Category: Uncategorized

Withers has successfully represented OMV Petrom — the successor in title to Romanian oil companies SC Rafirom and SC Compania Romana de Petrol SA — in a dispute regarding oil the two Romanian companies received from Marc Rich & Co. (which became Glencore International AG in 1994). Clyde & Co. represented Glencore in the matter.

As a result of the decision by the Commercial Court of the High Court of Justice in London, Glencore was ordered to pay slightly over USD 40 million to Petrom. 

The Court found that Marc Rich & Co. had made 32 shipments to Romanian state firms consisting of cheaper crude blends than promised, and falsified documents, thereby profiting in the vicinity of USD 40.1 million.

The Court’s decision follows two arbitration proceedings going back more than a decade. Petrom filed its U.K. lawsuit against Glencore in 2008. The case is: SC Petrom SA v. Glencore U.K. Ltd. & 3 Ors, High Court of Justice, Queen’s Bench Division, 08-417.

Glencore is expected to appeal the ruling.

Image source: Radu Bercan / Shutterstock.com

KSB has successfully persuaded the Czech Supreme Administrative Court, which decided the case as the court of last resort, that its client Philips was not a party to a cartel agreement between color TV manufacturers, as was alleged by the Czech Competition Authority (CCA).

According to a summary of the case published by KSB, the CCA, the cartel existed under both the former and the current (as of 2001) version of the Competition Act. However, unlike the other parties involved in the cartel, Philips was alleged to have been involved only during the period of the “old” Competition Act. Therefore, according to KSB, the question arose when the penalty time limit actually started or, “in other words, when Philips’ liability for the alleged cartel involvement ceased.” The firm explained that “the CCA and the Regional Court in Brno both held that the time limit started when the cartel agreement terminated, i.e. at a time when (as also acknowledged by the CCA) Philips was no longer involved.” 

Ultimately, the Supreme Administrative Court overturned the Regional Court’s decision, accepting KSB’s argument that, under the principle of personal liability, “the penalty time limit must have started at the moment the company ceased to be involved in the alleged unlawful activity rather than at the moment the cartel was terminated by all the parties involved.” The Supreme Administrative Court held that the penalty time limit had expired even before the CCA started its administrative proceedings and that therefore Philips liability for the alleged competition offense ceased to exist upon its expiration. 

The Supreme Administrative Court overturned both the Regional Court’s decision and the CCA decision – which did not impose a penalty but ruled that the law was violated – and ordered the CCA to terminate its proceedings against KSB’s client.  

FKA Furtek Komosa Aleksandrowicz has advised Elekta in its expansion into the Polish market by means of its March 16 acquisition of RTA — a leading Polish distributor of advanced technologies for medicine.

Elekta is a Swedish company which develops sophisticated, state-of-the-art tools and treatment planning systems for radiation therapy, radio-surgery, and brachytherapy.

The team of FKA lawyers supporting Elekta in the acquisition of RTA was led by Partner Edyta Jusiel.

Prica & Partners is acting as legal advisors to the International Finance Corporation (IFC), in its efforts to recover EUR 70 million in what the firm calls “major [and] unprecedented restructuring/bankruptcy proceedings currently pending in Serbia.”

According to the firm, the process involves twelve parallel bankruptcy/restructuring proceedings related to Koncern Farmakom MB and its 7 affiliated companies, as debtors. 

The firm’s team is led by Junior Partner Milos Vulic.

Egorov Puginsky Afanasiev & Partners has supported aluminum producer UC RUSAL on the March 23, 2015, listing of its ordinary shares on the Moscow Exchange’s First Level quotation list.

According to an EPAM statement, “the decision to proceed with a direct listing [was] made in order to create a technical platform for trading the Company’s shares on the Russian exchange. A direct listing on MOEX is an opportunity to extend RUSAL’s investor base. In particular, it will allow local and international investors that have an investment policy which does not allow them to invest in Russian Depositary Receipts (RDRs), to trade the Company’s shares.”

RUSAL’s Board of Directors approved key parameters of the direct listing program in 2013.The trading of RUSAL shares is expected to commence on March 30, 2015.

The Egorov Puginsky Afanasiev & Partners’ Banking & Finance, Capital Markets team was led by Practice Head and Partner Dmitriy Glazounov. The team also included Senior Associate Roman Malovitsky and Associates Teymur Guseynov, Gilyana Kharaeva, and Elena Trubetskaya.

According to Glazounov, “admission of foreign securities on the Russian stock exchange is a great opportunity to extend the capabilities of the Russian stock market.” He went on to say that “it gives new tools to Russian investors, which were previously available only on foreign exchanges. The listing was made possible thanks to new regulation, including new rules set by the Bank of Russia and MOEX. Advising on this project our team was one of the first to successfully apply the legislative innovations in practice.” 

Motieka & Audzevicius has advised the management team on its purchase of 94% shares in UAB Ilsanta, a wholesale medical company supplying a wide range of medical devices, equipment, and disposables for hospitals and healthcare centers in Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia.

The firm describes the matter as a “typical management buyout (MBO) transaction,” which included the indirect purchase of shares by existing managers of the target, acting through a special purchase vehicle with financing attracted from Nordea bank. The firm also described the transaction as being “of significant importance to the target company, UAB Ilsanta, since it allowed the company to cover its debt to the major creditor, the Icelandic bank Kaupthing, which is currently in winding-up proceedings, and have better access to day-to-day business financing.”

Motieka & Audzevicius advised on the overall structure of the deal, drafted the share purchase agreement and other related documents, and provided legal support for the acquisition of financing provided by Nordea.

Allen & Overy has advised CGN Holdings, part of a consortium of funds managed by Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets, on its acquisition of a further 15% interest in RWE Grid Holding, the largest natural gas distribution network in the Czech Republic. Cestr Partners acted for the sellers, RWE Czech Republic.

The acquisition, which closed on March 20, 2015, brings CGN Holdings’ total stake in the business to 49.96%. According to a statement released by the firm, “this transaction is a continuation of our cooperation with Macquarie, which began in 2012 when we first assisted with the acquisition of 35% stake in RWE Grid Holding.

Czech Republic-based Corporate Partner Jane Townsend led the Allen & Overy team, assisted by Senior Associate Jan Skuhravy.

Dentons has advised Geo Renewables on the December 2014 sale of its shares in a joint venture that owns and operates a 38 MW wind farm in Wroblew in central Poland to the IKEA Group. The other members of the joint venture, Enlight Renewable Energy (an Israeli investor and developer of renewable energy projects), and the China Central and Eastern Europe Investment Co-Operation Fund (“the Fund”), sold their shares to the IKEA Group as well, and were represented by White & Case. 

Dentons also advised Geo Renewables on the exit of the Fund and Enlight Renewable Energy from the project. The Denton’s team was led by Warsaw Managing Partner Arkadiusz Krasnodebski, supported by Warsaw-based Counsel Agnieszka Kulinska and Associate Jan Dubinski. The Fund and Enlight were represented by White & Case Partner Maciej Zalewski and Associate Jacek Polewski. 

More information about the Fund — including its participation in and exit from the Wroblew project — can be found in the article about the Fund’s investment advisor, CEE Equity Investments, that appeared in the February 2015 issue of the CEE Legal Matters magazine.

The Ukrainian mobile operator Kyivstar GSM has extended its contract for legal services with Lavrynovych & Partners through the end of 2015.

According to a statement released by Lavrynovych & Partners, “Kyivstar GSM is a leader in the Ukrainian mobile communications market and has over 26 million subscribers as of February 2015.”

Lavrynovych & Partners has been the “official legal advisor of Kyivstar” since November, 2010. The firm’s representation of Kyivstar is led by Partner Stanislav Skrypnyck, who said: “We are pleased to know that the Client has chosen to work with us for our competence and reputation in the telecommunications market. We highly appreciate our long-term cooperation and the Client’s trust.”