CEE Legal Matters

Category: News

  • Noerr, Arnold, CHSH, and Wolf Theiss Advise on Sale of Kika’s CEE Business to XXXLutz

    Noerr, Arnold, CHSH, and Wolf Theiss Advise on Sale of Kika’s CEE Business to XXXLutz

    Noerr, together with the Austria’s Arnold law firm, has advised SignaRetail on the sale of Kika’s Eastern European business to XXXLutz. XXXLutz was represented by CHSH on the purchase and by Wolf Theiss on the merger clearance process.

    The parties signed the contracts for the sale of 22 locations in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia on April 26, 2019. The transaction included both the operational retail business with over 1,500 employees and the 22 properties.

    Signa Group is a privately managed, European holding company focusing on real estate, retail, and media sectors. Its portfolio of assets is valued at over EUR 14 billion. 

    The Arnold team was led by Managing Partner Nikolaus Arnold and Senior Associate Georg Huber and included Partner Bernhard Vetter von der Lilie, Attorneys Thomas Raubal and Roman Gruber, and Associates Christoph Jelemensky, and Felix Fisecker.

    The Noerr team was led by Partners Zoltan Nadasdy, Gabriel Popa, Barbara Kusak, and Joerg Menzer, and Senior Associate Akos Bajorfi, and included Partner Edina Schweizer, Counsels Ludek Chvosta and Martin Tupek, and Associates Eszter Hegedus, Szilvia Andriska, Timea Tompa, Adrian Georgescu-Banc, Oana Piticas, Michal Janicek, Stepanka Havlikova, Tomas Zaborsky, and Martin Baraniak.

    The Wolf Theiss team was led by Partners Markus Bruckmuller, Christian Mikosch, Peter Oberlechner, and Eva Spiegel and also included Partners Janos Toth, Luka Tadic-Colic, Niklas Schmidt, and Claus Schneider, Counsels Katarina Bielikova and Matthias Schimka, Senior Associate Jiayan Zhu, Associates David Gschaider, Lukas Pinegger, Peter Ihasz, Ivana Hovancova, Iris Riepan, Jakob Jelinek, Natascha Johannik, Stefan Horn, Marlene Bouzek, and Lucia Mocibob and Consultant Melanie Dimitrov.

    The CHSH team included Partners Clemens Hasenauer, Johannes Prinz, Harald Stingl, Lorenz Pracht, Andrea Presser, Jozef Bannert, Karol Siska, Zizi Popa, Mirela Nathanzon, Senior Attorneys Andras Kauten, Lukas Srbecky, and Pavlina Ruzickova, and Associates Alexander Reich-Rohrwig, Benedikt Svoboda, Ferdinand Guggenmoos, and Hannah Schin.

    Editor’s Note: This article was updated to reflect the full Wolf Theiss team.

  • Kinstellar and Binder Groesswang Advise CANAL+ Group on Acquisition of M7 Group

    Kinstellar and Binder Groesswang Advise CANAL+ Group on Acquisition of M7 Group

    Kinstellar, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, Stibbe, and Binder Groesswang have advised CANAL+ Group, a subsidiary of the Vivendi group, on the acquisition of the M7 Group from Astorg, a European private equity firm. Paul Hastings and Loyens & Loeff advised Astorg and the other selling shareholders of the M7 Group.

    Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher’s Paris office was lead counsel to CANAL+ Group. Kinstellar advised the company on matters of Czech, Slovak, Hungarian, and Romanian law, Binder Groesswang advised on matters of Austrian law, and Stibbe advised it in Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Belgium.

    Paul Hastings served as lead counsel to Astorg, with Loyens & Loeff providing local advice in Luxembourg and the Netherlands. 

    The M7 Group, which is based in Luxembourg and Amsterdam, is an independent pay-TV operator in Europe. The company’s portfolio includes CanalDigitaal and Online.nl in the Netherlands, Skylink in the Czech and Slovak Republics, TV Vlaanderen and TeleSAT in Belgium, AustriaSat and HD Austria in Austria, and M7 Germany in Germany. M7 Group has also been providing Internet and telephony services to its customers in the Netherlands and Belgium since 2011.

    According to Kinstellar, the acquisition of the M7 Group will allow CANAL+ Group to expand into seven new European countries. The acquisition is subject to the European Commission approval. The estimated purchase price will be around EUR 1 billion.

    The Kinstellar teams were led by Of Counsel Karla Rundtova. The Czech team included Attorney Zdenek Kucera and Petra Ledvinkova and Associate Adam Nemec. The Slovak team consisted of Partner Viliam Mysicka, Senior Associate Martin Kosa, Associate Marko Ernek, and Junior Associate Livia Miklenciova. The team in Budapest included Managing Associate Zsombor Orban, Associate Adam Suto, and Junior Associate Daniel Nagy. The Romanian team included Counsel Zsuzsa Csiki and Senior Associates Andrei Caloian, Oana Costache, and Ioana Narosi.

    The Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher team consisted of Paris-based Partners Ariel Harroch and Judith Raoul-Bardy and Associates Sandra Bouchouareb, Adrien Levallois, and Manon Top. In Frankfurt, the deal was managed by Corporate Partner Dirk Oberbracht and Associates Jan Schubert and Milena Volkmann. In Brussels, Partner David Wood and Associate Attila Borsos advised on the transaction. 

    The Binder Groesswang team consisted of Partners Thomas Schirmer, Ivo Rungg, Johannes Barbist, Markus Uitz, and Horst Lukanec, Counsel Hellmut Buchroithner, Senior Associate Wolfgang Guggenberger, Philipp Spring, Regina Krooll, and Sabine Apfl-Trompeter, and Associate Felix Fuith and Artan Duraku. 

    The Paul Hastings team consisted of Partners Alexis Terray, Allard de Waal, and Sebastien Crepy and Associates Stanislas Offroy, Josephine Fourquet, and Thomas Pulcini.

  • PRK Partners Advises Remy Cointreau Group on Sale of Czech and Slovak Distribution Companies to Mast-Jagermeister

    PRK Partners Advises Remy Cointreau Group on Sale of Czech and Slovak Distribution Companies to Mast-Jagermeister

    PRK Partners has advised the Remy Cointreau Group on Czech and Slovak aspects of the sale of its Czech and Slovak distribution companies to Germany’s Mast-Jagermeister. Germany’s Luther law firm provided advice on German elements of the deal, which closed in April 2019. while Germany’s Gutt Olk Feldhaus and Schoenherr in the Czech Republic and Slovakia reportedly advised Mast-Jagermeister. Financial details were not disclosed.

    The PRK Partners team consisted of Partner Jan Kohout and Associates Shiyang Zhang and Marian Baus.    

  • CEE Attorneys Advises EshopWedrop Group on Its Expansion in Poland

    CEE Attorneys Advises EshopWedrop Group on Its Expansion in Poland

    CEE Attorneys in Romania has advised EshopWedrop Group, the B2C service of Xpediator Plc., on signing a franchise agreement with TMM Express in Poland.

    EshopWedrop, part of the Xpediator Plc Group, allows consumers to purchase products online through its integrated cross-border international online delivery service. In 2017, CEE Attorneys advised the company on its awarding of franchises in Cyprus and Albania as well (as reported by CEE Legal Matters on November 3, 2017).

    TMM Express will be responsible for managing the services of EshopWedrop platform and offering services of the international delivery of purchases in Poland.

    TMM Express International Business Development Manager Vitaliia Ihnatenko commented: “due to the nature of EshopWedrop’s delivery network the tariffs are priced so that even with the cost of transport included, online purchases are not excessive for consumers. Meaning consumers can continue to shop online in Europe and USA without having to incur high delivery rates.”

    The CEE Attorneys team was led by Partner Sergiu Gidei and Managing Associate Krisztina Voicu. 

  • Cobalt and Ellex Advise on Consolis Acquisition of TMB Group’s Latvian and Finnish Operations

    Cobalt and Ellex Advise on Consolis Acquisition of TMB Group’s Latvian and Finnish Operations

    Cobalt has advised the shareholders of the TMB Group on the sale of its Finnish and Latvian operations to the Consolis Group, a European supplier of precast concrete solutions, acting through is Finnish entity, Parma Oy. Ellex Raidla, acting with Finland’s Krogerus and Sweden’s Setterwalls law firms, advised the buyers.

    Although TMB retains its Estonian production unit in Tartu, Cobalt describes the transaction as “one of the largest M&A-based exits of Estonian capital from a foreign investment in history.”

    Founded in 1961, TMB Group employs around 500 people and its annual revenue was close to EUR 125 million in 2018. 

    Consolis initially agreed to buy the TMB Group last summer (as reported by CEE Legal Matters on October 30, 2018), acting then as well through its Finnish entity, Parma Oy. In January 2019 the Estonian Competition Authority terminated the merger control process regarding TMB’s Estonian business following the announcement that the parties were, at the time, abandoning the deal.

    The Cobalt team consisted of Partners Martin Simovart, Elo Tamm, and Egon Talur, Specialist Counsel Jesse Kivisaari, Senior Associate Tonu Kolts, and Associates Liina Saaremets and Mart Blondal.

    The Ellex team was led by Partner Sven Papp and included Ellex Raidla Senior Associates Gerda Liik and Martin Maesalu in Estonia, and Ellex Klavins Partner Zinta Jansons in Latvia.

    The Krogerus team included Partner Antti Lehtimaja, Senior Advisor Lennart Simonsen, and Associate Ella Soldan.

    The Setterwalls team was led by Partner Peter Soderlind and included Associate Fanny Berggren.

  • Seven CEE Lawyers Included in CMS’s Global Partnership Round

    Seven CEE Lawyers Included in CMS’s Global Partnership Round

    CMS lawyers Andrea Potz in Austria, Jelena Nushol in Croatia, Marek Oleksyn and Lukasz Dynysiuk in Poland, Petra Corba Stark and Michal Hutan in Slovakia, and Tetyana Dovgan in Ukraine have been promoted to the firm’s partnership as part of its 2019 global promotion round.

    Andrea Potz, in Austria, specializes in employment law and represents employers in court and before administrative authorities. Her main areas of expertise include personnel management, equal treatment, and diversity. She also deals with labor law issues and supports clients in the pharmaceutical, electrical, and electronics industries, as well as in the IT industry. She graduated from the University of Vienna and joined CMS in 2010.

    Croatian lawyer Jelena Nushol has been with Bardek, Lisac, Musec, Skoko in cooperation with CMS Reich-Rohrwig Hainz for the past ten years. She specializes in banking/finance, M&A transactions, restructurings, and various compliance matters specific to the banking and financial market. She graduated from the University of Zagreb.

    Polish lawyer Marek Oleksyn has over 14 years of experience and specializes in intellectual property matters. He also represents clients in both Polish courts and arbitrations as well as in trademark invalidation and expiration proceedings before the Polish Patent Office. Before joining CMS in 2014, he worked at Soltysinski Kawecki & Szlezak.He graduated from the University in Warsaw.

    His colleague in Warsaw, Lukasz Dynysiuk, advises on general corporate and tax issues, particularly tax structuring. He supports clients on corporate and tax aspects in M&A transactions and restructuring. He joined CMS in 2011 after several years as a Tax Consultant at Deloitte Legal, PwC, and the Polish Ministry of Finance. He graduated from the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan. 

    Petra Corba Stark, in CMS’s Bratislava office, specializes in complex M&A transactions and innovative corporate restructurings. She has over 14 years of experience in the energy & transport, life sciences, and financial services sectors. She joined CMS in 2017 after working for a year and a half at Havel, Holasek & Partners and for five years each at Ruzicka Csekes and in-house with Slovnaft. She has degrees from both the Pavol Jozef Safarik University in Slovakia and the Hebrew University in Israel. 

    Michal Hutan, Head of Real Estate in Bratislava, specializes in real estate development projects, transactions, and joint-ventures. He joined CMS in 2017 after working at Ruzicka Csekes, and for nine and a half years at Hamala Kluch Viglasky. He graduated from the Masaryk University in the Czech Republic, and at the International Institute of Human Rights in France. 

    Tetyana Dovgan is a Corporate/M&A practice coordinator at CMS Ukraine and a member of CMS’s international private equity team. She advises on joint-ventures, corporate restructurings, private equity, and M&A transactions and focuses on infrastructure, agriculture, IT, and banking. She also advises on general corporate matters, corporate finance, currency controls, securities, and employment law. She joined CMS in 2014 after working at both Chadbourne & Parke and Magisters. She graduated from the Taras Shevchenko Kyiv National University. 

    According to CMS, the firm’s 2019 promotion round included 49 lawyers in all. The new partners come from 23 cities across Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East. In addition, the firm reports, as “progressing female talent has long been a strategic priority of the firm … women account for 76% of all CMS promotions in the UK, and 47% globally.” Four of the seven new partners in CEE are women.

    “It is great to see such a strong representation of women in this year’s partner promotions,” commented CMS UK Senior Partner Penelope Warne. “We strive to build an inclusive and progressive culture, underpinned by policies, training and support, that empowers our people to rise through the ranks. The significant number of promotions this year highlights the strength and depth of talent we have across the firm, and reflects the confidence we have in our business. We would like to congratulate our new partners on their well-deserved promotions.”

  • White & Case Advises on Total Eren Acquisition of NovEnergia

    White & Case Advises on Total Eren Acquisition of NovEnergia

    White & Case has advised Total Eren, a French renewable energy Independent Power Producer, on the acquisition of NovEnergia Holding Company, a Southern European Independent Power Producer. King Wood & Mallesons advised NovEnergia on the deal.

    NovEnergia has subsidiaries in Spain, Italy, France, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Poland. 

    With this acquisition, Total Eren increases its presence in Southern Europe, with NovEnergia bringing in 47 installed assets in the region. The company has an enterprise value of over EUR 1 billion.

    The acquisition closed following the approval of the transaction by the Portuguese Competition Authority.

    The White & Case team in Paris consisted of Partner Guillaume Vallat, Partner Thomas Le Vert, Counsel Orion Berg, and Associate Julien Etchegaray.

    King Wood & Mallesons did not reply to our inquiry on the deal.

  • SEE Legal Firms Provide Due Diligence of Intereuropa for Netlog Logistics

    SEE Legal Firms Provide Due Diligence of Intereuropa for Netlog Logistics

    Law firm members of the SEE Legal Group, acting on behalf of Netlog Logistics, have completed a due diligence analysis of the Intereuropa group of companies, upon the announcement of a banking consortium that it is selling 72% share capital in Intereuropa d.d.

    Netlog Logistics is an integrated logistics and transport services provider with operations on three continents. It is the largest transport company in Turkey, and SEE Legal describes it as “one of the fastest growing logistics companies in the EMEA region.”

    The project was coordinated by a team from Slovenian SEE Legal member firm Selih & Partnerji, led by Partners Jera Majzelj and Natasa Pipan Nahtigal, assisted by Senior Associate Miha Stravs, among others. Others working on the project included Kalo & Associates Albania-based Partner Enkelejd Seitllari and Kosovo-based Partner Ahmet Hasolli; Maric & Co. Partners Dijana Ivanovic and Bojana Bosnjak-London in Bosnia and Herzegovina; Divjak, Topic & Bahtijarevic Senior Partner Damir Topic and Senior Associates Marina Kovac Krka, Zrinka Mustafa Prelic, and Iva Crnogorac in Croatia; Polenak Law Firm Junior Partner Tatjana Shishkovska, Associate Iva Djugumanova, and Junior Associate Ana Petrovska Belopeta in North Macedonia; and BDK Advokati Senior Partner Vladimir Dasic and Associate Sara Necic in Serbia and Montenegro. 

    Editor’s Note: After this article was published Aequo informed CEE Legal Matters that it had acted as Ukrainian legal advisor on the project. The firm’s team was led by Partner Anna Babych and included Counsel Michael Lukashenko and Associate Mariia Derechina. 

  • Csuday, Lipsic, and Prochazka Promoted to Partner at Dentons Hungary, Slovakia, and Czech Republic

    Csuday, Lipsic, and Prochazka Promoted to Partner at Dentons Hungary, Slovakia, and Czech Republic

    Budapest lawyer Balazs Csuday, Bratislava lawyer Daniel Lipsic, and Prague lawyer Jan Prochazka are among the 25 European lawyers promoted to partner by Dentons as part of its 2019 cycle.

    Csuday, who specializes in Regulatory matters, is the former Hungarian Ambassador to Ecuador and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary with the Permanent Mission of Hungary to the UN and Other International Organizations in Vienna. He joined Dentons in September 2017 (as reported by CEE Legal Matters on September 5, 2017)

    Lipsic, like Csuday, comes from the public service background, having served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Justice (2002-2006) and Minister of Interior (2010-2012) of the Slovak Republic, and Member of Parliament (2006-2010 and 2012-2016). He joined Dentons in 2016, and he is co-head of Dentons’ Litigation and Dispute Resolution team in Bratislava. According to Dentons, “during his practice, Daniel litigated several landmark cases before the Constitutional Court, mostly property rights, affirmative action, right to life, voting rights, freedom of speech, and he also litigated several precedential criminal cases and some civil rights cases regarding defamation and freedom of speech before the lower courts and the Supreme Court.” Among the matters he has worked on is the successful defense of businessman Robert Ciz and Ciz’s wife Adriana Cizova, who were acquitted of large-scale fraud early in 2018 (as reported by CEE Legal Matters on February 5, 2018)

    Prochazka, who is Co-Head of Dentons’ Corporate group in Prague, focuses on Corporate/M&A and Private Equity. He first joined Dentons (as legacy Altheimer & Gray, and then as legacy Salans) in 1998, then spent five years, from 2005-2010 with Clifford Chance, before returning to legacy Salans in 2010.

    Speaking of all 25 new partners, Dentons CEO for the UK and Middle East Jeremy Cohen said: “Our ambition is to become the leading global law firm across the European continent. This means delivering what our clients want today, helping them to work out what they are likely to need tomorrow, and responding to both by supporting our people, and particularly the next generation, to achieve their full potential. I am therefore delighted to congratulate this exceptionally talented group of lawyers on their well-deserved promotions.”

    “Dentons is in the talent business, so the development of this highly capable group of lawyers into our next generation of leaders is something we are extremely proud of,” added CEO of the Europe region Tomasz Dabrowski. “These promotions reflect not only the legal knowledge, leadership skills and business acumen of these lawyers, but also the organic growth of our firm across the continent.” 

  • Cobalt and Ellex Advise on BaltCap Sale of Fitek

    Cobalt and Ellex Advise on BaltCap Sale of Fitek

    Cobalt has advised BaltCap on the sale of its 95% stake in Baltic-based Fitek Holding to the UnifiedPost Group, which was advised by Belgian law firm Quorum and Ellex Raidla.

    Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.

    Fitek focuses on financial automation processes and operates in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, the UK, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Serbia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. 

    UnifiedPost Group is a FinTech firm headquartered in Belgium.

    Cobalt’s pan-Baltic team consisted of, in Estonia, Partner Peeter Kutman, Specialist Counsel Ott Aava, Associate Liina Saaremets, and Assistant Lawyer Kerli Paasoja; in Latvia, Partner Guntars Zile, Specialist Counsel Andrejs Lielkalns, Senior Associates Elina Locmele and Inga Tenisa, and Associate Diana Zepa; and in Lithuania, Partner Juozas Rimas and Senior Associate Inga Mazvilaite.

    The Ellex team in Estonia included Partner Sven Papp, Counsel Jaanus Ikla, and Senior Associate Gerda Liik.