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The Sajic law firm has advised the Lithuanian UKIO BANKAS in the sale of claims against companies located in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Claims have been sold to the PAVGORD company from Bosnia and Herzegovina for a total price of EUR 6.4 million. The price was fully paid at the end of 2014. By purchasing those claims PAVGORD will take the place of UKIO BANKAS in all legal proceedings against companies from BIRAC Group, including bankruptcy proceedings against the BIRAC clay factory.

Sajic cooperated with Tark Grunte Sutkiene in the matter. The Sajic team consisted of Managing Partner Aleksandar Sajic and Partner Natasa Krejic.

Image source: deplhi.lt

Dentons has advised Bank Polska Kasa Opieki, Bank Handlowy w Warszawie, mBank, and ING Bank Slaski on the restructuring of the PLN 495 million (approximately EUR 115 million) multipurpose financing to Inter Cars announced last winter, which was increased to PLN 550 million (approximately EUR 128 million).

Inter Cars is the biggest automotive spare parts distributor for passenger cars, commercial vehicles and trucks in Central and Eastern Europe. The company, which is quoted on the Warsaw stock exchange, has 141 branches in Poland and 85 branches in Europe (Czech, Slovakia, Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Croatia and Romania). The product range of the Company reaches over one million different automotive spare parts for passenger cars and trucks. 

The Dentons team was led by Partners Mateusz Toczyski and Natalya Selyakova and Senior Associate Bartosz Nojek, supported by Associates Nikolay Zhovner and Magdalena Kalinska and Paralegal Viktoriia Lapa.

The Sajic law firm represented Unicredit Bank dd Mostar in the collection of claims in the bankruptcy proceeding against the company SIMA d.o.o. Aleksandrovac.

Sajic estimated the value of Unicredit’s claims at approximately EUR 4.5 million. All facilities, machinery and equipment of the company SIMA were sold in the bankruptcy proceeding. UniCredit Bank dd Mostar acquired EUR 1.1 million from the sale of the assets.

SAJIC Law Firm was represented by a lawyer Aleksandar Sajic.

Schoenherr and Gleiss Lutz have advised Heta Asset Resolution (HETA) on the sale of the Hypo Group Alpe Adria, the South-Eastern European banking network of the former Hypo Alpe-Adria-Bank International, to the Advent International fund and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Wolf Theiss advised Advent International and the EBRD on the deal.

The agreement was executed on December 22, 2014. Wolf Theiss reported the deal as involving “6 banks, 3 leasing corporations and one bank holding … with total assets of of EUR 8.4 billion”, making it, in the firm’s words, “one of the biggest banking-transactions since 2008.”

The network consists of six bank-holdings in Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, and Montenegro. It services 1.15 million customers in 245 branches and has a balance sheet total of EUR 8.4 billion. The sale of the nationalized Austrian Hypo Alpe-Adria-Bank International banking group’s network implements the EU aid-decision of September 3, 2013 to sell or otherwise wind it down.

Schoenherr reports that the preliminary purchase price may be as much as EUR 200 million, depending on the financial results of 2014 and 2015, with EUR 50 million agreed-upon as a minimum investment. Refinancing lines over EUR 2.2 billion of Heta Asset Resolution remain in the SEE Network and will be paid back over time. Closing of the transaction is expected before the middle of next year and is subject to approvals from the relevant regulators and the European Union.

The Schoenherr team advising Heta Asset Resolution was led by Partner Sascha Hodl and included fellow Partners Robert Bachner, Peter Feyl, and Wolfgang Holler, as well as Attorney Thomas Kulnigg and Associate Philipp Kapl.

For Wolf Theiss, the transaction was led by Banking & Finance Partners Andrea Gritsch and Claus Schneider. The firm’s team also included Partners Richard Wolf, Guenter Bauer, and Matthias Unterrieder as well as Associate Zeno Grabmayr, Consultant Christine Siegl, Counsel Roland Marko, Counsel Karl Binder. Local law aspects for the various target banks and leasing companies were handled by Croatian Partner Luka Tadic-Colic, Slovenian Attorney Klemen Radosavljevic, Serbian Partner Natasa Lalovic, and Bosnian Counsel Naida Custovic.

Citigroup acted as investment adviser to Advent and the EBRD, with Deutsche Bank managing the sales process as investment bank. 

Image source: (c) APA (Barbara Gindl)

Soltysinski Kawecki & Szlezak has announced the promotion of Jan Jarmul and Pawel Moskwa to partner, both effective as of January 1, 2015.

Jarmul specializes in M&A transactions and restructuring projects. He also advises the firm’s German speaking clients. He obtained his law degree from Warsaw University in 2004.

Moskwa specializes in M&A transactions, in particular on the FMCG market, restructuring projects and corporate law. He obtained his law degree from Warsaw University in 2005.

Pekin & Pekin has announced a series of partner-level promotions that came into effect on January 1, 2015.

Kemal Serdengecti, already a Partner in the firm’s Corporate/M&A group, was promoted to Senior Partner. The firm referred to “several years of stellar performance leading the largest practice group of the Firm” and to Serdengecti’s “market leading achievements.”

In addition, four Senior Associates were promoted to partner as well. Sezin Guner and Ceyda Tapsin both work in the Pekin & Pekin Capital Markets Practice group, while Yegan Liaje becomes a partner in the Corporate/M&A group, and Firat Yalcin becomes a partner in the firm’s Tax group.

The Warsaw office of Weil, Gotshal & Manges has advised Banco Santander on the introduction of 12.5 billion shares to trading on the main market of the Warsaw Stock Exchange. The firm describes this as “the largest-ever listing of a foreign company and the first listing of a Spanish company on the WSE.”

The first listing of the shares in Banco Santander occurred on December 3, 2014. All of the shares in Banco Santander are also listed on the Spanish stock exchanges and on the Milan, Lisbon, London, New York, Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo and Mexican stock exchanges.  

Banco Santander was established in 1857 and is the ultimate holding entity of Grupo Santander. At present, Banco Santander is the largest bank in the Eurozone and the tenth largest bank in the world in terms of capitalization, which amounted to EUR 89.9 billion at the end of June 2014. In April 2011, Banco Santander became the majority shareholder of Bank Zachodni WBK, the third largest bank in Poland in terms of equity and number of branches. Currently, Banco Santander holds 69.41% of the shares in Bank Zachodni WBK. The stock exchange debut of Banco Santander resulted in an approximately 30% increase of the capitalization of the WSE.  

Lawyers from Weil’s Warsaw office working on the matter included Managing Partner Pawel Rymarz, Regulatory Partner Lukasz Gasinski, Capital Markets Partner Anna Frankowska, and Associates Jacek Zawadzki and Magdalena Medynska.

Gessel has assisted Vigo System during the process of gaining admission of company shares to trading on the regulated market of the Warsaw Securities Exchange and their initial public offering, which comprised newly issued shares as well as shares being sold by key shareholders of the company.

Vigo System is a world leader in production of uncooled photon infrared detectors, which are used in industry, medicine, the military, and research and development — according to the firm, “accordingly, they are in demand among buyers all over the world.” The company is  also an official components supplier to NASA.

Overall responsibility for the project on behalf of Gessel rested with Partner Leszek Koziorowski, and day-to-day management was provided by Managing Associate Krzysztof Marczuk. Also involved were Trainee Advocate Magdalena Szeplik and Trainee Attorney Emanuel Koska.

Image source: vigo.com.pl

Sorainen is advising Dana Holdings, a leading international real estate investment and development group of companies, in connection with the Minsk World development project in the Belarusian capital.

Sorainen describes the project as the largest of its kind, “regulated by special decree of the President of Belarus and aimed at [the] redevelopment of the Minsk-1 city airport area (approximately 300 hectares).”

The firm claims that Minsk World “is to be realized within 13 years, resulting in construction of a modern business district, diverse residential areas, and extensive shopping and leisure facilities.”

The Sorainen team — led by Partners Kiryl Apanasevich and Maksim Salahub — has been advising Dana Holdings “in connection with drafting, negotiating, and concluding the investment agreement with the Republic of Belarus represented by the Minsk City government, encompassing major privileges and guarantees granted to the investor, project commercial parameters, liability issues and proper distribution of rights and obligations between the investor and various state authorities of Belarus.”

The litigation team of Egorov Puginsky Afanasiev & Partners has successfully defended the interests of Transammiak in a dispute with Minudobreniya.

On December 15, 2014 the Samara Region Arbitrazh Court dismissed Minudobreniya’s request that Transammiak be compelled to enter into an agreement for transport of liquid ammonia, accepting Transammiak’s claim that performance of the new agreement would jeopardize industrial safety and would keep the company from fulfilling  its contractual obligations to other parties.

EPAM’s team in the matter consisted of Senior Associates Maria Kobanenko and Alina Kudriavtseva, and Associates Olga Denchenkova and Denis Golubev. The overall coordination of the project was supervised by Partners Natalia Korosteleva and Valery Eremenko.