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Crido Legal has advised Bonnier Business Polska on the acquisition of 100% of shares in Prawomaniacy Sp. z o.o. from IQ Partners and various individuals. Prawomaniacy is the owner of the ArsLege.pl a web portal, which the firm describes as “a leader in the market of professional on-line testing.”

Arslege offers Poland’s largest database of test questions for those preparing for legal training entrance examinations, professional examinations for appraisers, tax consultants, auditors, surveyors, accountants, civil servants, and detectives, as well as for those preparing for obtaining building licenses and brokers. According to Megapanel, in July of this year ArsLege website was accessed by nearly a quarter million visitors, generating 2.5 million page views.

The acquisition of sites belonging to Prawomaniacy, visited monthly by a quarter million users, enables Bonnier to access very prestigious and attractive groups of professions from an advertising point of view – lawyers, appraisers, architects, accountants, stockbrokers and accountants,” said Patricia Deyna, CEO of Bonnier Business Polska. “This is another step in building a strong position in the Bonnier publishing group in Poland, which is based on digital media.”

Crido Legal’s team included advocates Senior Associate Michal Turkowski and Ewelina Rogowska. An announcement released by the firm included the following comment from Turkowski: “We are pleased that we were able to advise our client on an investment that is considerably strengthening its position in the market and which pushed Bonnier Business Polska to the forefront of business media segment.”

CHSH Cerha Hempel Spiegelfeld Hlawati has provided legal advice to Immofinanz AG in connection with its invitation to bondholders regarding the incentivised repurchase of bonds which are exchangeable into BUWOG shares, and other related transactions, including the successful placement of 8.5 million ordinary shares in BUWOG by an international banking consortium as part of an accelerated bookbuilding process and Immofinanz’s financing of the entire transaction.

Immofinanz invited the holders of its EUR 375 million 1.50% senior unsecured exchangeable bonds due 2019 to exchange the bonds for shares in BUWOG AG on the terms and subject to the conditions set forth in the Incentive Offer Memorandums dated September 1, 2015. The offer is intended to allow Immofinanz to optimize and simplify its capital structure, reduce its overall amount of debt, and improve its financial results. Under the offer, bondholders either receive a cash consideration or take delivery of the number of shares to which they are entitled upon conversion pursuant to the terms and conditions of the bonds, plus a premium. 99.8% of the holders of the exchangeable bonds made corresponding offers to Immofinanz. This transaction, which CHSH advised on, had a volume of approximately EUR 430 million, was settled on September 18, 2015, and was managed by Merrill Lynch International and Morgan Stanley & Co. International plc. 

To finance the incentivised conversion, Immofinanz sold a block of shares in BUWOG AG to institutional investors by way of an accelerated bookbuilding process for approximately EUR 150 million. This placement represented approximately 8.5% of the issued share capital of BUWOG AG. The placement was made on September 17, 2015 by an international banking consortium. CHSH advised Immofinanz on drafting the contract and settling the transaction and provided general advice on financing the transaction as a whole, especially with regard to drawing up the contract. 

The CHSH team consisted of Partners Volker Glas and Thomas Zivny. 

The Esin Attorney Partnership — the Turkish member firm of Baker & McKenzie International — has advised Burak Balik on the sale of the remaining 50% of his shares in Netmarble Turkey to Netmarble Games, a Seoul-based leading mobile game producer and publisher, which had purchased the first 50% in 2013. The deal closed on August 28, 2015, and the price was not disclosed.

Burak Balik was the local shareholder and founder of Netmarble Turkey — the No.1 multiplayer online gaming and entertainment company in Turkey, the Middle East, and Africa. With this transaction, Netmarble Turkey is now a fully owned subsidiary of Netmarble Games.

Partner Muhsin Keskin advised on the transaction, with support from attorneys Berk Cin and Deniz Erden.”This has been the team’s 8th transaction in the Turkish online gaming market in the last two years,” said Keskin. “Advising clients on transactions in the online gaming sector is exciting because it places us at the intersection of Turkey’s emerging tech scene and entrepreneurial spirit. It is also fun to sit down with your client to play video games to get to know your client’s product.”

Tark Grunte Sutkiene has advised the Scandinavian financial group Swedbank on its acquisition of Danske Bank’s personal banking business in Lithuania and Latvia. Danske Bank’s private banking customer business in Lithuania is not part of the sale. Klavins Ellex advised Danske Bank on the deal.

The transaction covers personal accounts, loans, deposits, payment cards and securities. At this stage documents will be submitted to the Competition authorities in Latvia and Lithuania to obtain their approval.

Transfer of the services is expected in the beginning of 2016. The service transfer will affect around 120,000 private Danske Bank customers in Lithuania and 7,000 customers in Latvia. The size of the loan portfolio is approximately EUR 525 million in Lithuania and EUR 116 million in Latvia. Swedbank has over 7 million retail customers and around 600,000 corporate customers and organizations, with 296 branches in Sweden and 149 branches in the Baltic countries. The group is also present in other Nordic countries, as well as in the US and China.

Tark Grunte Sutkiene team in Lithuania was led by Partners Marius Matonis and Vilius Bernatonis, Associate Partner Dalia Tamasauskaite-Ziliene, and Junior Associate Giedrius Svidras. Partner Lina Daruliene led on Competition matters, supported by Senior Associate Rasa Zasciurinskaite. The Latvian team was led by Partner Inese Hazenfusa, supported by Associate Liene Skinke.

The Klavins Ellex team was led by Partner Egons Pikelis, supported by Senior Associate Valters Diure.

Editor’s Note: In March 2016, Tark Grunte Sutkiene announced that it had obtained “unconditional permission” from the relevant competition and financial markets authorities in Lithuania and Latvia for the deal. 

Image Source: swedbank.com

As of October 1, Ozen Keskin will be the General Counsel and Chief Legal Officer of Generali Turkey.

Keskin will rejoin Generali from Bayer, where she has been the pharmaceutical company’s Legal and Compliance Manager since November 2014. Previously, she held the same position with the Trakya Elektrik Uretim ve Ticaret AS (Inter RAO UES) energy company. Her first tenure with Generali was between May 2010 and December 2013, when she held the role of Legal and Recourse Manager. Keskin experience also includes working as a Legal Counsel for Groupama Holding Turkiye between May 2008 and May 2010 as an Associate Attorney with the Saba Ozmen Avukatlik Ortakligi law firm. 

Keskin is a graduate of the Galatasaray University Law School. 

Image Source: generali.com

Yes, they started again. The legal offering of some of the well-known Big Four consulting firms is the highest visible sign that this branch is changing. Lawyering – although you probably don`t like to hear that – will be a business service. And after discussing what objectives you want to accomplish and the funds you need, you will pretty soon get to the “how to make a difference” on the market. Then it`s time to discuss strategy and tactics, and that`s all marketing and communications.

I will start with something you have probably never heard of, or if you have, you never had the time to take care of it: It`s the pyramid of public awareness. 

It turns out that most issues, whether it`s soccer games, politics, or your law firm, can be plotted on a pyramid. At the very top there is the “1%.” They are the key decision makers. In politics that could be a President or Members of Parliament, in soccer it`s the players, referees or club owners. In your law firms it`s … well the older partners, I guess. 

Beneath the 1%, there are about 5% of key influencers. They have direct access or even influence on the key decision makers. In your soccer league that`s the sportswriter or the agents, in politics it`s a staffer or a lobbyist – and in your law firm? … All the other equity partners – at least, I hope so! 

The next level is about 15% of highly informed folks. In general that’s a daily newspaper reader, in soccer it`s the kind of fan who call players by their first name or their nickname. 

In your law firm that’s pretty much every lawyer, perhaps not your intern, and for sure not your HR department – joking! 

And below that, filling in the rest of the pyramid, is the other approximately 79% of us. It`s mass opinion, yellow paper readers. Probably not your typical client as long as you`re not into divorce law. If you are an exclusive law firm you can probably afford to write those folks off. But what if your client is stocklisted? So what if your fate, your future, and your fortune are in the hands of those 79%? Than you`d better be able to reach them. 

Reality is much more complex: Could you imagine that there are issues, where you are part of this 79 % despite the fact that you would imagine yourself as a law firm Partner are within the top 6% bracket? Does this pyramid change when you try to fill in special interest issues? No the pyramid does not change. You`re just part of the 79% then. Did you know that one of the best-sold magazines in German speaking countries is about sampling post stamps? 

So, how much do you know about that? 

The theory of Rational Ignorance explains this. It says that people today are bombarded by information: news, advertising, entertainment, gossip, all coming at us faster and heavier than ever before in human history. One logical response to that sensory overload is to erect barriers. So we set up filters that keep information we don`t want, don`t need, or can`t use. We rationally choose to be ignorant about lots of things that others think are vitally important. 

It`s important to keep in mind that ignorance and stupidity are not the same thing. 

The challenge for you, who wants to communicate and sell the service of your law firm to a perhaps ignorant General Counsel or an even likelier ignorant C-level member, is to be able to convince them to engage your issue or topic. But that’s the issue of the comments to come.

Understand just how challenging that is, and why, is a very good first step!

Georg Baldauf, Founder of Greenberg Advisory, spent 15 years in communications, campaigning, and the media. In the past he worked as the PR Manager of international law firm Wolf Theiss. Previously he had led WPP’s Ogilvy PR Team in Vienna and worked also on an EAME level, advising clients from different sectors, like finance, industry, and politics – campaigning in national elections. He is now focusing on litigation and finance PR. As a qualified communication specialist, he is also working towards finishing his legal degree.

JPM Jankovic Popovic Mitic reports that it provided “full legal support” to Swarovski on its September 3, 2015 official opening of a production facility in Subotica, Serbia.

Swarovski designs, manufactures and markets high-quality crystals, employs approximately 25,000 people in 120 countries. The company has been present in Serbia since the end of 2013 and employs 383 people in Subotica. According to JPM, the company has invested about EUR 22 million in Serbia.

Image Source: swarovski.com

Aequo Partner Oleksandr Mamunya, the Head of Intellectual Property and Dispute Resolution at the firm, has been appointed to the Internet Committee of International Trademark Association (INTA) for the 2016-2017 term. He is the only Ukrainian representative in the Committee.

The INTA is a global association of trademark owners and professionals dedicated to supporting trademarks and related intellectual property in order to protect consumers and to promote fair and effective commerce. The Association’s member organizations represent some 30,000 trademark professionals and include brand owners from major corporations as well as small and medium-sized enterprises, law firms, and nonprofits. Members include representatives from government agencies as well as individual professor and student members.

The Committee develops and advocates the Association’s policy regarding the balanced protection of trademarks on the Internet, as well as monitoring and analyzing developments in treaties, cases, legislation, and regulations in various jurisdictions, and proposing policy recommendations to the Board. Membership in the INTA Committee provides experts with the opportunity to effect change when dealing with important intangible assets.

Oleksandr Mamunya commented: “This is a great honor and an even greater responsibility to be so closely involved in the INTA’s decision-making process. We believe that this cooperation will bring the protection of the IP in Ukraine, especially on the Internet, to a completely new quality level.”

Mamunya is a registered patent and trademark attorney. Since 2003 he has practiced in the areas of Intellectual Property and Litigation. His expertise includes litigation over a number of patents, well-known trademarks, and trade names of many major Ukrainian and foreign companies, among other trademark and patent-related work.

CMS has successfully obtained permission by the Austrian antitrust authorities have for the proposed joint venture of Swissport and DLH Fuel Company mbH, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Deutsche Lufthansa AG. The German competition authority had approved the merger several days prior to the Austrian decision.

The joint venture will deliver fuelling services at ten German and two Austrian airports. In the course of the transaction, Swissport takes over a major stake in AFS Aviation Fuel Services GmbH from Air BP, acquiring sole operational and financial control. 

Swissport is among the leading providers of ground services for passengers and cargo at airports the world over. With about 60,000 employees, Swissport is active at more than 255 locations in 44 countries on five continents and generates consolidated operating revenue of CHF 3 billion. Through the joint venture, Swissport will extend its fuelling services and offer an even wider range of services to its customers. 

AFS has specialised in airport fuelling services and airport tank storage facility management in Germany and Austria since 1986 and is the largest provider of into-plane fuelling services in Germany.

Lufthansa is Germany’s largest airline. The company offers scheduled flights and cargo transport services as well as related services. In 2014, 60 million passengers travelled with Lufthansa in a global route network comprising 235 destinations in 78 countries. Lufthansa has stakes in several fuelling companies in Germany via its wholly owned subsidiary DLH Fuel Company mbH.

A CMS team headed by the Brussels-based antitrust expert Michael Bauer as lead Partner advised Swissport on all antitrust-law aspects of the transaction and handled and coordinated the necessary notification procedures in Germany and Austria. Antitrust expert Dieter Zandler supervised the notification procedures at the Austrian competition authorities. The German and Austrian competition authorities and the Austrian federal cartel prosecutor cleared the proceedings in the first examination phase.

Image Source: swissport.com

BDK has advised Akuo Energy, the French producer of renewable energy, on the development of the first wind power plant at Krnovo, near the town of Niksic, in Montenegro.

Construction began in July, 2015,  and is expected to be completed by the end of July 2016. The output power of the plant will be 72 MW, and the plant will produce 6% of all electricity generated in Montenegro. The project is supported by the EBRD and KfW bank.

BDK Partner Dragoljub Cibulic and Managing Associate in Montenegro Luka Popovic worked on the deal.