Category: Uncategorized

Kocian Solc Balastic has confirmed its role in what it calls “one of the biggest real-estate transactions in Europe in the last decade”: the sale of 58 modern logistics buildings with 627,000 square meters of leasable area and 90 acres of development land to the Prague branch of Point Park Properties (a deal originally reported on by CEE Legal Matters on August 28, 2014). 

VGP Group sold the property — the majority of which is in or around Prague — together with its joint venture partner, Tristan Capital Partners. KSP said the private of the transaction was EUR 523 million. The VGP Group will re-invest its part of the proceeds to develop projects in Central Europe and Germany. 

KSB has advised VGP Group since the developer first launched its operations on the market and has provided legal advice on the acquisitions, development, construction, leases and operations of a substantial part of VGP’s property portfolio.

PointPark Properties was advised by White & Case in this deal. 

Kachkin & Partners has successfully persuaded the St. Petersburg City Court that the Architecture and Art Rules of Nevsky Prospekt and surrounding areas adopted by the Committee for Architecture and Urban Planning of St. Petersburg were unreasonable and “unduly prejudiced” claimants’ rights. 

The regulations set forth requirements for buildings’ facades, kiosks, summer-air restaurants, outdoor advertising, and lighting on Nevsky Prospekt — the famous main street of St. Petersburg.

Kachkin & Partners Partner Dmitry Nekrestyanov — working together with Alexandra Degtyarev, a senior lawyer at the FREMM law firm — demonstrated that the Committees for Architecture and Urban Planning had overstepped its authority and usurped the functions of other executive bodies,  had imposed unreasonable restrictions on activities within Nevsky Prospekt, and had created Regulations which were, in some cases, self-contradicting. 

In its decision of August 28, 2014, the St. Petersburg City Court declared the architectural and artistic regulation of Nevsky Prospekt and the surrounding areas invalid.

Tark Grunte Sutkiene has advised the insolvent BAB bankas Snoras on the sale of an A class office building located at J.Dalina 15, in Riga, which was the former headquarters of Latvijas Krajbank.

The building was sold for EUR 10,516,200 after three rounds. The building was acquired by “JD 15” established by “LNK (Latvian Novelty Complex)”, and going forward will be known as “LNK Center.” The sale was concluded with the assistance of Colliers International, an international commercial real estate service company acting as intermediary

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Squire Patton Boggs has announced that it has been retained to represent the Slovak Republic in an ICSID arbitration dispute brought by EuroGas and Belmont Resources.

The two companies claim an entitlement to lost investments that allegedly resulted from the withdrawal of rights to the talc mining area in Gemerska Poloma in 2005 by the Slovak Republic. The claim generally alleges a breach of the Treaty between the United States of America and the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic Concerning the Reciprocal Encouragement and Protection of Investment, and the Agreement between Canada and the Slovak Republic for the Promotion and Protection of Investments. 

The Squire Patton Boggs team includes Partners Stephen Anway, George von Mehren, David Alexander, Rostislav Pekar, and Tatiana Prokopova, Senior Associate Alexis Martinez, and Associate Lenka Abelovska.

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CMS in Poland has advised Asbud on the acquisition of the Karolkowa business park.

The transaction involved a class A office building located at ul. Karolkowa 30 in Warsaw (next to a new underground station at Rondo Daszynskiego), with a total net lettable office, retail, and service area of approximately 17,852 square meters. The project has been developed in line with the rules of sustainable development and meets BREEAM certification requirements. The opening is scheduled for January 2015. Asbud, which has held half the shares, has taken over the remaining 50 percent from CPI (formerly the Ablon Group) becoming the sole owner of the Karolkowa Business Park.

Asbud is a real estate development group active in the Polish market since 1997. It has built several thousand apartments in various projects located in Warsaw and its environs. For several years, the Asbud Group has been expanding into other segments of the real estate market, including office property. 

CMS Partner Przemyslaw Kucharski was pleased with the deal: “It has given us great satisfaction to work on the transaction and assist our long-term client in strengthening its position in the office property market. The transaction was challenging from the legal perspective and required close co-operation between clients and lawyers across four jurisdictions. The satisfaction is all the greater as, after nearly four months of work, we managed to close the project well within the client’s schedule.” 

Tomasz Winnicki, Senior Associate from CMS’s Real Estate and Construction Department, and Grzegorz Paczek from the firm’s Corporate department, were also involved in the transaction.

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GESSEL has reported that Partner Leszek Koziorowski was added to the Supervisory Board of Tauron by resolution at the company’s September 1, 2014 Extraordinary General Meeting. 

Koziorowski heads the GESSEL Capital Markets department, and he specializes in securities law and investment funds. In addition to his role on the Board at Tauron, he is an arbitrator in the Exchange Court and the Court of Arbitration at the Polish Confederation of Private Employers. 

In August, Tauron created a joint-venture with ArcelorMittal, with both companies to hold 50% stakes in Tameh Holding, which will operate heat and power stations in Poland (TAMEH Polska) and the Czech Republic (TAMEH Czech) (reported on by CEE Legal Matters on August 20, 2014). In September, together with KGHM and ENEA, Tauron purchased 30% of the shares from PGE in the special purpose company known as PGE EJ 1, with each of the three companies owning 10% (reported on by CEE Legal Matters on September 5, 2014). 

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The Russian “YUST” law firm has announced the September 1, 2014 opening of its second office, in St. Petersburg.

The firm will operate in St. Petersburg as “YUST Isakov, Afanasiev, Ivanov”, and will be led by Partners Vyacheslav Isakov, Sergey Afanasiev, and Mikhail Ivanov.

YUST was founded in 1992, and — in addition to its new St. Petersburg office — also has offices in Moscow and Kiev.

According to a statement released by the firm, “the decision to open another representative office is due to the growing demand for quality legal services in the north-western region of Russia. The new office will allow law firm YUST more quickly and comprehensively to provide professional assistance to our clients.”

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White & Case has advised EuroChem on a project financing of up to USD 750 million, from a syndicate of international and Russian banks, in connection with its Usolskiy potash project located within Russia’s Verkhnekamskoe deposit, one of the world’s largest potash deposits.

The Mandated Lead Arrangers of the facility, which was signed on August 29, 2014, included Credit Agricole, HSBC Bank, ING Bank, Rosbank, Sberbank, Societe Generale, UniCredit Bank, with Societe Generale acting as both facility and security agent.

“Given the current environment, this is an important deal for the Russian market and we are proud to have worked with our long-time client EuroChem to help them achieve their business goals,” said Evgenia Laurson, a Partner in White & Case’s Energy, Infrastructure, Project and Asset Finance practice in Moscow. “The deal also underlines the strength of White & Case’s project finance team, even in uncertain market conditions.” 

The White & Case team was led by Laurson, Partner Maria Oleinik, and Local Partner Maxim Kobzev, supported by Associates Ekaterina Logvinova, Natalia Kraslyanskaya, and Anastasia Seliankina, all based in Moscow. Specific advice relating to compliance matters, potash mining, and environmental issues was provided by Partners John Higham and Rebecca Campbell and Counsel Tallat Hussain, respectively, from the Firm’s London office.

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