Cobalt has advised Change Ventures on launching its EUR 20 million Fund III.

Glatzova & Co has advised J&T Bank on a CZK 700 million Trigema Real Estate Finance publicly offered senior secured bond issuance.

White & Case has advised Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego on the issuance of ten-year bonds guaranteed by the State Treasury of the Republic of Poland with a total nominal value of USD 1.75 billion and a 5.375% annual coupon. Linklaters reportedly advised the managers.

Cobalt has advised Baltu Lanku Vadoveliai on its partnership with the Klett group. Reportedly, Sorainen advised the Klett group.

Triniti has advised the Tallinn water company AS Tallinna Vesi on a EUR 91 million syndicated loan agreement with AS SEB Pank.

Ilyashev & Partners has provided pro bono legal support to the family of a fallen Ukraine's Armed Forces soldier in receiving UAH 15 million in financial compensation.

TGS Baltic has successfully represented the interests of Jetoil before Estonian courts in a dispute related to supplied fuel quality.

Savoric & Partners has advised Hrvatski Telekom on its renewable-source virtual power purchase agreement ten-year partnership with Liburana. Kovacevic, Prpic, Simeunovic advised Liburana.

AP Legal has advised the Serbian Export Credit and Insurance Agency on the sale of an NPL portfolio to EOS Matrix.

Stratulat Albulescu has advised the Walden Group on its acquisition of Alex International Transport 94 from Alexandru Constantinescu. Tuca Zbarcea & Asociatii advised the seller.

AP Legal has advised UniCredit Bank Srbija on its loan to Marera Properties member MPP Palata Beograd. Isailovic & Partners reportedly advised Marera Properties.

Asters has successfully defended the interests of the Home Box Office company in a dispute before Ukrainian courts regarding the production and distribution of its Chornobyl limited series in the country.

Partners Piotr Nerwinski and Bartosz Nojek have been appointed the Co-Heads of Dentons' Banking and Finance team in Warsaw, taking over from Mateusz Toczyski who will continue as Global Co-Chair of the Dentons Banking and Finance practice.

Former Counsel Dogukan Berk Aksoy and former Senior Lawyer Ece Alkan have both been promoted to Partner with Yetkin Attorneys at Law in Ankara.

Former Chitea Marilena-Diana Law Office Partner Diana Chitea has joined Simion & Baciu in Bucharest as a Managing Associate in the firm's Dispute Resolution practice.

Sadik & Sadik has changed its name to Sadik & Capan with the addition of Nazli Tonuk Capan as Co-Managing Partner. 

Dariusz Dobkowski has joined Kochanski & Partners as an Equity Partner, while Marek Krol joined the firm as a Partner. Markiyan Malskyy and Karol Polosak have been elevated to Equity Partners and Monika Mackowska-Morytz was appointed a Partner, while Managing Partner Piotr Kochanski will Head the firm’s Technology practice.

Former Counsels Kateryna Tsvetkova and Oleksandr Melnyk have been promoted to Partner, while former Associate Viktoriia Bublichenko became a Counsel and Head of the Tax, Restructuring, Claims, and Recoveries practice at GoLaw in Kyiv.

On May 21, 2023, Allen & Overy and Shearman & Sterling announced they are merging into a fully integrated firm: Allen Overy Shearman Sterling – A&O Shearman for short.

Former Partner Dominik Zimm has been elevated to an Equity Partner position at DSC Doralt Seist Csoklich.

Havel & Partners has expanded its IP practice with the establishment of H&P Patents, a team specializing in providing industrial property strategy services including patents, utility models, and industrial design protection. H&P Patents will be led by Havel & Partners Partners Robert Nespurek and Ivan Rames.

Former Associate Partner Ksenia Kravtsenko has been promoted to a Partner position at Lextal in Estonia.

Martin Dohnal has been appointed a Partner at CEE Attorneys, the third member of the firm's Prague office partnership, alongside Lukas Petr and Zdenek Tomicek.

Partner Agnieszka Kulinska has been appointed the new Head of the Energy and Natural Resources practice in Dentons’ Warsaw office, taking over from Managing Partner Arkadiusz Krasnodebski. Warsaw and Munich-based Partner Christian Schnell will Co-Head the firm's Europe Energy practice group alongside Berlin-based Partner Tim Heitling.

In this second installment of our series focusing on the risks posed by artificial intelligence (AI) and the legislative initiatives in the US to address them, we will be examining the proposed AI Bill of Rights.

The new Law on Safety and Health at Work was published on April 29, 2023, in the Official Gazette of RS no. 35/23 and went into force on May 7, 2023. With the entry into force of the new law, it completely ceases to be valid the previous Law on Safety and Health at Work (“Official Gazette of RS”, nos. 101/2005, 91/2015 and 113/2017).

A significant part of the provisions of the Government decree on the detailed rules of the operation of the extended producer responsibility system will enter into force on 1 July 2023, however, some provisions are already applicable from 1 April.

On 24 May 2023, the European Commission published "the most ambitious legislative proposal since the inception of EU financial regulation ", as the Commissioner for Financial Services Mairead McGuinnes described the proposal for a directive as regards the retail investor protection rules (Retail Investment Package).

American actor Jim Belushi met with the Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama to discuss the Albanian government’s initiative to legalize cannabis and the possibilities of exporting this product for medical purposes.

On 11 April 2023, the President of Ukraine signed Law of Ukraine “On Collective Bargaining Agreements and Contracts” No. 2937-IX, dated 23 February 2023 (“Law”).

On 16 March 2023, the Court of Justice of the European Union (“ECJ”) published its judgment on Towercast’s appeal against the French Competition Authority’s decision in Towercast’s case (Case No. C-449/21), confirming that abuse of dominance rules may equally apply ex post to transactions in which national and EU merger control thresholds were not met.

Today, the majority of large companies produce sustainability reports covering their ESG practices. However, one major obstacle to voluntary ESG reporting is the inconsistency of the shared information Companies have the liberty to select their ESG reporting framework and decide what information to disclose, which results in difficulties for investors and other stakeholders to compare ESG risks and impacts uniformly.

Regulation (EU) 2022/2560 on foreign subsidies distorting the internal market (the "FSR") will become applicable this year on 12 July and 12 October (for M&A notifications) respectively.

The Serbian government announced that it is looking for a strategic partner to develop a minimum of five self-balancing solar power plants with a total installed capacity of 1,000 MWac (or 1,200 MWdc) and a battery storage system with a minimum total installed capacity of 200 MW and the ability to accumulate at least 400 MWh of electric energy.

The new Law on Electronic Communications, published on April 29, 2023, in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia no. 35/23, went into force on May 7, 2023. With the entry into force of the new law, the previous Law on Electronic Communications ceases to be valid (“Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia”, nos. 44/2010, 60/2013, 62/2014 and 95/2018) except for certain provisions related to the secrecy of electronic communications, legal interception, and retention of data, as well as other specific provisions that will be valid until the adoption of by-laws prescribed by the new Law on Electronic Communications.

The Hungarian Government would designate additional areas of Budapest as immediate ‘Rust Belt’ areas, where the related development regulation will be applicable.