Category: News

Go2Law has advised Kopernikus Corporation, owned by Srdjan Milovanovic, on its acquisition of TV Prva and TV O2  in Serbia and Montenegro from the Antenna Group. Zivkovic Samardzic, working with EY and Clifford Chance, advised Antenna Group on the sale.

The Antenna Group, which owns Prva TV, O2 TV, Prva TV Montenegro, Play Radio, six cable channels and the Prva.rs, o2tv.rs and b92.net web portals sells media operations in Serbia and Montenegro for EUR 180 million. The change of the ownership rights is now before the regulatory authority of Serbia.

At the end of 2009, the Antenna Group took over Fox television in Serbia, and in September 2010 changed its name to Prva Srpska Televizija. At the time of the purchase of Fox television in Serbia in 2009, the station had only four percent of the market share, and today, eight years after investments and continuous expansion of the business, the company has 45 percent of the market share.

Kopernikus, which was established in 1998, provides cable television and broadband services through cable and optical internet facilities.

The Antenna Group, which was founded in 1988, is an international media group with a portfolio of various media operations in over 20 countries in Europe, North America, and Australia. 

Go2Law’s work on the deal was managed by Hugh Owen.

The Clifford Chance team consisted of London-based Partner Mark Poulton, Senior Associate Jennifer Mbaluto, Lawyer Barry Cahill, and Trainee Solicitor Hannah Collins.

Editor’s Note: After this article was published Zivkovic Samardzic informed CEE Legal Matters that its team consisted of Partners Nebojsa Samardzic, Branislav Zivkovic, and Igor Zivkovski, and Senior Associate Sava Pavlovic.

Arcliffe has assisted Yazaki on corporate and labor-related matters related to the company’s activity in Czech Republic, Slovakia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovenia, and Croatia. ODI Law supported Arcliffe in the Adria region countries.

Yazaki Corporation is a global automotive parts supplier with a focus on wire harnesses, instruments, and components such as connectors and terminals. The company, which is headquartered in Japan, employs more than 279,800 individuals all over the world.

Sorainen has advised Pigu.lt and its shareholders on its merger with Morele.net. Polish private equity group MCI, an investor in both Pigu.lt and Morele.net., was reportedly advised by Norton Rose Fulbright on the deal.

Morele is a Polish e-commerce platform operating in the consumer electronics distribution segment and is part of the portfolio of companies owned by MCI Capital Funds, while Pigu.lt, an online retailer in the Baltics, is part of the MCI.TechVentures portfolio.

Sorainen reports that, “the merger will result in the creation of one of the largest e-commerce groups in Central and Eastern Europe, with a plan to exceed annual turnover of one billion euro over the next five years.”

The Sorainen team was led by Partner Mantas Petkevicius and Senior Associate Deimante Pagiriene.

Editor’s Note: After this article was published, CEE Legal Matters was informed that TGS Baltic had advised the MCI and its sub-fund MCI.TechVentures 1.0, which owns SIA Pigu Latvia, on the merger of Pigu.lt and Morele.net. The TGS Baltic team was led by Partner Andra Rubene and Senior Associate Mara Stabulniece, supported by Legal Assistant Martins Galzons.

Dentons has advised a syndicate of four banks, consisting of Bank Pekao S.A., Ceska Sporitelna, a.s., PKO BP, and ING Bank Slaski on the financing of AmRest Group.

On October 1, 2018, the banks amended their 2017 facilities agreement, granting a new facility of up to EUR 190 million to AmRest Group for the financing of capital expenditure, M&A transactions, and general corporate purposes.

According the amended agreement, the banks will also provide up to PLN 580 million, EUR 250 million, and CZK 300 million of term loans to AmRest, as well as a revolving loan of up to PLN 450 million. The latter, Dentons reports, is to refinance the existing indebtedness and finance the growth of AmRest Group in various European countries including Romania, Poland, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Russia, and Spain.

The Dentons team was led by Warsaw-based Partner Mateusz Toczyski and Bucharest-Based Managing Partner Perry Zizzi, Managing Counsel Magdalena Raducanu, Senior Associate Oana Ionascu, and Associate Cosmin Vasilescu.

Dentons has advised Enlight Renewable Energy on contract negotiations for the construction of three solar power plants in Hungary, with an aggregate capacity of approximately 57 MW. The firm also assisted Enlight in obtaining HUF 15 billion (around EUR 45 million) in financing for the project.

The financing documentation was subject to laws in Hungary, Great Britain, the USA, Israel, and Germany. Dentons Counsel Agnieszka Lipska negotiated the facility agreements and all other financing documentation, in addition to coordinating the efforts of the legal teams in all five jurisdictions. Warsaw-based Partner Mateusz Toczyski provided oversight on the financial aspects of the deal with assistance from Associate Lukasz Blaszczak.

Dentons describes Enlight Renewable Energy, a public company traded on TASE, as “the Israeli leader in initiating, developing, funding, building, and operating clean power ventures from renewable energy sources,” and reports that “with current operations in Israel and Europe, Enlight has built and/or invested in more than 130 projects, generating total power of over 500 MW and additional 650 MW are in advanced stages of development.”

Counsel Agnieszka Kulinska drafted the contracts for the construction, maintenance, and management of the solar power plants, the delivery and servicing of the solar panels, and the provision of ancillary services, as well as representing Enlight in negotiations with vendors.

Poland Managing Partner Arkadiusz Krasnodebski supervised the energy-related aspects of the project. Lawyers with Dentons Poland also coordinated the efforts of legal advisors in Hungary.

”In the coming years we will witness accelerated growth in solar energy projects,” commented Krasnodebski. “The European solar power sector is forecast to grow by 40 GW to almost 160 GW by 2022. One factor contributing to this growth will be imports of solar panels from China, the world’s largest producer of these devices – now that the EU restrictions on imports of these panels, introduced in 2013, were lifted early in September. We are also seeing a shift in the attitude to solar energy in various countries. Several weeks ago, Spain’s government did away with the sun tax (‘impuesto al sol’) restricting the use of solar power for one’s own use. This tax was introduced three years ago and has since drawn universal criticism.”

Baker McKenzie has advised Invitro on the October 17, 2018 sale of its Ukrainian laboratory operations to Medicover.

The operations, which consist of about 60 blood-drawing points and one laboratory, are based primarily in eastern and central Ukraine. The transaction is expected to close in early 2019 and is subject to customary regulatory approvals.

Invitro, which was founded in 1995, is a private medical company in Russia, which specializes in high-precision medical diagnostics and the provision of medical services. The company has a network of medical offices in Eastern Europe, operating nine modern laboratories in six countries.

Medicover, which was also established 1995, is an international healthcare and diagnostic services provider. The company, which was founded in Poland, has since expanded to other countries, and now has operations in Germany, Romania, and Ukraine as well. Medicover provides healthcare services via a network of ambulatory clinics, hospitals, specialty-care facilities, and laboratories through two divisions – Healthcare Services and Diagnostic Services.

Baker McKenzie’s team was led by Kyiv-based Partner Olha Demianiuk and included Moscow-based Counsel Dmitry Yeremin.

Baker McKenzie did not reply to our inquires about the deal.