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Egorov Puginsky Afanasiev & Partners’ St. Petersburg office has successfully defended the Karel Hadek trademark at the IPR Court of the Russian Federation. The trademark belongs to the Karel Hadek producer of aromatherapy products.

The case involved a third party’s unlawful use of the Karel Hadek trademark and the sale of goods under this trademark within the territory of the Russian Federation. According to EPAM, “proceedings were complicated by the requirement to submit evidence proving the sale of goods and their receipt by certain individuals through electronic payment systems.” On February 17, 2015, the IPR Court of the Russian Federation upheld the rulings in the case without amendments.

The EPAM team included Senior Associate Sergey Korolyov and Associate Maya Chokoraya, both from the Litigation practice of the Firm’s St. Petersburg office.

DZP has advised FB Serwis (a subsidiary of Ferrovial Servicios International, S.L.U. and Budimex S.A.) on its acquisition of Pro Eko Natura — a company based in Dolnoslaski Voivodship, in Poland, that operates a waste treatment plant with RIPOK (Regional Municipal Waste Treatment Plant) status. Going forward, Pro Eko Natura will operate under the FB Serwis Dolny Slask brand.

According to DZP, the acquisition of Pro Eko Natura is “a perfect fit with FB Serwis’s 2012 plan for dynamic expansion on the Polish market, [which] required the involvement of experts having a thorough awareness of and experience in the waste management sector. The client was therefore advised by members of a multi-disciplinary waste management advisory team.”

The transaction was handled by Partner Bartosz Marcinkowski and Senior Associate Karolina Szymczak.

Natalia Belova has become Head of Legal for Food City in Moscow. Food City is the largest European wholesale food distribution center, covering 84.5 hectares, and with 62,000 square meters of warehouse space.

Prior to joining Food City Belova worked for more than 10 years in international FMCG companies such as Heinz, British American Tobacco, and EFES, primarily in the areas of Civil Law, Contracts, Data Protection and Privacy, Marketing & Advertising Law, Alcohol Regulation law, Consumer Law, Competition Law, and IP. As project leader she managed the merger of Heinz and the Russian company Petrosoyuz, and helped facilitate the global integration process following the merger of the EFES and SABMiller beverage companies.

Belova graduated from law faculty of the Moscow State Linguistic University in 2003 with honors.

CHSH’s ongoing pro bono relationship with DisAbility Performance Social Enterprise (DPSE) took the form most recently of assisting the Viennese business consultancy that advises companies on social issues and helps them use the potential of people with disabilities, both as customers and employees, on obtaining financing in the form of profit-sharing capital from BonVenture Fonds, Munich. CHSH described the investment as “an important step toward strengthening the social business sector in Austria, which compared to the rest of Europe still has considerable growth potential.”

According to CHSH, DPSE’s social mission is “to harness the power of our economy to help create a barrier-free society.” Co-Founder Gregor Demblin, who is himself disabled, explains that:”All modern studies agree that 15% of the population are directly affected by disability. A huge target group, whose potential has not yet been discovered by the majority of companies.”

CHSH Senior Partner Benedikt Spiegelfeld commented on his firm’s assistance to DPSE: “CHSH regularly offers pro bono services for important social projects and good causes such as this. Aside from the intellectual challenge of capital financing where the provider shares in the profits of the business, there is also the satisfaction from having collaborated on a project that makes a great deal of sense in social terms and having helped young, courageous and idealistic entrepreneurs implement a visionary idea.”

The CHSH team consisted of Senior Partner Benedikt Spiegelfeld, Partner Heinrich Foglar-Deinhardstein, and Associates Jakob Hartig and Karl Dreihann-Holenia.

Herbert Smith Freehills has advised Carlyle International Energy Partners (CIEP), part of the Carlyle Group, on its agreement to purchase the entire Romanian business of Sterling Resources. Local law advice to Carlyle was provided by Pachiu & Associates in Romania, and Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt in Canada. Musat & Asociatii advised Sterling Resources, along with Burness & Paull. The acquisition includes license blocks 13 Pelican, 15 Midia, 25 Luceafarul, and 27 Muridava, all located in the Romanian Black Sea.

The purchase will be structured as a corporate acquisition of Sterling’s wholly-owned subsidiary Midia Resouces SRL and is expected to complete by the end of the second quarter of 2015, subject to typical conditions, including statutory Romanian approvals and the consent of certain participants in the Romanian concessions. 

In addition to the initial consideration paid for the acquisition of Midia, CIEP will also fund the future development of the assets, which is expected to constitute a sizable inward investment into Romania. The development project will focus on drilling, infrastructure construction, production and sale of gas to market. The current Midia team will remain in place, with additional resources added to deliver this important project, with the aim of the company becoming a significant regional energy player in the near term.

Marcel Van Poecke, the Head of Carlyle’s international energy team, said: “We are investing in the future of energy for South East Europe. Our team’s expertise and resources can help deliver the production capacity and infrastructure needed to ensure the company becomes a significant regional gas producer.”

CIEP is a USD 2.5 billion fund that invests in global oil and gas exploration and production mid- and downstream and oil field services, refining, and marketing in Europe, Africa, Latin America, and Asia. 

The Herbert Smith team was led by Corporate Energy Partner Anna Howell, Senior Associate Laura Hulett, and Associates Ian Williams and Natalia Camargo Barros, with assistance by Tax Partner Isaac Zailer, Finance Partner Thomas Bethel, Senior Associate Heather Woodward, and Associate Camilla Grundy. Anna Howell commented: “We were extremely pleased to work with Carlyle on what is a strategically important investment for their energy investment platform.  This deal demonstrates that there are buyers for quality oil & gas assets even with the drop in the oil price. “  

Sterling Resources was advised by Musat & Asociatii Partner Cleopatra Leaahu and Tax Partner Razvan Graure, as well as the Fidexpert, the Romanian accounting firm.

In 2014, Musat & Asociatii advised Sterling Resources on its sale of 65% of it shares in the offshore Midia XV deep water perimeter (originally reported on by CEE Legal Matters on February 3, 2014).  

The Kyiv office of CMS Cameron McKenna has acted for Horizon Capital and Zubr Capital in relation to the sale of their stake in MTBank, the largest private bank in Belarus, to a local investor.

The CMS team was led by Partner Graham Conlon, who commented: “We are delighted to have advised the clients all the way through this complex sale process and to have helped bring the deal to a successful completion.” 

Conlon’s team included Counsel Olga Belyakova and Senior Associate Tetyana Dovgan.

Aequo has successfully represented Reverta in the Upstar Continental Ukraine bankruptcy, in a case heard by the Superior Commercial Court of Ukraine. Upstar Continental Ukraine had guaranteed the fulfillment of obligations under facility agreements concluded between an unnamed English company and Reverta, a Latvian assets management company. The court of first instance court had ruled that Reverta should be taken off the creditors list.

The Superior Commercial Court of Ukraine reversed the lower court’s decision, ruled that Reverta’s claims were — in the words of Aequo — “illegally withdrawn from the creditors list, and sent the case to the first instance court for a new liquidation proceedings with due consideration of Reverta JSC’s claims.”

The Members of the Aequo Dispute Resolution team working on the matter included attorneys Yevgen Levitskyi and Myroslava Savchuk, both working under the supervision of Counsel Pavlo Byelousov.

Squire Patton Boggs has advised MCI Management, the leading investor in the Auctionata online auction house’s series C financing round with a total new investment of EUR 42 million (USD 45 million). Auctionata — which was represented by Hogan Lovells — also welcomed Hearst Ventures from New York (which was represented by Taylor Wessing), leading growth investor Kreos Capital from London, and Yuan Capital from Hong Kong as new investors.

All existing investors participated in the round, among them Earlybird, e.ventures, Kite Ventures, Raffay Group, TA Ventures, Bright Capital, REN Invest, and Holtzbrinck Ventures. 

Sources report that the funding will be used to further grow leading auction categories like Watches, Classic Cars, Wine, Jewelry, Design, Contemporary Art, Fine Art, Antiques, and Asian Art, to prepare the launch of new categories such as Musical Instruments and Memorabilia, Architectural and Garden, Diamonds, and Luxury Real Estate, and to further develop the livestream auction format and to grow the global seller and buyer base in general. 

Auctionata’s founder and CEO Alexander Zacke says of the financing round that: “Since the launch of the weekly live stream auctions in May 2013, Auctionata has grown considerably and has successfully positioned itself among the global leaders for online auctions of art, antiques and luxury collectibles. In the future Auctionata will focus on efficient growth and thereby lay the ground for both organic and non-organic category and geographic expansion.” 

The Squire Patton Boggs lawyers team included Partners Michal Karwacki (in Warsaw) and Eveli Lume and Sepp Wohlfarter (in Berlin). The firm’s work included the due diligence and negotiating the shareholders and investment agreement.   

Editorial Note: After the original publication of the article, Roedl & Partner has announced that it advised MCI in all business and tax issues of the stake acquisition process, while “as regards legal matters, MCI received legal assistance from Squire Patton Boggs.” The Roedl team advising MCI included Partner Christian Hellbardt, Associate Partners Cyril Prengel and Florian Kaiser, Senior Associates Tobias Beine and Christoph Lebschi, and Associates Gokhan Aslan and Julian Schubert.

Wolf Theiss has announced that Frank Diemer has agreed to join the firm as a Partner in Sofia. At the same time, the firm announced a Managing Partner “Relocation” with Ron Given becoming the Co-Managing Partner of the Warsaw office and Luka Tadic-Colic replacing him as Managing Partner of the Zagreb office. In addition, the firm announced six new Partner promotions across the region.

A dual-qualified German and Italian lawyer, Diemer has worked for Deringer, Tessin, Herrmann & Sedemund in Cologne, Pavia & Ansaldo in Milan, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in Milan/London, Agnoli Bernardi e Associati, Orrick, Diemer & Partner | TRIGON, and — most recently — Studio Diemer. According to Christian Hoenig, Diemer will “focus on helping Italian investors and their advisors with CEE/SEE opportunities.” Anna Rizova, the Wolf Theiss Office Managing Partner in Sofia, commented: “Frank has lived and worked in Italy the last 25 years and is fluent in Italian, German and English. Italian law firms and their inbound clients will see his clear and pragmatic legal advice as true added value, whether they are making first time investments or expanding upon existing ones. He has hit the ground running and we are already seeing significant results.”

Given first joined the firm in 2008. Previously he was the Senior Vice-President and General Counsel of the Argo Group in San Antonio for 2 years and a Partner with Mayer Brown, a firm where he spent little over 30 years before that. He leaves his position as Managing Partner in Zagreb after 7 years in that capacity to co-head Wolf Theiss’s Warsaw office with Peter Daszkowski, who said of the new addition to his office that: “We have a great team in place and we are confident that Ron’s experience and leadership will enhance and compliment our work in immeasurable ways.” Horst Ebhardt, Head of the firm’s Corporate Practice, added: “We are confident that our existing and future clients will be responsive to Ron’s international reputation, his business acumen and his deep understanding of European, American and Asian markets. We are very pleased that he has accepted this new role and we know he will be an integral and strategic leader for our Warsaw team.” Given also remains a Senior Partner in Wolf Theiss’s Prague and Kyiv offices. 

Tadic-Colic will assume the role of Managing Partner of the Zagreb office, and will continue heading its corporate practice.. He first joined Wolf Theiss in 2008, after time with both Babic & Partners and Law Office Sikiric. On Tadic-Colic’s appointment, Ron Given said: “Luka has been instrumental in the development of our terrific practice in Croatia. He is already the first choice among our clients for mandates that really matter. Luka’s taking on of this important role concurrently with Dalibor Valincic’s partnership promotion [see below] confirms Wolf Theiss’ commitment to the Croatian market and further assures that our team there will remain best in class.”

In the same press-release, Wolf Theiss announced that six of its lawyers have joined its partnership: Dalibor Valincic (Zagreb, Dispute Resolution), Karl Binder (Vienna, Real Estate and Construction), Silvia Fessl (Vienna, Procurement), Hartwig Kienast (Vienna, Corporate/M&A), Karl Koller (Vienna, Real Estate and Construction), and Roland Marko (Vienna, IP/IT).

The opening of the Ionescu Miron law firm in Bucharest was announced today, with Romanian lawyers Corina Ionescu and Ana-Maria Miron as co-Managing Partners.

Ionescu, who started her legal career in the Banking practice of Nestor Nestor Diculescu Kingston Petersen, became a Partner in that firm before becoming one of the founding Partners of Bulboaca & Asociatii. She specializes in Corporate Law, Mergers & Acquisitions, Banking, Project Finance, Privatisations, and Structuring.

Miron, who recently left the position of Partner and Co-Head of Tax Advisory Practice at Nestor Nestor Diculescu Kingston Petersen, specializes in Tax Law Advisory for both domestic and foreign companies, Individuals Taxation, and Tax Dispute Resolution.

Ionescu commented: “The economic environment is changing rapidly and unpredictably, and the role of the business lawyer is changing, too. In these challenging times, providing quality legal advice has become, by itself, not enough. The business lawyer must also be a trusted advisor and a true partner for her clients. And that is why Ana-Maria and I have come together to build a strong law firm with a view to contributing to the legal market in a lasting and meaningful way. We are putting together our extensive experience, knowledge, decision-making skills, and deep understanding of the Romanian and regional economy to deliver a higher level of service to our clients. The goal will be to focus on steady growth over the medium term with a view to becoming one of the top 15 firms in the market.”  

Miron added: “We have known each other for 20 years and worked together for much of that time. We trust each other, both personally and professionally. As we share the same vision and understanding of the clients’ expectations in today’s world, our aim is not just to provide high quality legal services. We also aim to look after our clients’ business interests and priorities, and we will do this with a fresh and practical approach and the flexibility associated with a dynamic team, connected to the new realities.”