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The litigation and PPP team of VASS Lawyers successfully challenged the decision of APA Canal S.A. Galati to withhold information with a “public nature” on a public acquisition contract to “extend and rehabilitate water and waste water systems in the towns of Tecuci and Targu Bujor, including the rehabilitation of wells in Galati.”

The value of the November 4, 2013 acquisition contract was RON 64.6 million (approximately EUR 14.5 million), excluding VAT. VASS Lawyers’s client was not identified. 

The firm demonstrated to the court the violation of their client’s “fundamental right of access to information related to public funds and their utilization by contracting authorities.” The Bacau Court admitted the claim and asked APA Canal S.A. Galati to provide the qualification documentation, the technical and financial offers submitted by the contracted company, and the actual public acquisition contract signed with it.

According to VASS Lawyers, this favorable decision is an “important step towards increasing the transparency of public acquisitions processes and, automatically, towards an increase in the efficiency with which public funds are managed.”

Egorov Puginsky Afanasiev & Partners (EPAM) has successfully defended the interests of Cortem-Goreltex, a major Russian manufacturer of explosion-proof equipment, in a dispute regarding what the firm calls, “the protection of business honor, integrity, and reputation.”

In November 2013, the Italian companies NUOVA ASP and FEAM claimed to the Commercial Court of St. Petersburg and Leningrad Region that the information distributed by Cortem-Goreltex in their dealings with public authorities about violations found when certifying NUOVA’s and FEAM’s products was misleading. Cortem-Goreltex was accused of violating the law on the protection of competition by disseminating allegedly false information defaming the reputation of the plaintiffs.

EPAM was able to provide evidence that the information provided by Cortem-Goreltex was accurate, and requested a legal enquiry. After this request was approved, NUOVA ASP and FEAM renounced their claims in full.

On September 18, 2014, the Commercial Court of St. Petersburg and Leningrad Region accepted the rejection of the claim and dismissed the case.

The EPAM team was led by Elena Legashova, the Head of the firm’s Defamation Practice in St. Petersburg. Legashova was supported by Associate Alexey Karchiomov.

Rojs, Peljhan, Prelesnik & Partners has advised Hypo Alpe Adria International — the bank nationalized in 2009 after extensive expansion in Austria and former Yugoslavia — transform its Balkan network in preparation for its expected sale by year’s end.

In preparation for the sale, Hypo has been actively restructuring its local entities and transferring their assets into various bad bank or performing entities. As a part of this activity in Slovenia, Hypo has performed a spin-off of a part of the Hypo Alpe-Adria-Bank, the Slovenian banking entity.

The spin-off was performed as a measure of formal corporate restructuring leading to universal succession on the part of the entity obtaining the transferred assets. RPPP reports that this was the first ever corporate spin-off or division of a bank in the history of Slovenia and required approval from the regulatory authority, the Bank of Slovenia. According to RPPP, the transaction “paved the way for other banks to follow with similar restructuring measures.”

Rojs, Peljhan, Prelesnik & Partners advised Hypo Group on all aspects of Slovenian law, and drafted the spin-off and acquisition agreement and prepared all ancillary documentation. The firm also represented the bank in front of the Slovenian regulatory authority that approved the spin-off.

The firm’s efforts were lead by Partner Bojan Sporar, assisted by Senior Associates Ana Grabnar and Simon Zgavec.

VARUL has represented rally athletes Kaspar Koitla and Andres Ots in a dispute with the Estonian Autosport Union.

The dispute concerned the exclusion of their team from a rally stage and the awarding of points in the Estonian Rally Championship 2011. On September 15, 2014 the Harju County Court confirmed that a compromise agreement had been reached between the parties, as a result of which Koitla and Ots were awarded the title of “Fastest team in the Estonian Rally Championship 2011.” In a press release published on the basis of the agreement, the parties acknowledged that the dispute had arisen due to the activities of both parties and to incorrect technical data presented by the International Automobile Federation.  

The Supreme Court expressed a novel opinion in this dispute. According to the Supreme Court, it is possible for participants in a sports event to defend their rights in court if they enter into contracts with the organizers in which the parties also agree on the conditions of cancellation of the results of the event, identification of the winner, etc. Essentially, the Supreme Court acknowledged that sports results can be contested in national civil courts. In addition, the Supreme Court explained that the proceeding in the Estonian Autosport Union’s appeal court, determined by the FIA International Sporting Code, cannot be an obligatory pre-trial proceeding. As a result of this ruling, the Harju County Court accepted the action of Koitla and Ots for the invalidation of their exclusion from a rally stage and for the correction of the points awarded in the championship.  

According to the firm, “this ruling has major implications for the field of sports law, as it shows for the first time that the Estonian legal system enables sports results to be contested in national courts.”

The VARUL team was led by Partner Martin Tamme and Attorney Marko Kairjak.  

Interlegal (Odessa), focused on Shipping and International trade in Black Sea region, has announced a new partner, Mehmet Dogu who will lead the firm`s practice in Turkey.

Mehmet has got more than 20 years practice experience in shipping able to resolve hard cases using his deep knowledge, primarily revolving around shipping.

Interlegal became the first law firm to start practicing in all Black Sea countries. Now the firm serves clients in Ukraine, Turkey, Moldova, Georgia and throughout the region in countries such as Russia, Bulgaria and Romania. 

This article is powered by our friends at UJBL. It was originally published here. 

VEGAS LEX has advised Rosavtodor (the Russian Federal Road Agency) on the negotiation and execution of a concession agreement with RT-Invest Transport Systems for the introduction of a tolling system for vehicles heavier than 12 metric tons.

The firm describes the agreement — which was signed on September 29, 2014 — as kick-starting “one of the largest and most high-profile investment projects in Russia.” The firm claims that “the project will help expand and improve the quality of roads and the related infrastructure in Russia, as — according to experts cited by the firm — the damage that one truck heavier than 12 tons does to the road surface is equal to that done by 20,000 cars. Not wholly coincidentally, perhaps, the firm also estimates that the tolling system will yield an income of around RUB 1 trillion (approximately EUR 20.1. billion) to the Russian budget. 

Pursuant to the agreement, RT-Invest Transport Systems agrees to ensure “a comprehensive implementation of the project”, including design, construction, launch, and subsequent upgrades of the system. The system is to go on stream in November 2015. 

The firm describes the project as “one of the largest concession projects with no government co-financing,”  as it will be fully financed with RT-Invest Transport Systems’ own and borrowed resources.  The concession agreement was worked out and coordinated in one month, which the firm claims broke a record in the Russian and East European business practice.

Rosavtodor was represented by the Advisers’ Group, which includes VEGAS LEX (for organizational and legal issues), the InfraONE First Infrastructure Company (for investment and financial issues), the GLONASS nonprofit partnership (for technical consultancy) and the Navigator Group (for technical supervision). VEGAS LEX Partner Albert Eganyan said that, “this draft concession agreement effectively reflects a balance of the parties’ interests.” Eganyan, who also chairs the VL Partners’ Council and the InfraONE Board of Directors, continued: “I am glad that our team of consultants was of use to the project and the state.”

Tark Grunte Sutkiene has advised on the sale of the Flora office building in Tallinn to Lumi Capital and Estonian private investors.  

According to the firm, the building — which contains 4,400 square meters of gross leasable area — has a long and distinguished history and “has accommodated a great number of successful small and medium-sized businesses.”  The parties have agreed not to disclose the cost of the deal. 

Flora was advised by Tark Grunte Sutkiene Partner Risto Vahimets.

Traila, Stratulat, Almasan, Albuescu has advised World Class Romania on its takeover of World Class Timisoara, its 3 year-old franchisee in the Romanian west. The TSAA work on the deal was led by Partner Silviu Stratulat. 

World Class Romania released a statement explaining the move: “In light of the local market demand in Timisoara in the last 3 years, World Class Romania, a leader in the local wellness industry, … has decided to fully take over the local business of its local franchisee in Timisoara. World Class Timisoara will, as a result, align its quality standards to that of the clubs in Bucharest and Cluj, bringing to Timisoara premium services and facilities.” 

According to the same press release, the newly re-acquired club will require an original investment of EUR 850,000 in its first phase of reconstruction and development. Future investments in the following year are expected.

This article is powered by our friends at LegalMarketing.ro. You can find the original full article here (Romanian).

Tark Grunte Sutkiene has announced that it advised Nordic Capital on its acquisition of the Full Service business from ABB Group, originally reported on by CEE Legal Matters on September 4, 2014.

TGS worked alongside Baker & McKenzie in representing Nordic Capital, while White & Case and LAWIN represented the ABB Group. The transaction is expected to close in Q4 2014.

Tark Grunte Sutkiene Senior Associates Tanel Tark and Rene Frolov assisted Nordic Capital in submitting a notice of concentration to the Estonian Competition Authority and in related proceedings

Linklaters and Kinstellar have advised existing and incoming senior lenders on the structuring and refinancing of EUR 1.4 billion of debt facilities for the Budapest Airport.

The deal involved refinancing the existing 30 banks with both a significantly revised senior facility and entirely new junior debt tranche. According to Linklaters, “the new structure required entirely new and non-standard principles to be agreed between creditors in the light of the restrictions of the Concession-based rights of the airport; agreement between the various stakeholders (Hungarian State, sponsors, senior and junior lenders) as to how the security structure would change in the context of the existing rights granted by the Hungarian State and the Company; and highly engineered reverse-swap arrangements.”

The Linklaters team was led by Infrastructure Partner Ian Andrews, supported by a large team including Associates Ross Schloeffel and En-Min Chua. 

Partner Csilla Andreko led the Kinstellar team from Budapest advising on Hungarian law and in particular on security issues and interaction with the Hungarian state.