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Magnusson has announced that Warsaw-based Senior Associate Tomasz Rysiak has been promoted to the firm’s partnership.

Rysiak has been with Magnusson since 2007. He joined from Ernst & Young, where he worked in the tax department (2005-2007), focusing on VAT-related advisory. He received his law degree from the University of Warsaw in 2006.

Rysiak primarily advises on tax, restructuring, and M&A matters. He advises major domestic and foreign corporations, including companies listed at NYSE, NASDAQ, and the Warsaw Stock Exchange. He has also amassed experience in cross-border projects. According to a Magnusson statement, “his track record includes management of legal work for foreign investors in such countries as Belarus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia and Ukraine.”

“Tomasz has been instrumental in developing the tax and restructuring capabilities of Magnusson in Poland and on a firm-wide level,”  said Agnieszka Pytlas-Skwierczynska, the Managing Partner of Magnusson in Poland. “He and his team play a crucial role in our organization, adding value to both domestic and cross-border services to our clients.”

The Esin Attorney Partnership (EAP) — the Turkish arm of Baker & McKenzie International — has advised the EBRD on its investment in bonds issued by Ronesans Holding A.S. (Ronesans Holding), one of Turkey’s largest construction and infrastructure companies.

The proceeds from the EBRD investment will be used for the construction of a EUR 342 million state-of-the-art hospital in Elazig, Turkey, under a PPP scheme, and also for refinancing a portion of the existing debt of Ronesans Holding’s balance sheet.

Acting as an anchor investor, EBRD has invested TRY 100 million in the TRY 200 million bond issuance, the first in Turkey to use the Turkish Lira Interbank Offered Rate (TRLIBOR) as its benchmark rate. It is part of a larger TRY 500 million bond program of which two-thirds have already been issued. The capital raised will cover Ronesans Holding’s funding needs and support the currency composition of Ronesans Holding’s balance sheet. Investment in Ronesans Holding’s bond issuance marks the first transaction under the EBRD’s recently approved TRY 700 million program dedicated to supporting Turkish lira-denominated bonds.

“EBRD delivered very strong support for the Turkish economy as investments hit a record high of EUR 1.9 billion in 2015,” said EAP Partner Muhsin Keskin. “Turkey reconfirmed its position as the top destination for EBRD finance. Hopefully, EBRD will continue to finance the Turkish economy and Turkish corporates in 2016 and this investment must be a solid sign of this expectation. We are happy and equally proud to have taken part in this first-of-its-kind transaction which underlines EBRD’s commitment to support the Turkish economy.” 

Partner Muhsin Keskin led the EAP team advising the EBRD with support from Senior Associate Caner Elmas and Associate Deniz Erden.

Image Source: Sergey Kohl / Shutterstock.com

Ukraine’s Spenser & Kauffmann has successfully represented Klub ZhZh LLC in two recent disputes.

The first involved a lawsuit filed against it in the Kyiv Commercial Court in early 2015 by Perekhid Women’s Publishing LLC, which claimed that Klub ZhZh LLC, by publishing the “Zhensky. The Magazine for Those Who Want to Live Happily” magazine, had infringed on its trademark for the “Zhensky Zhurnal”, which it had published until 2014.  

Spenser & Kauffmann persuaded the Court that its client had not infringed on Perekhid’s trademark, and on December 14, 2015 the court dismissed Perekhid’s claim.

In the second matter Spenser & Kauffmann also successfully represented Klub ZhZh LLC in a dispute against Ukraine’s State Intellectual Property Service and Perekhid Women’s Publishing LLC, requesting that Perekhid’s trademark certificate for the “Zhensky Zhurnal” be ruled invalid. According to Spenser & Kauffmann, “on October 9, 2015 [the] Kyiv Commercial Court … satisfied the claims of Klub ZhZh LLC, and on December 22, 2015 [the] Kyiv Commercial Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal of Perekhid Women’s Publishing LLC.”

Finally, Spenser & Kauffmann advised Klub ZhZh on the process of obtaining trademark certification for “Zhensky. The Magazine for Those Who Want to Live Happily”.

The Spenser & Kauffmann team was led by Partner Aleksandra Fedotova, and included Senior Associate Maxim Maksimenko and Associate Maxim Litvin.

Image Source: Yulia Reznikov / Shutterstock.com

Less than three weeks after announcing the launch of its Administrative practice (reported by CEE Legal Matters on January 21, 2016), KIAP has announced the opening of its new Insurance practice as well. According to KIAP, “the direction will be headed by new Partner Dmitry Shnaydman, a lawyer with 18 years’ experience in insurance business.”

Shnaydman has spent the past 8 years at Rosgosstrakh — a major Russian insurance company — providing, according to KIAP, “legal support for the largest and most significant disputes on the whole territory of the Russian Federation for all types of insurance (the aggregate annual sum of claims for the considered cases amounting to more than RUR 2 billion).”

The firm explained that, “having analyzed the competitive environment we came to the conclusion that involvement of legal firms in the insurance law market is limited only by rendering services for legal support of disputes primarily on the side of insured persons. While we are focused on rendering legal consulting services in respect of a more wide range of issues related to insurance and reinsurance, tariffs and policies, legal examination of internal procedures, scoring and insurance products in the interests of insurers, professional associations of insurers, as well as insured persons, companies and state institutions.”

“For the several last years we have gained sound experience in the sphere of support of legal disputes, some of which were of importance for the business and the government,” commented KIAP Managing Partner Andrey Korelskiy. “Amid the present crisis situation the obvious market need to strengthen the direction of the insurance law is being formed. We are glad that such good and experienced specialist in insurance law as Dmitry Shnaydman undertakes this mission, I’m convinced that together we will achieve success in this direction.”

For his part, Shnaydman — a 1998 graduate of the Law Faculty at Bashkir State University — said: “I’m happy to head a new promising direction and become a part of the KIAP’s professional team. I’m grateful to my colleagues for their trust and appreciation of my work. And I am sure that this will be an interesting cooperation!”

Brandl & Talos is advising on renovation works that have recently begun on the building formerly known as the Generali Center, located on Vienna’s largest shopping street, Mariahilfer Strasse. According to a Brandl & Talos statement, “now the property that has been held by the Redevco group for a few years is going to be fundamentally revitalized and reorganized.”

Redevco is a European property investment company, with a primary focus on retail properties and a portfolio of around 400 properties in Great Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Hungary, and Austria. Redevco rents retail space to around 1,000 retail shops, among them many large national and international trading companies throughout Europe.  

As long-time advisor of Redevco, Brandl & Talos has been advising on the Generali Center project since 2013. Partner Christopher Schrank and Attorney Katharina Aretin supported and advised Redevco on existing and new lease agreements, corporate law issues, residential property law, and legal issues related to property management. 

“We are very happy to support and advise Redevco on this interesting project – as we have done on other real estate transactions,” said Schrank. “We are convinced that this project will significantly upgrade the property and consequently the portfolio of Redevco and – due to the proximity of the new shopping center to our offices – we look forward to observe the effects of our work not only from the legal perspective.”

Image Source: generalicenter.at

CEE Legal Matters has confirmed that former Hogan Lovells Prague Managing Partner Miroslav Dubovsky, who moved to Weinhold Legal when Hogan Lovells closed its Prague office in July, 2014 , has agreed to take over the reins at DLA Piper sometime this spring. The specific start date has not yet been established.

Dubovsky is a transactional lawyer, focusing mainly on mergers and acquisitions, private equity, joint ventures and real estate. He is also well known for his arbitration practice.

Outgoing MP Thu Nga Haskovcova became Country Managing Partner at DLA Piper on September 1, 2014, bringing Partner Petr Sabatka with her from her eponymous firm. When contacted by CEE Legal Matters, Haskovcova declined to comment

Neither Dubovsky nor Daniel Weinhold of Weinhold Legal has replied to our inquiries.

Allen & Overy has advised UStream, Inc., a Hungarian-founded video streaming service provider, on its sale to IBM. Fenwick & West took the lead on the US law due diligence and negotiations for UStream.

IBM was advised by Cravath, Swaine & Moore. The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. 

IBM reported that acquiring UStream will extend the IBM Cloud platform to help enterprise clients use video format as a digital media and data asset. 

The Allen & Overy team provided Hungarian law advice to UStream during the due diligence and disclosure process, among others, regarding IP, employment, and corporate matters. When contacted by CEE Legal Matters, Allen & Overy reported that it was unaware which firm, if any, had advised IBM on Hungarian legal matters.

Image Source: Tauke / Shutterstock.com

The Bucharest office of Schoenherr has announced the promotion of disputes specialist Adina Jivan and litigator and insolvency expert Emeric Domokos-Hancu to Partner.

Jivan specializes in litigation and arbitration, representing clients before courts of law and arbitration in local and international complex files (under ICC rules, for example), in various areas such as competition law, public procurement, infrastructure contracts based on FIDIC conditions, administrative law, and contentious administrative, commercial law, corporate law, and insolvency. She began her career in 2001 at the Valentin & Asociatii firm, and joined Schoenherr in 2007. She received her Bachelor’s (2000) and Master’s (2001) degrees in law from the Faculty of Law at Babes Bolyai University.

Domokos-Hancu specializes in commercial litigation as well as in national and cross-border insolvency. He represents local and foreign clients in various complex litigation and arbitration cases, including debt recovery procedures. In addition, he assists clients in the development of internal risk procedures and general business conditions, with the aim of optimizing the recovery of potential debts. He began his career in 2004 as an Associate at the Mihaly Andor law office and then moved in 2005 to Bejenaru, Filip & Partners, both in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. He joined Schoenherr in Bucharest in 2006. He got his Bachelor’s of Laws (2004) and Master of Laws (2006) degrees from the Faculty of Law at Dimitrie Cantemir University in Cluj-Napoca.

The promotions boost Schoenherr’s Bucharest partnership to 13 members. 

”The two new partnership promotions are mainly the result of the two lawyers’ contribution to the development of Schoenherr’s Bucharest office, and they are a part of the firm’s growth strategy,” said Bucharest Managing Partner Sebastian Gutiu. “The increasing partnership structure confirms that Schoenherr is one of the top international law firms active locally, in an economic climate characterised by globalisation. With these promotions, Schoenherr ranks among to top five local firms in terms of partnership structure size. With the added benefit of involving a partner in most of the services we provide for clients, we never hesitate to promote lawyers that excel in law and prove considerable experience, the way Adina and Emeric have.”

Forystek & Partners reports that the Appeal Court in Szczecin, Poland has dismissed the appeal of the lower court’s judgment on behalf of firm client Pepsi-Cola General Bottlers Poland, based on article 527 of the Polish Civil Code.

Although few details were provided, Forystek & Partners reports that “all conditions of applying the so called ‘action pauliana’ were satisfied.” 

The Forystek & Partners team consisted of Advocates Krzsztof Jamrozik and Maciej Kalinowski.

Image Source: focal point / Shutterstock.com

KPMG has hired Onur Kucuk in Turkey as its new Head of Legal. He joins from Bener Law Office, where he was a Partner.

Kucuk, who specializes in corporate/commercial advisory, M&A, private equity/venture capital/angel investments, banking & finance, non-performing loans & distressed investments, and contracts, first joined Bener in 2011. Before that, he worked for 4 and a half years as Kucuk | Kucuk Law Office’s Managing Partner, for 1 year as the Manager of Legal Affairs at PwC, and for 3 years with Motorola Turkey as a Contracts Manager. 

Kucuk commented for CEE Legal Matters: “I have joined KPMG to re-position KPMG Turkey Legal for purposes of meeting the increasing demand for cross-border and domestic Corporate, M&A, and Financing transactions. My move is actually in line with KPMG’s strategic decision to question the conventional methods the legal business is still being done in Turkey and develop an innovative approach that is integrated with tax and advisory. I am confident that our approach and capability to provide multi-disciplinary services will be of value to our client’s business.”