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Dentons has advised Globe Trade Centre S.A. (GTC) in the acquisition of the Duna Tower in Budapest. The seller of the office building, Duna Tower Ingatlanhasznosíto es Kereskedelmi Korlatolt, was assisted by Wolf Theiss on the deal.

While the exact selling price was not announced, a GTC press release referred to it as reflecting approximately 7% yield on current rent income with actual 80% occupancy.

GTC is a Warsaw-based CEE commercial real estate company. In its November 19 press release announcing the deal it described the Duna Tower as “an iconic office building that dominates the skyline of Budapest’s Vaci Corridor.” Inaugurated in 2006, the 60-meter-high building is a 16-floor twin-tower Class A office building on the Pest side of Arpad Bridge, with a total gross leasable area of 31,500 square meters. 

GTC CEO Thomas Kurzmann commented: “We are delighted to announce the acquisition of the Duna Tower in Budapest. Following the successful completion of our capital increase, we are now ready to put our expertise and financial resources to work to pursue our growth strategy. The acquisition of the Duna Tower marks the next significant milestone, after launching construction works on GTC’s own development projects of over 90,000 square meters GLA in Poland and Serbia this year.”

Robert Snow, the CEO of GTC Hungary added: “The team at Dentons delivered a high quality and full service legal solution to assist us on this important addition to our portfolio, and we were delighted with our partnership with them.”

Judit Kovari, Partner and Head of Denton’s Real Estate group said: “We are very proud to have had the opportunity to support GTC in this high-value transaction. This deal demonstrates the continuing potential for cross-border real estate transactions in the current CEE/SEE environment. It also pairs an active and dynamic acquirer with a value-accretive asset which can be further enhanced as part of the new ownership’s growth strategy.”

Wolf Theiss Partner Janos Toth noted that the selection of the buyer was the result of a nearly 5-month exercise that included “planning and running a 3+1 stage competitive European tender process, the legal details of which we also designed/handled for our client.”

The Dentons team in Budapest was led by Kovari, supported by Of Counsel Marcell Szonyi and Associates Anna Gerendas and Zsofia Lascsik.

In addition to Toth, the Wolf Theiss team consisted of Associates Mark Chiovini and Zoltan Bodog. 

Image Source: celand.hu

On November 25, Everlegal officially announced its launch on the Ukrainian legal services market as a full service law firm.

The new firm starts with four partners, two of which come from the Ukrainian office of Clifford Chance, itself preparing to become an independent local firm — Redcliffe — following Clifford Chance’s exit from the market (reported on by CEE Legal Matters on July 08, 2015).

Yevheniy Deyneko will be Everlegal’s Managing Partner. Focusing on Corporate and M&A, Competition Law, and Commercial Law, he was previously a Counsel with Clifford Chance, where he worked for over 3 years. Before that, in reverse order, he worked as a Senior Associate for CMS for almost 5 years, as an Associate for Chadbourne & Parke for almost 3 years, for KPMG for little over 1 year as a Tax and Legal Consultant, and for B.C. Toms and Co. for one year. 

Everlegal Partner Andriy Olenyuk, who focuses on Banking and Finance and Competition law, also joins from Clifford Chance (where he was a Senior Associate). He joined Clifford Chance as an Associate in 2009 and worked for Magisters as a Junior Associate before that. 

The third Partner, Andriy Porayko, was the Managing Partner of the L.A. Group Law Firm. He worked as an Associate, Advocate for the Stolitsa Group between 2011 and 2014, as a Litigation Associate for the Legal Department of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine between 2008 and 2011, and as a lawyer for Time LLC between 2006 between 2008. 

The fourth and final Partner, Afanasiy Karlin, specializes in White Collar Crime and was the Managing Partner of Belegal before joining Everlegal.

Czech lawyer Radim Ranic has left Schoenherr to become the new Legal Lead for the Czech and Slovak Republics at Pfizer.

A Pfizer press release reports that, in his new role, Ranic “will be responsible for comprehensive legal support to the company’s activities in both countries,” and that he “will focus mainly on counseling in the areas of trade, regulation and promotion of pharmaceutical products, putting them on local markets.”

Prior to joining Pfizer, Ranic worked for seven years in the Prague office of Schoenherr (the first four months at legacy Gleiss Lutz, before Schoenherr took over the office), focusing primarily on commercial law and M&A transactions. He studied law at the Masaryk University in Brno, and received LL.M.s from both the University of Konstanz in Germany (2007) and Essex University in the UK (2008).

Sytnyk & Partners, Attorneys at Law, has advised Robert Bosch GmbH in obtaining a merger clearance from the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine in connection with two indirect acquisitions.

The first acquisition is that made by Robert Bosch North America Corporation, Broadview, USA of shares in Klikwood Corporation (Decatur, USA). The acquisition confers more than 50% of the voting rights in the highest management body of the company.

The second is the indirect acquisition (via Bosch Packaging Technology Limited (Denham, UK)) of shares in Kliklok International Limited (Bristol, UK), that confers 50% or more of the voting rights in the highest management body of the company.

The Sytnyk & Partners team was led by Managing Partner Denys Sytnyk and included Senior Associate Liudmyla Gorodnycha and Associate Anna Synytsya.

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Clifford Chance has advised Bank Gospodardstwa Krajowego (The State Development Bank of Poland) in connection with a facility granted to Boryszew — a multinational corporation in the automotive industry — to finance the reinstatement of production capacity in a factory of plastic injection galvanized elements for the motor industry, located in Prenzlau, Poland.

The investment is being implemented with additional financing from the German federal state of Brandenburg in cooperation with PKO Bank Polski Niederlassung Deutschland.

The investment in Prenzlau is valued at more than EUR 21 million. It is expected that the factory, which has an area of 15,000 square meters, will be operative by the end of 2016. Its modern technological line will eventually have the capacity to galvanize almost 400,000 square meters of plastic elements a year.

The Boryszew Group has 20 factories in eight countries on three continents, and 8,000 employees. The group includes the Maflow group, AKT, Theyson, and Elana, as well as Hutme, Baterpol FLT and ZM, which belong to Impexmetal Huta Aluminium Konin.

Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego was advised by a Clifford Chance team consisting of Warsaw Managing Partner Grzegorz Namiotkiewicz, Counsel Irena Floras, Senior Associate Katarzyna Jakubiak, and Associate Piotr Weclawowicz.

Boryszew was represented by in-house counsel.

When contacted by CEE Legal Matters, Clifford Chance said it had no additional information about the firms representing Brandenburg or PKO Bank Polski Niederlassung Deutschland on the deal.

The Sajic law firm has advised LG Electronics in connection with the application of regulations in Bosnia and Herzegovina relating to the obligations of producers and distributors of electrical / electronic equipment and devices.

The firm’s team consisted of Partner Natasa Krejic and Associate Milica Karadza.

Image Source: TK Kurikawa / Shutterstock.com

The Esin Attorney Partnership — the Turkish member firm of Baker & McKenzie International — has advised Anagold Madencilik Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S. as the borrower, and Alacer Gold Corp. and Alacer Gold Madencilik A.S., on a USD 250 million project finance facility for the expansion of the Copler Gold Mine located in Turkey’s Erzincan province.

The senior secured project facility was provided by BNP Paribas (Suisse) SA, ING Bank A.S. and Societe Generale Corporate & Investment Banking, which were represented by Norton Rose Fulbright on the deal.

Rod Antal, Alacer’s President and Chief Executive Officer, stated, “The facility represents yet another step forward in de-risking the Sulfide Project and further strengthens Alacer’s balance sheet enabling increased flexibility to advance growth. We are extremely pleased to have closed the agreement on very competitive terms with this lending syndicate.”

The deal was led by Esin Partner Muhsin Keskin with support from Senior Associate Gul Incesulu and Associate Deniz Erden in Istanbul. “This is one of Turkey’s largest project finance deals in the mining industry,” Keskin said. “The facility will help Alacer Gold and Anagold advance the Copler sulfide project, extending the life of the Copler gold mine. After years of stability, the Turkish mining industry has experienced rapid growth in revenues and profit over the last 10 years and is expected to maintain sustained growth and healthy profitability in the coming decade. This transaction will definitely contribute to the growth of Turkey’s mining industry, and we are proud to have advised the investor.”

Norton Rose Fulbright did not respond to inquiries about the deal.

Dentons team has advised a syndicate of four Polish banks — Bank Pekao SA (UniCredit Group), ING Bank Slaski, Bank Handlowy w Warszawie (Citi Bank Group), and mBank (Commerzbank Group) — on PLN 653 million (approximately EUR 153 million) financing of the current business activity and refinancing of the existing indebtedness of Inter Cars S.A. and its 12 subsidiaries in Europe.

Inter Cars is a Warsaw Stock Exchange listed company and the biggest automotive spare parts distributor for cars, commercial vehicles in Central and Eastern Europe.

Dentons’ lawyers, supervised on a European level by the firm’s Banking and Finance team in Warsaw, provided legal advice in Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Lithuania, Latvia, Romania, Ukraine, and Cyprus. The firm’s services involved preparing drafts of the finance documentation — including security documents for all 13 of the group’s entities.

The team was led by Senior Associate Bartosz Nojek, supported by Associate Katarzyna Blachnio — both working under the supervision of Partner Mateusz Toczyski, Head of the Dentons’ Banking and Finance practice in Poland and Europe.

Early in 2014 the same team from Dentons Warsaw advised a syndicate consisting of Bank Polska Kasa Opieki, Bank Handlowy w Warszawie, BRE Bank, ING Bank Slaski S.A on a PLN 495 million multipurpose financing to Inter Cars (reported on by CEE Legal Matters on February 19, 2014).

CMS has advised the Aurelius Group on its acquisition of the trade operations of the Valora Group. Switzerland’s Bar & Karrer law firm advised Valora on the sale of its trade division.

The acquisition, which ultimately involved companies in seven jurisdictions (Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Finland), remains subject to merger control approvals pending in several jurisdictions. 

Valora Trade is an exclusive distributor for fast-moving consumer goods in the large-scale retail business and counts 300 well-known food and non-food brand items among its customers. With a total of around 660 employees, Valora Trade will generate gross sales of approximately EUR 400 million in the current year.  Aurelius specializes in taking over and restructuring companies, and it has a track record as a long-term investor, with a number of existing investments in Switzerland.  

CMS’s team was led by Zurich-based M&A Partner Stefan Brunnschweiler, supported by CMS Switzerland lawyers Daniel Jenny, Daniel Burkhard, and Niccolo Grete, CMS Austria lawyers Johannes Trenkwalder and Lisa Oberlechner, and CMS Germany lawyers Maximilian Grub and Sabina Krispenz. 

The Sajic law firm has advised Bulgarian tobacco producer Bulgartabac Holding on the application of regulations in Bosnia and Herzegovina relating to advertising and branding of their products.

Bulgartabac Holding is one of the leading producers of tobacco products in Bulgaria and the region with production facilities consisting of two cigarette factories and one tobacco processing factory. The company entered the Bosnian market two years ago when it became the majority owner of Fabrika Duvana Banja Luka.

The Sajic team advising Bulgartabac Holding consisted of Partner Natasa Krejic and Associate Milica Karadza. 

Image Source: bulgartabac.bg