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Deal 5: Chief Investment Officer at Linstow Knut Loken on the Sale of Stake in Park Inn Hotels in Lithuania

Deal 5: Chief Investment Officer at Linstow Knut Loken on the Sale of Stake in Park Inn Hotels in Lithuania

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On October 14, 2016, CEE Legal Matters reported that the Norwegian property company Linstow AS had sold its stake in UAB Baltijos Parkai, the holder of Park Inn hotels in Lithuania, to UAB Green Hotel. We reached out to Knut Loken, the Chief Investment Officer at Linstow, for more information on the sale.

CEELM: In selling its stake in UAB Baltijos Parkai, is Linstow exiting Lithuania? If so, is it currently searching for other options or opportunities in the country?

K.L: We are not exiting Lithuania, the majority of our business remains.

CEELM: Who led Linstow's internal team on the sale? Does Linstow have an in-house legal function? If yes, what aspects of the deal did it handle? 

K.L: Investment Manager Salman Saeed (who has now left the company) led the Linstow team. We have an in-house General Counsel. The deal was handled fully by Glimstedt. Our General Counsel only offered some general advice and was not heavily involved.     

CEELM: Green Hotel, apparently, was not represented by external counsel. Did you consider handling the deal without external counsel on your side as well?

K.L: No, we did not consider that. We typically use external counsel when we do transactions. Additionally, given that this deal was in a foreign (for us) jurisdiction, the distance from our main office in Norway, and to some extent the language [meant that] handling it ourselves was never an option.

CEELM: Why did Linstow opt to use Glimstedt in particular on the sale? What specific tasks did you delegate to handle to Glimstedt and how did they cope with them? 

K.L: Linstow had used Glimstedt on at least one previous occasion, and was happy with the work then. On this sale Glimstedt helped in the due diligence process, handled contract drafting, and also helped quite a bit (together with the broker Newsec) in the process and negotiations as such. Glimstedt did a very good job and helped the process move forward, and took a lot of responsibility for the process.   

CEELM: Were any elements of the deal unexpected or unusually challenging, in any way?

K.L: Financing took longer time than expected. 

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