Sayenko Kharenko has advised the European Fund for Southeast Europe on the provision of a EUR 20 million loan through its Ukraine Sub-Fund to Ukrgasbank. 

Karanovic & Partners has advised Paysera North Macedonia on obtaining an Electronic Money Institution license.

Act Legal Romania has advised Pluxee Romania on the acquisition of MyBenefits. Andronic and Partners reportedly advised the sellers.

Schoenherr has advised CRH on its acquisition of the stone materials production business of Croatia’s Kufner Group. Madirazza & Partners advised Kufner Group.

Bernitsas has advised the Vivartia Group on the sale of 100% of its shares in Dodoni, held through Nutrico, to Hellenic Dairies.

Elementz Legal has advised Bubblify International on its acquisition of 22 OXO-brand shopping center retail locations in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary.

CK Legal Chabasiewicz Kowalska has advised Kruk on its PLN 100 million bond issuance targeting individual investors.

Allen Overy Shearman Sterling and its Turkish affiliate law firm Gedik & Eraksoy have advised the joint bookrunners on Turkiye Ihracat Kredi Bankasi’s recent USD 500 million fixed-rate bond issuance, completed under the bank’s USD 8 billion global medium-term note program.

Greenberg Traurig has advised PIB Group Poland, part of the international PIB Group, on its acquisition of insurance brokerages mBroker NET and inBroker NET. 

Wolf Theiss, working with Clifford Chance, has advised Supernova Invest on the issuance of EUR 550 million senior notes due 2030. Linklaters and Schoenherr reportedly advised the bank syndicate involved.

Dentons has advised YIT Zwirn 2 – a joint venture between YIT Slovakia and RSJ Investments – on a syndicated loan exceeding EUR 100 million for the financing of Zwirn 2 real estate development in Bratislava. Allen Overy Sherman Sterling reportedly advised the banks.

Schoenherr has advised the shareholders of Timeular on the sale of the company to Graz-based software provider TimeTac.

KCG Partners has promoted Krisztian Kiralyvolgyi as Partner.

Bahas, Gramatidis & Partners has promoted George Alexandris to Partner.

KPMG has named Partner Martin Hrdlik as the new CEE Head of Legal.

Romanian Law firm Hategan Attorneys and Italian law firm Baldi & Partners have launched a cross-border partnership aimed at offering integrated legal, tax, and business advisory services to clients operating in Italy, Romania, and the broader CEE region.

Former Taylor Wessing Counsel and Head of Real Estate Peter Malovec has joined CTP Slovakia as its new Head of Legal.

Allen Overy Shearman Sterling Counsel Attila Csongrady is set to join Schoenherr as Partner alongside Peter Redo, who will join as Counsel, effective September 1, 2025.

Former Herbst Kinsky Attorney at Law Carl Walderdorff has joined Mueller Partner as Equity Partner and the firm's new Head of Corporate and M&A.

Belgrade-based law firm Dodic, Djuric, Dabic has rebranded and is now operating under the name of Dodic Law Firm.

Former Serban & Associates Partner Mugurel Tataru has joined Stratulat Albulescu as Counsel and Co-Head of the firm's Dispute Resolution Group.

Daiva Usinskaite-Filonoviene has become the new Managing Partner at Noor, taking over from Giedrius Murauskas who spent the past three years at the helm of the firm.

Former Provaris Varga & Partners TMT and corporate law Partners Adam Liber, Tamas Bereczki, and Aron Bagdi have spun off to launch BLB Legal, effective July 1, 2025.

Baker McKenzie has promoted Malgorzata Bakula and Slavomir Slavik to Partner as part of its latest promotion round that saw a total of 59 lawyers join the firm's partnership ranks.

Given the growth of the Bulgarian pharmaceutical retail sector, it is essential to understand the legal framework governing the operation of pharmacies, drugstores, cosmetics counters and optical retailers. Each of these types of businesses is subject to specific regulatory requirements designed to safeguard public health, ensure quality control and maintain compliance with both national and EU legislation.

As of 1 July 2025, lobbying activities in the Czech Republic are subject to regulation for the first time. The new Regulation of Lobbying Act aims to enhance transparency by defining who qualifies as a lobbyist, identifying the targets of lobbying (primarily public officials) and introducing record-keeping obligations. A key element is the creation of a publicly accessible register, where lobbyists must disclose their identity and the parties they represent.

The Government of Hungary expects all investments to comply with the strictest environmental standards. Should companies fail to meet these requirements, fines will be imposed under the "polluter pays" principle. The new penalty regulation distinguishes between private individuals, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and large corporations.

On 7 May 2025, the Czech government approved a draft amendment to Act No. 164/2013 Coll., on International Cooperation in Tax Administration and on Amendments to Related Acts, introducing two key innovations regarding crypto-assets and the taxation of large multinational groups.

In June 2025, the Hungarian Parliament adopted a bill proposing that the market value of solar and wind power plants be excluded from the base of real estate transfer tax. If adopted, this would reduce the financial burden for investors purchasing land with renewable energy infrastructure.

On 27 June 2025, the President of Ukraine signed decree No. 422/2025 enacting the decision of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine (“NSDC”) “On Synchronisation of Sanctions Pressure of Ukraine, the European Union and Other Members of the Group of Seven on the Russian Federation and Related Entities”, dated the same day (“Decision”).

The National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia has adopted a set of laws regulating the banking sector and the protection of financial services users on March 6^th this year:

Hungary’s specific domestic foreign direct investment (FDI) screening regime (affecting both ongoing and future cases) has been updated to include extended applicable deadlines and the possibility of multiple rounds of extensions. Additionally, the existing pre-emption mechanism – originally intended for transactions targeting solar developments – has been extended to cover all transactions blocked by the competent minister’s decision.

On 18 June 2025, the Bulgarian National Assembly adopted a Law Amending and Supplementing the Foreigners in the Republic of Bulgaria Act, promulgated in State Gazette No. 52 of 27 June 2025 (the "Law"). These amendments introduce significant changes to the regulatory framework governing the entry and residence of foreign nationals in the country, aiming to establish clearer rules and new residence opportunities for various categories of foreigners.

The European Commission (EC) has published a comprehensive communication introducing a playbook for Member States on designing state aid measures to support their objectives under the Clean Industrial Deal. This framework aims to facilitate industrial decarbonisation and the rollout of clean energy and will remain in force until 31 December 2030. The Clean Industrial Deal State Aid Framework (CISAF) is intended to offer a wide range of companies long-term investment predictability.

On 13 May 2025, the Hungarian Government submitted a bill to the Parliament on the amendment of several laws governing the justice system. The proposal could bring significant changes to civil litigation.

By 31 July 2025, all entities that were authorised to provide crypto-asset-related services (so-called VASPs) before 30 December 2024 must apply for authorisation as a Crypto-Asset Service Provider (CASP) under the MiCA Regulation.

AIR ARABIA WAS FOUND COMPLIANT DURING A RECENT PROCEDURE OF PROTECTION OF PERSONAL DATA ACROSS THE EU

bpv Huegel successfully advised RWA Raiffeisen Ware Austria Aktiengesellschaft (RWA) on the sale of its share in AUSTRIA JUICE GmbH to AGRANA Beteiligungs-Aktiengesellschaft.

RWA eGen completes the purchase of shares in RWA AG from BayWa AG. The acquisition financing was structured and provided by Raiffeisen Bank International AG.

bpv Huegel is delighted to appoint Johannes Mitterecker as a partner. He works in the Corporate Law/M&A practice group and specialises in M&A transactions, restructuring and sports law.

RTPR has assisted the syndicate of banks in connection with a RON 3.1 billion syndicated loan granted to Electrica.

From the 1st May, 2025 Markian Malskyy becomes the new managing partner of ARZINGER, replacing Timur Bondaryev, founding partner. Timur Bondaryev has held this position almost ever since the firm was founded 23 years ago and, together with other partners, has built a strong legal brand.

This makes bpv Huegel’s tax practice top-ranked in Chambers Europe. This confirms the leading position of bpv Huegel in tax law advice.

EAVISTA is acquiring 75.1% of the shares in card complete Service Bank AG from UniCredit Bank Austria and Raiffeisen Bank International.

We are delighted to announce that PRK Partners has been shortlisted with other three international law firms operating on the Czech legal market as finalists for the Czech Republic Law Firm of the Year 2025 in the 26th annual IFLR Europe Awards.

The Antimonopoly Office of the Slovak Republic (PMU) imposed a fine of EUR 675,200 on United Classifieds s.r.o. for a serious breach of competition rules, namely for abuse of a dominant position on the online real estate advertising market.

RTPR announces the promotion of Bogdan Cordos to Partner. He joins the team of 8 partners consisting of Costin Taracila, Victor Padurari, Alexandru Retevoescu, Mihai Ristici, Valentin Berea, Roxana Ionescu, Alina Stavaru and Cosmin Tilea.

The bpv Huegel team led by Elke Napokoj advised the founder and the shareholders of EVK DI Kerschhaggl GmbH (“EVK”).