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Mrowiec Fialek and Partners has advised Wydawnictwa Szkolne i Pedagogiczne S.A. on its purchase of the multimedia educational package called “Kariera na Maksa.” The seller, Progra, was advised by Aval Consult.

According to Fialek and Partners, the product is a comprehensive, integrated tool for the implementation of education and vocational counseling mainly in middle and high schools. The firm advised on all aspects related to the acquisition of the rights to the product, including copyrights and related rights to the individual elements of the package, rights to the internet domain as well as all the issues related to the processing of personal data of customers as a part of the after-sales service conducted through the website “Portal Wsparcia.”

The Mrowiec Fialek team was led by Partner Miroslaw Fialek and Senior Associate Anna Paszek.

From Gdansk-based Aval Consult, it was Legal Advisor Jacek Wesierski that worked on the transaction. 

The Sofia office of CMS has supported oil and gas company Shell on it’s successful bid and entering into a prospecting and exploration agreement for the deep offshore exploration block Silistar in the Bulgarian Black Sea.

According to the firm, after “five months of extensive negotiations with the Bulgarian Government on the terms of the agreement,” the parties entered into an agreement for an area of 6893 square meters for a five-year terms, with the possibility to have it extended. The work programme value is estimated at around EUR 20 million, topped up by a signing bonus of close to EUR 5 million. Shell will also perform 2-D and 3-D seismic survey after a regional geological study. 

The CMS team was led by Kostadin Sirleshtov, CEE Energy, Projects and Construction Practice Leader, who was also supported by Aberdeen-based Energy Partner Judith Aldersey-Williams.

Gergely Szekely, stepped down after 8 years with Allegro Hungary to set up his own solo practice —  Gergely Szekely Law Firm.

Szekely explained: “As the Naspers backed Allegro Hungary restructured its e-commerce business operations in Hungary (OLX, PayU, Vatera, eMAG, Arukereso, FashionDays) the local General Counsel position has been cancelled.” With more than 15 years of legal management practice in the special field of IT & Telco and online payment, Szekely explained that his solo practice will “focus on its innovative partners.”

Prior to Allegro, Szekely was a Senior Lawyer with NNG and with the MAV Group. Before that, he worked as a Senior Associate with Hogan Lovells, a firm that he joined after spending over 3 years as the Head of Legal of the Prime Minister’s Office within the eGovernment Agency of Hungary. Earlier still, he was a Senior Legal Counsel with eTel Hungary and a Legal Counsel with Novacom Telecom. Earlier experience included 2 years with Edina Kastory Law Office as a trainee. 

Aleinikov & Partners has announced it advised MTBank on its acquisition of the CBS platform from British company Colvir Software Solutions. The seller, the firm informed, relied on in-house counsel only in the deal.

According to A&P, this is the first experience of Colvir Software Solutions in cooperation with a bank from the Republic of Belarus. The A&P team assisted in the preparation of the license agreement and software system implementation agreement and participated in negotiations with the lawyers of Colvir.

Senior Associate Anna Tsymbalist led the A&P team working on the matter. 

Karanovic & Nikolic has advised KELER CCP in successfully implementing a clearing arrangement, in co-operation with OTP Bank Serbia and SEEPEX – the first organized electricity market in Serbia.

Following the creation of the regulatory framework and the successful passing of required tests SEEPEX has officially launched its operations on 17 February, 2016. This power exchange operator was set up jointly by Elektromreze Srbije, the Serbian state-owned power system, and the European Power Exchange. KELER CCP – a licensed central counterparty majority owned by the Central Bank of Hungary – is one of the general clearing members that will be performing clearing and financial settlement services for the participants in the program on behalf of European Commodity Clearing AG, which was appointed as the central clearing house for SEEPEX. 

The K&N team assisting KELER CCP in implementing the clearing arrangement, in co-operation with OTP Bank Serbia and SEEPEX, consisted of Partners Maja Jovancevic Setka and Tanja Unguran.

Nikolay Nekrashevich recently joined Lenovo as its Chief Legal and Compliance EAST EMEA. Prior to the IT Fortune 500 company, Nekrashevich was the Head of Legal & Compliance, Russia & CIS / Asia & Pacific for the Tesco Corporation, which specializes in the development and commercialization of drilling technologies and services.

Nekrashevich held his previous role with the oil and energy company for more than 2 years. Before that he worked as an Associate with Goltsblat BLP between 2012 and 2013, and with Sirota & Mosgo law firm between 2009 and 2011. Earlier experience included working as a Junior Associate for Troika Dialog, as an Intern for Gorodissky & Partners, and as a Legal Assistant for the State Duma, Committee on International Relations. 

When contacted by CEE Legal Matters, Nekrashevich commented: “I am pleased to join Lenovo as Chief Legal and Compliance EAST EMEA. Lenovo is a company with serious reputation and a strong position in the IT sector. I hope that my expertise and my contribution will help the company to navigate in the market and reach our goals.”

Fort is representing a number of Lithuanian publishers — Alma littera, Baltu lanku leidyba, JOTEMA, Tyto alba, and Leidykla Vaga — with regards to a claim filed by the publishers regarding copyright violations of the internet portal visoknygos.com.

According to the firm, this is the first case in the country related to a claim regarding book piracy. The internet portal has allegedly distributed over 400 books published by Fort’s clients without their, or the book authors’, consent. The estimated damage amounts to a total of EUR 225,000. At the request of the firm, the court applied provisional measures and has seized the domain of the internet portal and other assets, had the domain’s direction entries changed, and “prohibited distribution and keeping of the books the proprietary copyrights of which belong to the publishers.”

The Fort team working on the case is led by Partner Mindaugas Kiskis.

Eversheds Bitans has represented Latvian Joint Stock Company Latvijas Krajbanka before the court in proceedings against Ernst & Young Baltic — represented by Kronbergs & Cukste — on matters concerning audits of Latvijas Krajbanka financial statements conducted by EY. The matter was settled out of court.

Latvijas Krajbanka (in liquidation and represented by the insolvency procedure administrator KPMG Baltics SIA) filled a claim for damages against EyY in the Riga City Ziemelu District Court of Latvia alleging failings in relation to EY audits of the financial statements of LKB for the year ending 31 December 2010 and the half-year ending 30 June 2011. Ultimately, the dispute was resolved out of court. As part of the settlement, E&Y has agreed to pay EUR 7,75 million and the settlement was “concluded without any admissions of responsibility by either party and recognises the commercial benefits in bringing this matter to a close,” a release of Eversheds informed.

Agris Bitans, Eversheds Bitans Managing Partner, commented: “Any professional negligence claim is complex and challenging dispute, especially in case of auditor’s liability. Particularly in Latvia, due to lack of case law on auditor’s liability in the courts. For this matter — we gathered international case law and Eversheds international experience.

This settlement is good outcome in any case, since both parties recognised it as beneficial conclusion. For the insolvency procedure administrator KPMG Baltics SIA it is valuable step in recovery process.”

The Eversheds team was led by Bitans and included Attorneys Ilze Kramina and Edijs Poga.

The Kronbergs & Cukste team representing EY consisted of Partners Vineta Cukste and Valters Kronbergs, and Associates Madara Smalka and Normunds Orols.

ErsoyBilgehan has advised ERGO Grubu Holding A.S. on its sale of 100% shares in ERGO Portfoy Yonetimi AS to QInvest LLC, represented by Paksoy.

QInvest is a Qatar-based investment group and Islamic financial institution announced that, following this acquisitions, QInvest Asset Management will have assets under management of around USD 1 billion. ERGO Portfoy will be rebranded as QInvest with its senior management remaining with the firm and will be led by Murat Vanli, the current General Manager of ERGO Portfoy, and will continue to operate from Istanbul. It also stated that “QInvest Portfoy is expected to play a major role in attracting new investment into Turkey, delivering high value services to a larger client base. It will also benefit from the world class capability that QInvest currently provides.”

The ErsoyBilgehan team working on the transaction consisted of Senior Partner Zihni Bilgehan, and Senior Associates Kerem Ersoy and Leyla Ulucan.

Paksoy did not respond to our request for confirmation or comment.

Editor’s Note: Following the publication of this article, Paksoy confirmed its involvement in the deal. The team consisted of Paksoy Partner Sera Somay and Senior Associate Serdar Ildirar. 

Image Source: qinvest.com

Schoenherr has advised the REWE International Group on securing clearance for the acquisition of 25 former Zielpunkt branches across Vienna and Lower Austria. The seller, Zielpunkt, was represented by Freimuller/Obereder/Pilz.

The REWE Group food retail companies, Billa and Penny, will acquire a total of 21 former Zielpunkt locations, as well as the four branches of the drugstore subsidiary Bipa. According to a Schoenherr statement, the Austrian competition authorities (Federal Competition Authority and Federal Antitrust Prosecutor) concluded their assessment of the transaction on 18 February 2016, clearing the transaction after only four weeks. 

The Schoenherr team advising REWE on the merger control proceedings was led by Partner Hanno Wollmann, assisted by Associate Lukas Solek. 

Ziepunkt was represented by its insolvency administrator, Georg Freimueller, Partner at Freimuller/Obereder/Pilz.

Image Source: rewe-group.com