Category: News

Cobalt, in cooperation with Setterwalls, has advised SEB and Swedbank on their extension of EUR 185 million syndicated loan facilities to the Euroapotheca pharmacy chain. Euroapotheca reportedly was assisted by TGS Baltic.

Euroapotheca is an international group of companies in the Northern Europe and CEE region managing pharmacy retail chains and wholesale companies in Lithuania, Sweden, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, and Ukraine. The company currently owns more than 660 pharmacies in six countries, employing more than 3800 employees. 

Cobalt’s team in Estonia included Partner Marina Kotkas and Senior Associate Kristjan Kotkas, Counsel Edgars Lodzins and Senior Associate Inga Tenisa assisted from Latvia, and Managing Associate Eva Suduiko and Senior Associate Aurelija Balciune assisted from Lithuania.

TGS Baltic did not reply to our inquiries on the matter.

Brandl & Talos has assisted Bwin in obtaining closure after ten years of preliminary proceedings against charges of bribery.

In 2007, Bwin tried to obtain a Turkish sports betting license. The company invested EUR 2.25 million in the project, but according to Brandl & Talos only received a fake license. According to the firm, “the core of the proceedings pending since then was an investigation into the allegation that there had been a bribe in the course of the attempt to obtain the Turkish sports betting license.”

According to Brandl & Talos, “bribery presupposes that so-called ‘official acts‘ are carried out in breach of duty as a result of bribery payments. However, this has not been the case – as a request for mutual assistance from Turkey submitted by Brandl & Talos now has confirmed.” Consequently, the investigation has been closed.

CMS has advised Kreditech Holding SSL GmbH on the sale of 100% shares in its Czech subsidiary, Kreditech Ceska Republika, to Kancelaria Medius S.A.

Kreditech was sold via a share purchase agreement executed on December 14, 2017 in Prague, with the final post-signing covenant fulfilled on June 30, 2018.

Kreditech ⎯ a German financial services company headquartered in Hamburg ⎯ serves clients in Russia, India, Spain, and Poland. According to CMS, “its product offering includes installment and point of sale consumer loans, and it uses a new approach to credit underwriting purely based on alternative data and machine learning.”

CMS’s work included supporting Kreditech Holding through the entire process of selling its Czech operations, starting with preparing and negotiating the share purchase agreement (which was governed by Polish law) together with the share transfer agreement under Czech law, as well as other post-signing actions related to the transaction on the Polish and Czech markets.

The CMS team was coordinated by the Warsaw CMS Corporate team, which was led by Counsel Rafal Kluziak, supported by Lawyer Jakub Szczygiel. CMS Prague Partner Pavla Kreckova and Senior Lawyer Lucie Hallova assisted on Czech law aspects. Supervision was provided by Warsaw-based Partner Jakub Marcinkowski.

CMS did not reply to our inquiries. 

CEE Attorneys has advised Detska Galaxie, a company belonging to the Ags 92 group, on the acquisition of Feedo e-shop from Windeln.de. Havel & Partners advised Windeln.de.

Ags 92 is a Czech e-shop with products for children under three years of age, operating in the Czech Republic, Poland, and Slovakia.

The CEE Attorneys Prague team involved Partner Lukas Petr, Managing Associate Iveta Koubkova, and Associate Barbora Janebova. The team in Bratislava consisted of Partner Peter Lisiak. The Warsaw-based team included Partner Andrzej Szmigiel, Managing Associate Bartolomiej Grabiecki, and Associate Karolina Samul.

Editor’s Note: After this article was published, Havel & Partners informed CEE Legal Matters that its team consisted of Partner Petr Sprinz and Jan Koval, Senior Associate Silvie Kiraly, and Associates Juraj Petro and Michal Ranostaj.

Primus has advised Belarus’s Mebelain factory on a EUR 20 million loan from the EBRD to facilitate the expansion of its furniture factory. EBRD was advised by Cobalt.

Mebelain is a member of the SBA Group. Within two years Mebelain plans to invest EUR 29.3 million into the development of its factory in Belarus, which, according to Primus, “will ensure a double growth of its production capacity.”

This is already the second senior loan to Mebelain from the EBRD, following its provision of a EUR 5 million senior loan in 2012 to finance the development of a greenfield veneer-faced furniture production plant in Belarus.

Since 2013 the Mebelain furniture factory has operated in Belarus’s free economic zone of Mogilev and manufactures carcass furniture from natural wood veneer panels. 

The Primus team was led by Partner Giedre Dailidenaite.

A German-Czech CMS team has advised Munich-based Leonhard Moll Betonwerke GmbH & Co KG on its acquisition of ZPSV a.s., together with its subsidiaries and production sites in the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, and Slovakia, from the Spanish OHL Group.

As previously reported, the sellers were advised by Weinhold Legal. 

Leonhard Moll Betonwerke GmbH & Co KG, which is part of the Leonhard Moll AG Group, is a leading European manufacturer of concrete railway sleepers, with production sites in Germany, Poland, the United Kingdom and Croatia. ZPSV is the biggest manufacturer of prefabricated concrete elements and concrete railway sleepers in the Czech Republic and has more than 500 employees.

The CMS team was led by CMS Munich Partner Martin Kolbinger and CMS Prague Partner Helen Rodwell and included, in Germany, Partner Marc Seibold, Counsels Andreas Grunert and Bjorn Herbers, and Senior Associate Maximilian Mersch; in the Czech Republic, Partner Pavla Kreckova and Senior Associate Lukas Valusek and Lenka Krutakova, Associates Lukas Vymola and Petr Koral, Junior Associate Jiri Petura, and Junior Lawyer Barbora Sevcíkova; in Bulgaria, Partner Gentscho Pavlov, Senior Associate Maya Aleksandrova, and Associates Ivan Gergov and Desislava Anastasova; and in Slovakia, Partner Peter Simo and Senior Associate Lukas Makara. 

Cobalt has advised Luminor on its successful application to the European Central Bank for permission to merge all its banks in the Baltics.

The merger, which is expected to be completed by January 2, 2019, foresees the full integration of Luminor banks across the Baltics, continuing operations in all Baltic countries through an Estonian bank, with registered branches in Latvia and Lithuania.

Luminor, the joint venture of DNB and Nordea banks, was established on October 1, 2017 (as reported by CEE Legal Matters on October 9, 2017) with the aim of creating a new generation financial service provider in the Baltic states. Cobalt also advised on the creation of Luminor (as reported by CEE Legal Matters on October 12, 2017).

The Cobalt team in Tallinn consisted of Partners Kristel Raidla-Talur, Karina Paatsi, and Egon Talur, Senior Associates Heleri Tammiste, Heili Haabu, Karli Kutt, and Mattias Tammeaid, Associate Mart Blondal, and Assistant Lawyer Julija Kostomarova.

The Cobalt team in Riga included Partners Gatis Flinters and Sandija Novicka, Specialist Counsel Andrejs Lielkalns, Associates Krisjanis Buss and Diana Zepa, and Assistant Lawyer Sabine Vilka.

The Vilnius Cobalt team consisted of Partner Irmantas Norkus, Managing Associate Eva Suduiko, and Senior Associates Aurelija Balciune and Jovita Valatkaite.

CMS has advised Viennese car park operator Best In Parking on its launch of a debt issuance program of EUR 175 million through its finance company.

According to CMS, ”Best In Parking Holding AG brings 40 years of experience in the professional creation and management of parking space.” The company has a total of 139 locations in Austria, Italy, Croatia, Switzerland, and Slovakia, and 63,411 parking spaces on-and-off street.

The  CMS team assisted Best In Parking with due diligence in Austria, Italy, Croatia, and Slovakia in preparing the prospectus, and supported Best in Parking during the prospectus approval process with the Luxembourg regulator and during negotiations with the banks.  Lead Partner Martin Zuffer was supported by Vienna-based Attorney-at-Law Philipp Mark and Associate Luciano Duque-Cordero, as well as Partners Sibylle Novak, Peter Simo, and Sandra Lisac, Attorney-at-Law Andreas Goller, Senior Lawyer Helmut Bruckner, and Associate Mariella Kapoun. 

Editor’s Note: After this article was published CEE Legal Matters was informed that Wolf Theiss had advised Raiffeisen Bank International AG and Erste Bank on the deal. The Wolf Theiss team was led by Partner Alex Haas and included Associate Nikolaus Dinhof.

Cobalt has advised MyInvest Estonia on its sale of the Bauhof hardware store chain to Lithuanian hardware store chain Ermitazas, a subsidiary of the Vilniaus Prekyba Group. The buyer was represented by TGS Baltic Lithuania.

Completion of the transaction is subject to merger clearance by the Estonian Competition Authority.

According to Cobalt, while “Bauhof is the leader in building materials and DIY retail market with its 13 stores in Estonia, Ermitasas belongs to one of the largest business groups in Lithuania, Vilniaus Prekyba. Among its biggest subsidiaries are Maxima Group, pharmacy chain Euroapotheca, chain of construction and finishing materials Ermitazas, and commercial real estate development and management company Akropolis.”

In its own press release, TGS Baltic said, that “after the acquisition, it is expected that Ermitazas will be the third largest merchant of construction materials and household items in the Baltics.”

The Cobalt team included Senior Associate Kristjan Kotkas, Partner Peeter Kutman, and Associates Madis Reppo, Liina Saaremets, and Marit Martens.

The TGS Baltic team included Partners Marius Matonis, Dalia Tamasauskaite-Ziliene, Kadri Kallas, and Sander Karson, Advocates Indre Vickaite and Katri Paas-Mohando, and Associate Advocates Ramunas Svencionis and Giedrius Svidras.