Paksoy has advised Univar Solutions on its acquisition of Kale Kimya. Egemenoglu advised the sellers.

Harrisons has advised the EBRD on its EUR 12 million unsecured loan to the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, in Serbia, for the financing of the implementation of energy efficiency measures in around 80 public buildings in 20 municipalities.

Ellex Valiunas has successfully represented Neringa Dangvyde Macate before the European Court of Human Rights, on a pro bono basis, in a dispute related to restrictions on the distribution of Dangvyde Macate’s fairy tale book, Amber Heart, depicting same-sex relationships and its subsequent labeling as harmful to children under the age of 14.

Petrovic Legal has advised Hefestos Capital on its acquisition of TMK Europe from undisclosed sellers.

Gide Turkish affiliate Ozdirekcan Dundar Senocak has advised the Turkiye Wealth Fund on its acquisition of Bereket Katilim insurance companies and the subsequent restructuring of TWF subsidiaries' takaful insurance operations.

Moral, Kinikoglu, Pamukkale, Kokenek has advised Israel's Amiad Water Systems on its acquisition of the final 49% stake in FTS Filtrasyon Aritim Sistemleri. SCH-Legal reportedly advised the sellers.

Kocian Solc Balastik has helped the Czech National Theatre obtain a building permit for the redevelopment of its New Stage and Operations buildings.

Wardynski & Partners has advised CNS Pharmaceuticals on negotiating a contract to supply Berubicin to the Pomeranian Medical University.

Integrites has signed a pro bono collaboration agreement with the Ministry of Veterans’ Affairs of Ukraine and the Affordable Housing Institute aimed at developing housing for war veterans and their families.

Allen & Overy has advised FLE on its acquisition of the Kopernik Office Buildings in Warsaw from the DWS Group. Linklaters advised the seller.

Cytowski & Partners has advised Polish start-up Eleven Labs on its USD 2 million pre-seed financing round with Credo Ventures, Concept Ventures, and angel investors from the UK and CEE.

Turunc has advised intercity bus operator Kamil Koc on its alliance with Istanbul-based bus companies Ses Turizm and Gulen Turizm.

TGS Baltic has announced the appointment of Dalia Augaite, Sandra Bliuvaite-Sulciene, Marius Brasiunas, Martti Peetsalu, and Chirag Mody as Partners, while Tadas Varapnickas, Karolina Lapinskaite, and Triinu Jarviste have been appointed as Associate Partners at the firm.

Former Senior Associate Gokturk Sahin has been promoted to Managing Associate and appointed Head of the Litigation Department at Moral, Kinikoglu, Pamukkale, Kokenek.

Triniti has promoted former Attorney-at-Law Maarja Pild to Associate Partner in Estonia as of January 2023.

Maciej Antoniak, Radoslaw Cebelinski, Tomasz Kaczmarek, and Rafal Wozniak were promoted to International Partners while Wiktoria Rogaska and Marta Wysokinska made Local Partners at DWF.

The Bucharest-based Iulia Berea Law Office and the Budapest-based Chen Law Firm have joined the BLS-CEE network. The two firms' respective Managing Partners – Iulia Berea and Chen Chen – have also joined BLS-CEE as Collaborating Partners.

Sibincic Krizanec has appointed Matic Novak to Senior Partner and Dinar Rahmatullin to Junior Partner. The firm updated its name after the promotion round to Sibincic Krizanec Novak.

Former Telekom Romania Data Protection Officer George Manea has joined KPMG Legal Toncescu si Asociatii as a Senior Managing Associate and Head of the firm’s Life Sciences, Technology & Compliance practice.

Former Schoenherr Ljubljana Co-Managing Partner Eva Skufca has established the eponymous Law Firm Skufca in Slovenia.

Ro Radwan-Roehrenschef Petruczenko Partner Marina Skarbek-Kozietulska has been appointed as the firm's General Partner.

Former Senior Associate Andjelka Radovanovic has been promoted to Partner at NSTLaw Stankovic & Partners on January 1, 2023.

Former Jalsovszky Partner Gabor Pazsitka has joined the Budapest office of Cerha Hempel as a Partner and the new Head of Banking & Finance.

Former Counsels Robert Wodzynski and Tomasz Kwasniewski have been appointed as Partners with SSW Pragmatic Solutions.

As of 1 January 2023, new conditions govern aid in the Polish Investment Zone (PIZ), as indicated in the new regulation implementing the Act on supporting new investments (the new PIZ regulation).

The new General Collective Agreement („GCA“) has been published at the Official Gazette of Montenegro no. 150/22 on 30, December 2022 and will be valid for period of three years from 31, December 2022 when it came into legal force.

Law No. 4054 on the Protection of Competition (“Competition Law”) applies to merger and acquisition transactions ("Transactions") since they may lead to consequences such as establishing/strengthening a dominant position or restricting effective competition in the market. Additionally, as per Communiqué No. 2010/4 Concerning the Mergers and Acquisitions Calling for the Authorization of the Competition Board ("Communiqué"), some Transactions are subject to the Competition Board's ("Board") approval. In this regard, the Turkish Competition Authority ("Authority") releases the Mergers and Acquisitions Overview Report each year to describe the overview of the Transactions examined within its body and thus provides a breakdown of the Transactions that took place in the market as along with a broad market overview. The Mergers and Acquisitions Report for 2022 ("Report") was published and made public by the Authority on January 6, 2023.

In its recent decision in re Smusta a.s., the Supreme Court ruled on the possibility to avoid a corporate transformation in insolvency proceedings.

As investors continue to seek a safe haven after the collapse of crypto exchanges, cryptocurrency companies have begun to resort to new ways to restore confidence. The most important issue in the market is whether cryptocurrency companies have enough assets to cover their customers' funds.

Under the Polish Medical Devices Act of 7 April 2022 (the MDA), surveillance over medical device advertising is exercised in principle by the President of the Office for Registration of Medicinal Products, Medical Devices and Biocidal Products (the URPL), and in certain cases, by the Minister of Health or the Chief Sanitary Inspector.

As of 1 January 2023, a significant amendment to the Act on Significant Market Power takes effect.

After years of anticipation and waiting, 2023 appears to be the year in which crypto-assets, as major applications of blockchain technology in finance, will be finally regulated by the European Union („EU”) legislation, namely, by the Regulation on Markets in Crypto Assets (“MiCA Regulation”), which is susceptible to affect the rights, obligations and interests of many existing and future generation of businesses and investors across the globe.

 On 20 December 2022, the Official Journal of the Republic of Poland published the rather awkwardly titled Act of 15 December 2022 on Special Protection of Certain Gas Fuel Consumers in 2023 Due to the Gas Market Situation (Gas Prices Capping Act). In this legal alert, we’ll look at the main rules intended to protect eligible customers against spikes in gas prices, payment of compensation to eligible suppliers, as well as amendments to the Energy Law (EL) that are likely to affect the market for companies producing energy from renewable sources (RES Businesses).

Mergers and acquisitions transactions, which has reached a global record level of 5.9 trillion dollars in 2021, are considered as one of the legal transactions with the highest potential for disputes, even though its grounds for disputes are striven to be reduced or at least brought to a foreseeable level by detailed agreements. Agreements and afterwards transactions that comply with the intentions of the parties may result in unintended consequences later. Due to geopolitical tensions, soaring inflation, turmoil in finance and energy sectors, more disputes have been arisen after the closing of M&A transactions comparing to last year. That is with respect to Berkeley Research Group’s third-annual M&A Disputes Report (“Report”), which is prepared with contributions from some of the world’s top lawyers, private equity professionals and leading experts. Report brings forth a broad perspective, on how the current market environment has changed the essence of disputes.

For the last couple of months, we have all experienced a shortage of certain pharmaceuticals on the market, especially antibiotics or pharmaceuticals for fever reduction for children. Given that this situation reoccurs almost every flu season, the Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic has newly established a formal working group monitoring the availability of pharmaceuticals on the market. The Ministry of Health is also preparing the amendment to the Act on Pharmaceuticals so that it can, on its own or in cooperation with the State Institute for Drug Control („SUKL“), better respond to urgent drug shortages in case of crisis situations.

The renewables sector in the Republic of Serbia has been growing for a while with a focus on wind energy, solar energy, biomass, and biogas and as recently on agrivoltaics.