Havel & Partners has advised HP Invest on its full acquisition of HP Tronic from Genesis Private Equity Fund III.

Zepos & Yannopoulos has advised Hellenic Properties on its acquisition of a former industrial building located in Tavros, Attica, to be developed into a green office building.

Paksoy has advised Iyzico on the acquisition of Paynet from Arena Bilgisayar. Baker McKenzie Turkish affiliate Esin Attorney Partnership advised the sellers.

Clifford Chance has advised Ceskoslovenska Obchodni Banka and Ceska Sporitelna on the financing for Oriens group member Central European Retail Holding's acquisition of the Hruska retail chain through the full acquisition of Hruska and Sempronemo. Clifford Chance also advised Oriens on the acquisition transaction.

Greenberg Traurig has advised Abris Capital Partners on the sale of Scanmed Group to the American Heart of Poland Group. Rymarz Zdort Maruta advised the American Heart of Poland.

Rymarz Zdort Maruta, working with Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, has advised Huuuge on a USD 70 million share buyback.

Kyriakides Georgopoulos has advised Lightsource BP on the financing-related land and regulatory due diligence of a PV project in Greece with a capacity of 560 megawatts and a budget of EUR 395.15 million in the areas of Larissa and Fthiotida.

CMS has advised gas transmission system operator GAZ-System in the process of selecting a supplier and executing a floating regasification unit chartering agreement with White Eagle Energy. Reportedly, Mayer Brown advised Mitsui.

Kinstellar has advised Dutch aircraft maintenance provider SAMCO Aircraft Maintenance on the acquisition of Austrian Airlines Technik – Bratislava. CMS, working with Netherlands-based BarentsKrans, advised Austrian Airlines on the sell side.

Bernitsas has advised Eurobank on the issuance and offering of its new EUR 650 million senior preferred notes due April 2031 to international and domestic institutional investors, as well as their listing on the Euro MTF Market of the Luxembourg Stock Exchange.

Nedelka Kubac Advokati has successfully represented Klement in an energy construction bid rigging case before the Slovak Competition Authority.

Schoenherr has advised Euro Real Estate Holding on the indirect acquisition of the City Tower Vienna via United Benefits Holding from Immofinanz. Reportedly, Jank Weiler Operenyi advised Immofinanz and Wolf Theiss advised UniCredit Bank Austria.

Edyta Defanska-Czujko has joined Deloitte Legal as Partner and leader of the People Law/Employment Law & Benefits practice in Poland.

Former Home Credit International Legal Manager Martin Seda has been promoted to the Chief Legal & Compliance Officer position for the group.

Felix Prechtl – the former S IMMO Head of the Corporate Office & Capital Markets – has returned to private practice by joining Doralt Seist Csoklich in Vienna as an Attorney at Law.

Former Domanski Zakrzewski Palinka Partner Rafal Hajduk has moved in-house, joining R.Power Renewables as the company's Chief Commercial Officer.

Havel & Partners has announced it opened an office in Frankfurt am Main on May 1, 2024. The new German office will be managed by former Squire Patton Boggs Partner Philip Smitka.

DLA Piper has promoted Ekaterina Larens to Partner in Austria, effective May 1, 2024.

Former Schoenherr Local Partner Gergely Szaloki has joined Wolf Theiss to co-lead the firm's Banking & Finance in Budapest. 

Turunc's Yasemin Erden – a Partner at the firm for the past two years – has moved to an Of Counsel position within the Istanbul-based outfit. 

LSW Bienkowski, Laskowski, Lesnodorski, Melzacki and Partners has announced it hired eight new partners – Filip Badziak, George Havaris, Marcin Huczkowski, Piotr Leonarski, Krzysztof Marzynski, Adam Piwakowski, Aleksandra Polak, and Piotr Szelenbaum – all coming from B2RLaw, alongside a group of associates, administration, and marketing support.

Lakatos, Koves and Partners has announced Richard Lock is stepping up to become Senior Partner while former Senior Partner Peter Koves becomes Partner Emeritus and Honorary Senior Partner.

Clyde & Co has recently announced that Michal Kalicki, formerly of WKB Lawyers, joined its Warsaw office as a Counsel and the Head of the Banking and Finance team.

Tihana Posavec Vlasic and Marko Mecar have teamed up to launch the Posavec Vlasic & Mecar Joint Law Office in Zagreb.

The Companies Act of the Republic of Serbia (“Off. Herald of RS”, Nos. 36/2011, 99/2011, 83/2014 - other law, 5/2015, 44/2018, 95/2018, 91/2019 and 109/2021; hereinafter: “the Law”) prescribes a circle of persons who have certain special duties towards the company:

The post-war reconstruction of Ukraine is an immense challenge that necessitates mobilization of substantial resources. During a United Nations Security Council meeting in November of the previous year, the approximate cost of the country's reconstruction and rehabilitation was estimated at $400 billion. Acknowledging the impossibility of covering such expenses solely through state funds and international aid, Ukraine is placing emphasis on enhancing collaboration with the private sector. Among the various forms and mechanisms for securing resources required for rebuilding of the destroyed infrastructure, public-private partnership (PPP) stands out as one of the most widely debated.

We bring you a brief overview of important legislative news from the Czech Republic that should not escape your attention.

The Commission for Protection of Competition (“CPC”) and the Republic Secretariat for Public Policy (RSPP), in cooperation with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), enacted a while back a Control List for Assessing the Impact of Regulations on Competition (“Control List”), which establishes whether a specific proposal or draft regulation could lead to competition distortion in the market.

On 27 April 2024, the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine adopted Order No.262 (the ''Order'') which amended Order No.402 ''Regulations on Military Medical Expertise in the Armed Forces of Ukraine'' dated 14 August 2008.

In 2024, the conditions for obtaining an employment agency permit will be further tightened.

The requirements for the Whistleblowing Officer’s (WO) role are covered by various guidelines that have been published by the Slovak Office for Protection of Whistleblowers over the past several months. The multitude of information sources now requires clarification, as the role of the WO leading internal investigations of reports is becoming increasingly prominent. 

Historically and statistically, most joint ventures and business combinations have short and difficult lives. Lawyers can assist with preparation and negotiation of best of class, workable and practical corporate and legal structures and agreements. But only the parties, the would-be partners, can make the combined business work and succeed.

The first comprehensive Slovak foreign direct investment (FDI) screening regime entered into force on 1 March 2023. Now that the first year of this new FDI regime is behind us, below we summarise the key takeaways based on our practical experience with this law.

In December 2023, The New York Times (“NYT”) filed a lawsuit against Microsoft and OpenAI for alleged copyright infringement and misuse of intellectual property, all related to the popular AI chatbot ChatGPT.

“Water resilience” is joining AI, competitiveness and sovereignty, as a new buzzword in Brussels’ policy-making conversations. But while the latter three concepts are rather intangible, water resilience is a more concrete concept, and is also a life-threatening problem.

It has been a long time coming and is among the most requested changes in criminal procedure law. Finally, on 24 April 2024, the Austrian government presented a draft bill aimed at increasing the contribution to legal costs for suspects acquitted in criminal proceedings. While it is a giant step forward, serious doubts remain about whether it goes far enough.