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The Riga office of LAWIN has advised ABB on Latvian aspects — including business transfer, HR, commercial, and corporate issues — related to the acquisition of its Full Service business unit by Nordic Capital Fund VIII.

White & Case and Baker & McKenzie played lead roles in negotiating and executing the acquisition, which ultimately involved 28 different jurisdictions, with White & Case representing the ABB automation technology group, and Baker & McKenzie representing the purchaser Nordic Capital.

ABB is a leader in power and automation technologies that enable utility and industry customers to improve their performance while lowering environmental impact. The ABB Group of companies operates in 100 countries and employs about 145,000 people.The ABB Full Service business unit is a leader in industrial maintenance outsourcing services in Europe, with a particularly strong position in the Nordic region, and a global presence employing over 2,500 service professionals in 30 countries around the world.

The LAWIN team was led by Partner Filips Klavins and Associate Reinis Sokolovs.

Stockholm-based Partner Mats Sacklen led Baker & McKenzie’s team on the global deal, along with Partner Anders Fast. They were assisted by Senior Associate Jannan Crozier in the Firm’s London office, among many others.

The White & Case team was led by Helsinki-based Partner Timo Airisto. Airisto was assisted by Partners Janko Lindros, Alexandre Jaurett, Bertrand Liard, Nicholas Greenacre, and Peita Menon, and Associates Alli Soralahti, Joose Tolonen, Leo Catafau Castellet, Jean Paszkudzki, Sarah Taylor, David Nisbet, and Laura Hoyland, among many others.

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SORAINEN has announced that it is accepting applications on its website for the Latvian scholarship it provides for 2014/2015.

According to the firm, “The scholarship is designed for BA students (except first years) and MA students at the LU Faculty of Law. The scholarship amounts to EUR 3,000 for the academic year and its purpose is to support students of the LU Faculty of Law during their studies in order to increase their interest in research work in their chosen field of study.” The deadline for applicants is October 1, 2014.

The scholarship’s commission has six officials, including SORAINEN Partner Agris Repss.

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Vilau & Mitel is advising STRABAG in the acquisition of Bank of Cyprus assets related to Societatea Companiilor Hoteliere Grand (GHES), the owner of the JW Marriott Bucharest Grand Hotel.

According to the firm, the acquired assets were: (i) a facility agreement between GHES, as borrower, and Bank of Cyprus – Romania Branch, as lender; (ii) 1,474,482 shares issued by GHES to an affiliate of the Bank, representing 35,292% of the issued share capital of GHES; and (iii) a subordinated loan agreement between GHES, as borrower, and an affiliate of the Bank, as lender. The sale is subject to the fulfillment of various conditions and is expected to be finalized by the end of September 2014. 

The Vilau & Mitel team was coordinated on the M&A side by Partner Iuliana Dejescu, supported by Senior Associate Ana Maria Mincu and Associate Andrei Caloian. The Anti-trust team was led by Senior Partner Dragos Mihail Vilau, Senior Associate Catalina Ana, and Associate Ana-Maria Georgia.

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Dentons has announced that as part of its continued commitment to growth and investment in Ukraine, and to further support its clients doing business in and from Ukraine, a dedicated Ukraine Desk has been established at Dentons’ New York office.

Two Dentons’ Kyiv Partners, Myron Rabij and Markian Silecky, will serve as key points of contact in New York.

The goal of the Ukraine Desk is to provide timely, seasoned advice to companies and individuals with operations or interests in Ukraine and to assist outward Ukrainian investment and business into the US. With each Ukraine Desk partner having more than 20 years of Ukrainian/US experience, the team brings its Ukraine experience to the US doorstep and guides Ukrainian business to the right contacts at Dentons throughout the US.  

The Ukraine desk is backed by experienced teams in each jurisdiction; in Ukraine, where Dentons has a team of 28 lawyers (including eight partners) based in Kyiv since 1992, and in the US, where Dentons has more than 750 lawyers and professionals in all major cities across the country.  

In addition to offering the broadest range of legal services available in the US and Ukrainian markets, the firm’s clients also have instant access to the talent, skills and experience of its lawyers worldwide. Dentons’ clients now benefit from approximately 2,600 lawyers and professionals in more than 75 locations spanning 50-plus countries across Africa, Asia Pacific, Canada, Central Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Russia and CIS, the UK and the US.

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Akin Gump has advised the O1 Group investment company on the sale of shares in O1 Properties Limited by subsidiary Centimila to a leading international bank.

The total amount represents 12 percent of the total issued share capital of O1 Properties and is for a consideration of USD 200 million. The transaction consisted of two tranches; the second one closed on Friday, August 29, 2014.

Dmitry Mints, the Chairman of the Management Board of O1 Properties, said: “This deal is very important for our company, and we look forward to using our expanded capital base to reduce debt and continue our strategy of investing in premium office buildings in Moscow.”

Akin Gump also advised O1 Group on a related secured financing of USD 200 million, under which the lenders will receive part of any amount payable under the put option that is in excess of the initial purchase price.

The Akin Gump team was led by Moscow-based Corporate Partner Suren Gortsunyan and London-based Finance Partner Robert Aulsebrook. They were supported by a team of lawyers including Abu Dhabi-based Counsel Catriona McDevitt, London-based Associate Inderveer Hothi, and Moscow-based Associates Konstantin Mineev and Anna Kardash.

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Avellum Partners has announced that it acted as Ukrainian legal counsel to Ferrexpo (acting through its Ferrexpo Yeristovo Mining subsidiary) in connection with the acquisition of an electrified railway of over two kilometers long and a power line.

According to Avellum Partners, “the purpose of the acquisition is to decrease the cost of ore transportation.” The transaction value exceeded UAH 6,000,000 (approximately EUR 364,000).

Ferrexpo’s resource base is the largest iron ore deposit in Europe with approximately 20 billion tons of ore. The company is the largest producer of pellets in the CIS and the 5th largest supplier of pellets to the global steel industry.

The Avellum Partners team was led by Partner Kostiantyn Likarchuk, with “significant support” provided by Associates Yuriy Nechayev, Oleksandr Polonyk, and Yuriy Zaremba.

In August, the same firm advised Ferrexpo in connection with three export financing credits, including a USD 14.5 million credit provided by Private Export Funding Corporation (PEFCO) to Ferrexpo’s Ukrainian subsidiary Ferrexpo Yeristovo Mining and a USD 15.8 million credit provided by PEFCO to Ferrexpo’s Ukrainian subsidiary Ferrexpo Belanovo GOK (reported on by CEE Legal Matters on August 14, 2014).

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Lidings reports that it has been engaged to advise Actelion, a large Swiss biopharmaceutical manufacturer, and Grindex, a leading Latvian pharmaceutical company.

According to Lidings Partner Andrey Zelenin, “One of the important things to acknowledge when advising pharmaceutical companies is the wide range of legal issues your clients are facing in their day to day activities. By way of an example, both clients mentioned above placed their requests for legal counsel following increase in their marketing efforts in the Russian market. Our advice in these cases covered interaction with medical representatives and practical effects of the applicable restrictions, as well as advice on entering into co-marketing agreements with another company well-represented in Russia.”

Actelion Pharmaceuticals was founded in December 1997 and has its headquarters near Basel in Switzerland. The company specializes in orphan diseases, and its scientists were among the first to work in the field of endothelian receptor antagonists. Actelion has has 29 affiliates around the world, including in the United States, Canada, Brazil, Australia, Japan, Switzerland, and a number of EU countries. 

Grindeks is the leading pharmaceutical company in the Baltic States. Main fields of action are research, development, manufacturing, and sales of original products, generics, and active pharmaceutical ingredients. The company specializes in the heart and cardiovascular systems, and CNS and anti-cancer medication therapeutic groups. The Grindeks Group consists of 4 subsidiary companies in Latvia, Estonia and Russia, with representative offices in 13 countries. Products are exported to 59 countries, and export comprises 95% of the company’s total turnover. The main markets are the Baltic States, Russia and other CIS countries, Germany, the Netherlands, Japan, and the United States. 

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Fellner Wratzfeld & Partner has advised WEB Windenergie on what the firm describes as the first issue of a hybrid bond by an Austrian wind energy provider.

In parallel with the hybrid bond issue, the company is offering a “classic” corporate bond with fixed maturity and fixed interest. FWP handled both the preparation of the offer prospectus and the approval procedure with the Financial Market Authority.

WEB Windenergie was created in 1995 from funds provided by some 100 private citizens committed to wind energy, and opened its first wind power plant in Michelbach near St. Polten in Lower Austria. At the moment, WEB Windenergie operates a total of 182 wind energy, 11 photovoltaic, and 3 small hydroelectric power plants, supplying 183,345 households with electricity.

FWP Partner Christian Thaler led the firm’s transaction team in the project.

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