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SPCG has announced that it won a dispute for the Town of Zakopane involving charges that the Zakopane Council’s Resolution of December 15, 1999, No. XV/140/99, on the study of the conditions and directions of spatial management for the town, was invalid.

The proceedings were initiated by a complaint filed pursuant to Poland’s Article 101 of the Act on Municipal Government. The Complainant asserted that the Study was made in breach of its legally protected interest and, further, that the Study had been issued in violation of the law.  

The case was heard by the Regional Administrative Court in Krakow and then, as a result of cassation complaints filed by both Parties, by the Supreme Administrative Court (NSA) in Warsaw. By judgment of December 12, 2014, the NSA dismissed the cassation complaint from the Complainant and endorsed the Council’s arguments, finding, among other things, that there were no grounds for declaring the Study invalid since its adoption had not involved a breach of the law.  

According to SPCG, “the NSA’s judgment is of major importance in the context of the local spatial development plan now drafted by the Town of Zakopane.”

The SPCG team on the matter included Jakub Gorski and Agnieszka Kubala.

Wolf Theiss has announced that it advised Austria’s Gerlinger Holding on the acquisition of the Mitros meat processing plant as part of the insolvency proceedings of Industrija mesa SL Mitros AD Beograd.

Mitros Meat Industry — established in the 1950s — played a significant role in Yugoslavia’s meat processing industry, at one point employing as many as 1,250 people. It was first privatized in 2005, but the company went into bankruptcy four years later, by which time it had shrunk to only 150 employees. Two more unsuccessful attempts to sell the company followed, before — on January 16, 2015 — the creditors’ committee of Mitros accepted Gerlinger’s EUR 800,000 offer to purchase the industrial slaughterhouse and can factory.  

Gerlinger has production plants in Hungary and Romania, which employ around 800 people. Mitros is its third plant, and it has been announced that its output will be the highest in the company. Reports suggest that Gerlinger Holding’s goal is to invest up to EUR 20 million in the factory, hire more than 1,000 workers, and export its products to China and Russia. Gerlinger Holding owner Johann Gerlinger is reported to have said that “I knew that, if we want to build special ties with Russia, we have to go to Serbia.” Gerlinger has also announced that his company will introduce European production standards and help Mitros regain the glory that it had in the former Yugoslavia. 

According to a statement released by Wolf Theiss, “the handover of keys to the new owner of the Mitros meat processing plant in Sremska Mitrovica, Serbia, was a great ceremony attended by the Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic, who noted that the arrival of Gerlinger Holding is a significant event for Sremska Mitrovica, the Vojvodina province, and Serbia because the Mitros factory – which was the pride of the country for decades, only to be destroyed in the period from 2005 to 2009 – will be renewed on a healthy foundation.”

Dorda has acted as Austrian counsel to the French long-term care ORPEA Group in the context of its acquisition of SeneCura Kliniken und Heimebetriebsgesellschaft m.b.H., an Austrian group for nursing care services. SeneCura was advised by the Klemm law firm.  

The ORPEA group is a European leader in the field of elderly care. Founded in 1989 and listed at Euronext in Paris since 2002, the group operates more than 520 nursing homes with more than 52,000 beds in France, Belgium, Germany, Spain, Italy, and Switzerland. It will acquire all of SeneCura’s approximately 55 health care and nursing facilities in Austria and the Czech Republic. Under its new owner, according to a statement released by DBJ, “SeneCura’s brand values and care standards will be maintained and the group’s expansion strategy will be continued.”

The closing of this transaction is still subject to approval by the antitrust authorities. A positive outcome is expected in the next couple of weeks.

Acting as the international lead counsel to ORPEA was a team from Bredin Prat in Paris, led by Corporate Partner Brigitte Leclerc. The DBJ M&A team was led by M&A Partner Martin Brodey and Attorney Klaus Pfiffer, and included Associates Jakob Karte and Lukas Schmidt. Austrian competition law matters were handled by Elisabeth Konig of the firm’s antitrust team.

The Averus law firm in Lithuania has announced that attorney Povilas Karlonas was promoted to the firm’s partnership. Karlonas — the Head of Commercial Law Practice at the firm — joined Averus in 2012 after spending 6 years with Sorainen.

He specializes in real estate, corporate, PPP, and transaction finance matters, as well as in disputes. According to a statement released by the firm, in the past year Karlonas “advised and represented such clients as KLASCO, Neringa City Municipality, Klaipeda City Municipality, UAB Litana ir ko, Greencarrier AS, Mata Consulting, and Advantec in transactions and various commercial law issues. 

Povilas received his law degree (2007) and a Master’s in Law (2008) from the Mykolar Romeris University in Vilnius.

CHSH has advised CA Immo on the sale of the 6,400 square meter Buda Business Center office complex in the second district of Budapest to an open-ended fund managed by Diofa Fund Management under the terms of an asset deal.

Established in 2014, the real estate fund managed by Diofa Fund Management primarily invests in retail properties and office premises and is marketed via the branches of the Hungarian savings bank sector.

Founded in 1987, CA IMMO specializes in office properties in the capital cities of Central Europe. It controls property assets of approximately EUR 3.6 billion in Germany, Austria, and the countries of Eastern Europe.

“We’re pleased to have advised CA Immo in connection with this transaction,” said Mark Krenn, who heads up the CEE Real Estate & Construction Practice Group at CHSH. “In doing so, we’re underscoring the cross-border expertise of our real estate practice.”

“The extremely short time frame was a particular challenge that we were able to successfully overcome for our client,” said Wilhelm Stettner, Managing Partner at CHSH Hungary. “The sale is a further indication that the Hungarian real estate market is recovering. The number of transactions has constantly been increasing since 2013.”

The CHSH team consisted of Krenn, Stettner, and Budapest-based Attorney Gyorgy Molnar. 

BDK Advokati/Attorneys at Law has announced that it advised TabTale on the acquisition of Serbian computer and mobile game developer Level Bit, advised by JPM Jankovic Popovic Mitic. Other details of the transaction, including the value, were not disclosed.

TabTale is a global creator of interactive books, games and educational apps, with a proprietary platform designed for rapid development of high-quality content for smart devices. The company was founded in 2010 and remains headquartered in Israel, though it has operations in six countries: Israel, US, China, Macedonia, Bulgaria, and Ukraine. Level Bit has over 10 years of experience in game development. The target games were Genesis Rising (PC), RISE TO FAME (Android and IOS), JANE WILDE (Android and IOS), MS. KONG (Android and IOS), POP THE FUZZY (IOS), with two more games currently in development and expected to be released in Q2 for all major mobile platforms.

The BDK team that acted on the transaction consisted of Partners Mirjana Mladenovic, Ana Jankov, and Bogdan Ivanisevic. 

The JPM team advising Level Bit was led by Partner Jelena Stankovic and included Senior Lawyers Stefan Dobric and Boja Sunderic.

Egorov Puginsky Afanasiev & Partners have announced that it supported AKB Souyz in its successfully completed securitization of a part of the Bank’s mortgage portfolio.

The transaction provided for an offering by an SPV (mortgage agent) of two tranches of bonds with different priorities, secured by a pledge over a single mortgage pool.

The senior tranche of bonds has been offered publicly, and has been secured with the guarantee of the Agency for Housing Mortgage Lending, in addition to the pledge over the mortgage pool. The junior tranche of bonds, obligations of which are performed only after the fulfillment of obligations under the senior tranche, has been privately offered in full for the benefit of AKB Souyz, which improved the credit quality of the senior-tranche bonds.

The Egorov Puginsky Afanasiev & Partners team was led by Partner Dmitriy Glazounov and included Associates Vladimir Goglachev and Maxim Baryshev.

Bird & Bird has advised Armacell International, a world leader in flexible insulation foams for the equipment insulation market and also a leading provider of engineered foams, on the acquisition of the Turkish insulation materials manufacturer OneFlex (Das Yalitim Sanayi ve Ticaret Anonim Sirketi).  

On matters of Turkish law Armacell was supported by BTS & Partners, the Turkish firm with which Bird & Bird entered into a cooperation agreement in July 2014. The three sellers were advised by Kerem Gencer of the Gencer Law Firm. The sale price of the acquisition was not disclosed.

According to a Bird & Bird press release, “this acquisition significantly strengthens Armacell’s position in Turkey, where the company previously has been represented by a domestic licensee.” 

Armacell is a producer of fllexible insulation foams for the equipment insulation market and also a leading provider of engineered foams. The Advanced Insulation business develops flexible insulation foam products for the insulation of mechanical equipment, including commercial and residential construction, industrial applications, and the oil and gas industry. The Engineered Foams business develops light foams for use in a wide range of end markets where weight and robustness are of critical importance such as in the automotive, industrial, and wind energy sectors. The company has 21 manufacturing plants in 14 countries on four continents.

OneFlex, which maintains headquarters in Istanbul and its production base in Bursa, specialises in producing and selling insulation for building technology that is based on flexible, closed-cell elastomeric insulation materials.

Armacell was advised by Bird & Bird Partners Alfred Herda and Patrick Sinewe, and Associates Stefanie Orttmann, Florence Brauch, and Alexander Bellheim. The Bird & Bird and BTS & Partners teams were instructed by Armacell General Counsel Jan Bir.

Vasil Kisil & Partners has reported that it acted as legal advisor on Ukrainian aspects related to the sale of the insolvent Liepajas Metalurgs to the Latvian subsidiary of the Ukrainian KVV Group — and that the EUR 107 million sale has now closed.

Liepajas Metalurgs had stopped producing steel in May 2013, and declared insolvency and was put up for sale in 2014. 

As previously reported, Glimsted advised Liepajas Metalurgs on matters of Latvian law. Vasil Kisil & Partners reports that it advised the seller on Ukrainian law matters, reviewed the transaction documents, conducted corporate due diligence, and issued legal opinions to the seller and its major creditors.

Also as previously reported, AstapovLawyers advised the KVV Group. 

The VKP transaction team was led by the Partner Oleg Alyoshin and Counsellor Anna Sisetska, and included Associates Olena Nikolenko and Darya Bogatchuk.

Vilau | Associates has confirmed the departure of former Partner Ionut Lupsa. Lupsa originally decided in the September 2014 split of Vilau & Mitel to continue his activity with Vilau | Associates. Now has he left the team together with Senior Associate Ioana Buru and will set up Lupsa & Associates.

Dragos Vilau, Managing Partner of Vilau | Associates stated: “We regret the departure of our colleague, whose contribution to the succesful launch of Vilau | Associates was and is apprecieated by the entire team. Personally, I regret the departure of a business associate that I have appreciated and suported in recent years and, together with whom we took on the challenge of creating a new model of success in the business legal field through the continuous push for the highest ethical and professional standards. We respect his right to opt for a different professional path and wish him success going forward. As for us, we remain commited to the professional and ethical standards that we have been promoting until now and remain convinced that only through them we’ll be able to further consolidate the strong reputation we enjoy today.” He added: “The Vilau | Associates project is essentially created around a team. Marius [Barladeanu], Catalina [Ana], Teodor [Hnatec], Ana-Maria [Mincu], Irina [Mitrofan], and Ion [Dorabat], to name just the Managing Associates of the team, are lawyers with a considerable experience in numerous practice areas such as M&A, corporate, competition, finance, IP, real estate, litigation, insolvency, TMT, and labor, and their team spirit gives us confidence as to the future professional common path.”

With the departure, the team now has 3 Partners, including Vilau.