Category: News

Dentons has advised CEE hotel group Orbis on the separation of its real estate ownership from its service business and the subsequent sale of its service business to the Accor hotel group. Weil advised Accor on the deal. Ellex Valiunas also provided unspecified advice to Orbis on the deal.

Accor will acquire Orbis’ entire service business consisting of assets, agreements, and any other rights related to its services to managed and franchised hotels. The transaction value will exceed PLN 1.2 billion (approximately EUR 282 million). Following the transaction, Accor will manage all hotels currently owned or leased by Orbis. 

Earlier this year Dentons advised Orbis on Accord Hotels tender offers (as reported by CEE Legal Matters on January 25, 2019).

Dentons’ Poland-based team included Partners Piotr Dulewicz, Jakub Celinski, and Cezary Przygodzki, Managing Counsel Dariusz Stolarek, Senior Associates Dagmara Cisowska and Magdalena Olszewska, and Associates Marcin Czajkowski and Robert Semczuk, while its Romania-based team included Partners Raul Mihu and Bogdan Papandopol, Senior Associates Argentina Rafail and Oana Ionascu, and Associate Andreea Lepadatu. Its Czech Republic-based team consisted of Partner Jan Prochazka, Honorary Member Petr Kotab, and Associate Kristyna Brezinova, and its team in Hungary included Partner Annamaria Csenterics and Associate Nora Jakab.

The Weil team included Partner Marcin Chylinskii, Counsel Ewa Bober, and Associates Filip Lesniak, Leszek Cyganiewicz, and Arkadiusz Karwala.

The Ellex team was led by Associate Partner Ruta Armone and included Counsel Gintaras Balcius, Associate Partner Jolanta Liukaityte – Stoniene, and Senior Associate Aleksandr Asovskij. 

Sorainen and Mannheimer Swartling have advised telecommunication company Bite on its agreement with Tele2 to create a shared radio access network in Lithuania and Latvia. TGS Baltic and Vinge advised Tele2.According to Sorainen, the partnership is expected to boost the 5G network development process and benefit for the development of modern economies in Latvia and Lithuania. It will also enable companies to increase service quality for their clients by offering a wider, stronger network and optimizing each party’s network infrastructure maintenance and development costs.

“Network sharing has proven to be very successful for Tele2,” explained Tele2 President and CEO Anders Nilsson. “In Sweden, we share all of our mobile network infrastructure, which has not only made it possible for us to build world-class networks for our customers at a lower cost but also made us the most energy efficient operator in the country. The agreement with Bite will create great value for our customers, employees, shareholders and Latvian and Lithuanian societies, especially as we embark on the 5G journey.”

Both Bite and Tele2 will continue operating independently while sharing network infrastructure.

The partnership will be implemented by establishing a joint venture that will operate existing 2G, 3G, and 4G network infrastructure, as well as starting to develop the upcoming 5G network. Each party obtains a 50 percent ownership in the joint venture in both Latvia and Lithuania. The plan is to build the radio network gradually during 2021-2023, with planning and preparation taking place before 2021.

“The major goal of the partnership is to optimize existing radio network and build 5G infrastructure in Lithuania and Latvia faster, less costly and with better coverage than on an individual basis,” Bite Group CEO Nikita Sergienko said. “Shared radio network will result in better quality of service, larger coverage, and better capacity than separate networks could provide. Not to mention that the cooperation also will result in a more efficient use of resources, and have a positive environmental impact.”

Last year Sorainen advised Bite Latvija on the acquisition of Stream Networks and its LATNET Serviss subsidiary (as reported by CEE Legal Matters on April 18, 2018).

The Sorainen team in Lithuania consisted of Partners Daivis Svirinas and Laimonas Skibarka, Counsels Stasys Drazdauskas and Asta Augutyte-Rapkeviciene, Senior Associates Monika Malisauskaite, Ana Novosad, Irma Kirklyte, Jonas Kiauleikis, and Inga Macijauskaite, and Associate Dobile Minkute. The team in Latvia included Partner Ieva Andersone, Senior Associates Marika Grunte, Andris Taurins, and Jorens Jaunozols, and Associate Liva Aleksejeva. 

The TGS Baltic team consisted of Partner Andra Rubene and Associate Vladlena Rudusane-Simica in Latvia and Partner Lauras Butkevicius and Senior Associates Indre Barauskiene and Sonata Krasauskiene in Lithuania.  

The Vinge team consisted of Partners Carl Johan naf Petersens and Marcus Glader.

Doklestic Repic & Gajin is advising Slovenian airline Adria Airways in relation to its challenge to State aid granted to Air Serbia.

According to DR&G, the state aid provided to Air Serbia is a violation of Serbian law and a violation of the country’s international obligations under the Stabilization and Association Agreement with the EU. The firm reports that Adria Airways contacted the Serbian Commission for control of state aid but received no reply, and has now initiated proceedings in EU institutions.

DR&G Partner Dragan Gajin commented: “Adria Airways is worried over the aid that Serbia has illegally provided to Air Serbia and feels that it is inappropriate because it disrupts freedom of competition on the market.”

The Serbian government owns 51 percent of Air Serbia, with the remaining 49 percent held by Etihad Airways from the United Arab Emirates.

The DR&G team is led by Partner Dragan Gajin.

TGS Baltic’s Latvian and Estonian teams have helped Cryptofex, a fintech specialized in cryptocurrency exchange and customer wallet services, obtain a license from the Estonian Financial Intelligence Unit.

The Estonian Financial Intelligence Unit is an independent structural unit of the Estonian Police and Border Guard Board, which analyses and verifies information about suspicions of money laundering or terrorist financing, takes measures for the preservation of property where necessary, and notifies competent authorities upon detection of elements of a criminal offense.  

TGS Baltic has also represented Cryptofex in investment attraction process, facilitating the cooperation with MBK Co Ltd., a strategic investor from Japan listed on Tokyo Stock Exchange 2nd section. The cooperation with MBK Co Ltd will help Cryptofex’s further business development and expansion to European markets. 

The project was led by TGS Baltic Senior Associate Alise Eljasane.

Ellex Raidla and Clifford Chance have advised Enefit Green, a fully owned subsidiary of Eesti Energia, on its acquisition of 20 solar park projects in Poland from GEO Group’s subsidiaries. Dentons’ Warsaw Office advised GEO Group on the deal.

The total capacity of the acquired solar power plants is 19.15 megawatts. Enefit Green’s investment amounts to EUR 17.3 million.

Enefit Green is a renewable energy company owned by Eesti Energia which produces electricity and heat from wind, water, sun, biomass, biogas, and mixed municipal waste in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and now also in Poland.

The Ellex Raidla team was led by Partner Martin Kaerdi.

Clifford Chance’s Warsaw-based team was led by Counsel Pawel Puacz, supported by Senior Associate Jaroslaw Gajda, Associates Weronika Miszewska, Zuzanna Potoczna, Adrian Krol, Katarzyna Kuchta, and Arkadiusz Walkowicz, and Legal Intern Dominika Pietkun.

Dentons’s Warsaw-based team consisted of Partner Arkadiusz Krasnodebski, Managing Counsel Agnieszka Kulinska, and Associate Filip Rucinski.

Glimstedt, acting on behalf of Sanitex UAB, has successfully persuaded Lithuania’s Supreme Court to refuse to recognize and enforce a Serbian arbitration award against the Serbian state privatization agency. 

According to Glimstedt, the subject of the dispute was the termination of an agreement between Lithuanian investors and Serbia. The Serbian privatization agency unilaterally terminated the agreement with the investors and reclaimed the object of privatization without repaying the amount invested, and proceeded to sue for an award of the contractual penalty of 25% of the sale amount. In 2012, the Serbian Arbitration panel adopted a decision to uphold the lawsuit of the Privatization Agency, awarding an amount of EUR 3,275,000 to be paid by the investors.

When the Serbian Privatization Agency approached the Lithuanian Court of Appeal for the recognition and enforcement of the arbitration award in Lithuania, the Lithuanian investors raised the issue of refusal of recognition of the contractual penalty awarded by the arbitration as contradictory to public order.”

The Supreme Court of Lithuania, in a final and non-appealable ruling, refused to recognize and enforce the arbitration award. 

The Glimstedt team included Partners Kestutis Jaskutelis and Solveiga Paleviciene, Senior Associates Audrius Zvybas, Kornelija Basijokiene, and Albertas Stopas, and Associate Renata Racko.

JPM, Clifford Chance, and Kocian Solc Balastik have advised Pepsico and Karlovarske Mineralne Vody on the acquisition of Knjaz Milos, a producer of mineral water and soft drinks in the countries of former Yugoslavia, from Mid Europa Partners. Karanovic & Partners advised the sellers.

The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of 2019 upon issuance of relevant merger approvals.

Last year Kocian Solc Balastic advised Karlovarske Mineralne Vody on its acquisition of the PepsiCo beverages portfolio in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, and Bulgaria (as reported by CEE Legal Matters on February 26, 2018). That deal was subsequently shortlisted for CEE Deal of the Year in Slovakia (as reported on February 6, 2019). 

The JPM team was led by Senior Partner Nenad Popovic and included Partners Jelena Stankovic Lukic, Nikola Poznanovic, Ivan Petrovic, Bojan Sunderic, and Jelena Nikolic, and Senior Associates Stefan Jovicic, Bojana Javoric, Anja Sakan, and Jelena Otasevic.

The KSB team included Managing Partner Dagmar Dubecka and Associate Jan Beres.

Clifford Chance’s team in the Czech Republic was led by Partners David Kolacek and Milos Felgr and included Senior Associates Aneta Disman and Marian Husar and Associates Ludvik Ruzicka, Zuzana Moravkova, Matej Kucera, Dominik Vojta, and Lucie Ruzickova.

The Karanovic & Partners team included Partners Rastko Petakovic and Milos Jakovljevic and Associate Sava Draca.

Editor’s Note: After this article was published CEE Legal Matters learned that White & Case had worked alongside Karanovic & Partners in advising Mid Europa Partners on the sale. According to the firm, “Mid Europa acquired Knjaz Milos in 2015 together with Imlek and Bambi, the leading regional dairy and confectionary companies, respectively, forming the consumer group Moji Brendovi.” As reported by CEE Legal Matters on February 21, 2019, Bambi was then sold off by Mid Europa earlier this year, with both White & Case and Karanovic & Partners advising on that sale as well.

The White & Case team in London that advised on the Knjaz Milos transaction was led by Partners Ian Bagshaw and Ken Barry, with support from Associates Will Summers and Jean Renaldy.

Subsequently, CEE Legal Matters also learned that AP Legal acted as the Serbian legal advisor to the consortium of domestic and foreign banks (consisting of Raiffesien Bank Beograd, Erste Bank Novi Sad, Erste Group Bank AG Vienna, and the EBRD) which financed the acquisition. The firm’s team consisted of Counsels Aleksandar Preradovic and Aleksandra Jovic.