has drawn up a detailed map of the administrative and regulatory requirements presently regulating the access to wholesale gas markets in the EU. The consortium assessed which of the requirements potentially impose a disproportionate administrative burden on natural gas traders, and thus impede the establishment of a fully integrated European Gas Market. Based on the findings of the research, possible legislative options have been developed to address and mitigate identified trade barriers in the wholesale gas market on EU-level.”

    “Our findings and recommendations will help the European Commission to enforce and improve the regulatory framework, and also identify a possible future scope for EU-wide alignment of rules and practices on the wholesale gas market,” says Schoenherr Partner Bernd Rajal, who led his firm’s team on the project. “We are proud that Schoenherr could take a leading role in this legislative study.”

    In addition to Rajal, Schoenherr’s team included Vienna-based Associates Stefanie Orator-Saghy and Arian Farahmand and Sofia-based Partner Stefana Tsekova, among many others.

  • Sorainen Successful for NASCAR in Baltic Trademark Disputes

    Sorainen has successfully defended the interests of racing organizer NASCAR in disputes involving the registration of the company’s trademark in Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia.

    Successful in all three disputes, NASCAR was able to protect the trademark and to invalidate designations of the international registration of an identical trademark by Amaxa Pharma LTD in the Baltics.

    According to Sorainen, “Amaxa Pharma LTD, the proprietor of a trademark identical to our clients’, sought to extend international registration of its NASCAR trademark to Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. Amaxa intended to use the trademark for marking medical and health goods. NASCAR does not use the NASCAR trademark for medical products and does not have trademark protection for such products. However, Amaxa Pharma LTD can potentially exploit the well-established reputation of the NASCAR trademark and its association with popular racing, misleading consumers as to the origin of the goods by using the trademark for its own products.”

    In Lithuania, the issue was resolved in court, while in Latvia and Estonia it was resolved by the countries’ Industrial Property Boards of Appeal.

    In Estonia, Sorainen’s team consisted of Senior Associate Olivia Kranich; in Latvia, Partner Andris Taurins; in Lithuania, Counsel Stasys Drazdauskas.

  • Binder Groesswang, Havel & Partners, and Jandura a Partneri Advise on BEXity Sale of EC Logistics to Roman Goerojo

    Binder Groesswang and Havel & Partners have advised BEXity and its holding company, Mutares SE & Co. KGaA, on the sale of Czech subsidiary European Contract Logistics in a management buy-out. The buyer, EC Logistics CEO Roman Goerojo, was advised by Jandura a Partneri.

    Binder Groesswang describes Mutares as “a listed industrial holding company which focuses on the acquisition of corporate spin-offs with potential for operational improvement, value increase and sustainable long-term growth.” According to the firm, “Mutares acquired EC Logistics, a global provider of international road, air, and sea freight services, as part of the acquisition of the BEXity Group in November 2019. In 2019, EC Logistics generated revenues amounting to EUR 10 million with 51 employees.”

    The Binder Groesswang team was led by Partner Thomas Schirmer and Senior Associate Wolfgang Guggenberger and included Senior Associates Maximilian Holtl and Clemens Willvonseder and Associates Alexandra Hochegger and Patrick Mayrhuber.

    Havel & Partners advised BEXity on Czech aspects of the transaction. The firm’s team included Partner Pavel Nemecek, Senior Associate Tomas Navratil, and Counsel Josef Zaloudek

    Jandura a Partneri’s team consisted of Partner Dalibor Jandura.

  • Zsuzsa Csiki, Iryna Nikolayevska, and Karla Rundtova Promoted to Partner at Kinstellar

    Romanian lawyer Zsuzsa Csiki, Ukrainian lawyer Iryna Nikolayevska, and Czech lawyer Karla Rundtova have been promoted to Partner at Kinstellar.

    Zsuzsa Csiki has spent her entire career at Kinstellar (and legacy Linklaters, before Kinstellar was formed following Linklaters’ from Bucharest in 2008). According to the firm, she has over 12 years of experience “advising Romanian and international companies on corporate mergers and acquisitions and other cross-border transactions/restructurings, including joint ventures and business transfers, covering various sectors such as financial services, banking, automotive, agriculture, forestry, retail, and technology, media and telecommunications.” According to the firm, “her expertise also extends to capital markets transactions and financial regulatory matters, coordinating teams locally and cross-border.”

    Iryna Nikolayevska is Head of Corporate/M&A and CRSI in Kinstellar’s Kyiv office. According to the firm, “her practice focuses on advising local and international clients in M&A, corporate, private equity, capital markets, compliance and employment matters. Her industry expertise includes agriculture, aviation, financial institutions, FMCG, infrastructure, pharmaceuticals, real estate, oil & gas, and IT / telecommunications.” Prior to joining the firm four and a half years ago, she spent two and a half years at Baker McKenzie and almost three years at Avellum. She holds a Master’s degree from the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv.

    According to Kinstellar, Karla Rundtova, who joined Kinstellar when the firm was created following Linklaters’ withdrawal from the Czech Republic in 2008 (after spending eight years at Linklaters and two at Noerr) focuses on M&A and corporate law, “in particular share deals, joint ventures, mergers and demergers, corporate restructurings and foreign direct investments.” According to the firm, “she also has broad-based experience advising and representing leading Czech and foreign companies on a variety of greenfield investments and company establishment and joint-venture structures, including regulatory and licensing matters across various industry sectors.” She graduated form Palacky University Olomouc.