Avellum has acted as Ukrainian legal counsel to the EBRD in connection with an up-to EUR 50 million loan to Communal Enterprise “Kyivskiy Metropolitan” that was guaranteed by the Kyiv City Council. Aequo advised the borrowers on the deal.

Motieka & Audzevicius has advised the UAB Re Verum Group on its acquisition of a funeral home at 22 Olandu Street in Vilnus and UAB Ritualas from UAB Laidotoviu Rumai. TGS Baltic advised the sellers.

Sayenko Kharenko has successfully represented Bacardi in a dispute with beverage manufacturer Niva over Niva's use of packaging similar to Bacardi’s Martini Bianco for its own products.

White & Case has advised PKN Orlen on the issuance of 10,000 series D bearer bonds in the amount of PLN 1 billion under the company’s existing bonds program.

Havel & Partners has advised Sebre, Havel & Partners' Managing Partner Jaroslav Havel, and Sebre Managing Director Jan Kubicek, on the joint acquisition of a 50% shareholding in SousedeCZ, a company operating an online platform for digital communication of homeowner associations in residential buildings, from entrepreneurs Tomas Holomoucky and Tomas Sikora.

Wardynski & Partners, acting pro bono, has successfully represented former Polskie Radio Rzeszow Grazyna Bochenek in his claim that he was illegally terminated from his position following the broadcast of a negative comment by a listener concerning the President of Poland.

Walless has helped AS Creditinfo Eesti obtain a payment institution license from the Estonian Financial Supervision Authority.

B2RLaw has advised UK-based private equity firm Henley Investments on its acquisition of the Galeria Pestka shopping center in Poznan, Poland. Greenberg Traurig advised the unidentified seller on the deal.

Sayenko Kharenko has advised Getin Holding S.A. on its sale of 99.9% of the shares in Idea Bank Belarus to Belarus's MTBank.

The Bucharest office of CEE Attorneys has advised pharmaceutical company USP on its entrance into the Romanian market. 

Rymarz Zdort has advised a company controlled by a fund managed by Aberdeen Standard Investments on financing for the acquisition of 130 photovoltaic farms in Poland with an aggregate capacity of 122 MW. Mandated lead arrangers include ING Bank Slaski S.A. and BNP Paribas Bank Polska S.A.

Sorainen has successfully represented bankrupt credit union Taupkase (under administration by Klaipedos Administratoriu Biuras) in the Lithuanian Court of Appeal in a case involving the recognition of a credit union share as a deposit.

Counsel Tomas Melisek has been appointed Head of Banking & Finance at Kinstellar in Bratislava.

Ingo Braun and Markus Schifferl have joined BPV Huegel in Vienna.

Counsels Nikolai Kurmashev in Moscow and Patryk Figiel in Warsaw have been promoted to Partner as part of Linklaters global round, which included a total of 35 new partners worldwide. 

Former Ukrainian Member of Parliament Ostap Semerak has joined Vasil Kisil & Partners as Partner to develop the firm’s public advocacy practice.

Lukasz Lasek and Antoni Bolecki have become Limited Partners and Kinga Ziemnicka, Igor Hanas and Maciej Szewczyk have become Contract Partners at Wardynski & Partners.

Gozde Kuscuoglu has joined BTS & Partners to lead the firm's FMCG and Retail department.

Balazs Sepsey has been made Partner at Kinstellar in Budapest.

Former Counsels Weronika Magdziak and Andrzej Palys have been promoted to Partner at Kochanski & Partners.

Sorainen has announced that Kaupo Lepasepp is taking over as Country Managing Partner for Estonia.

Asters has launched a dedicated Nordic Desk, led by Associate Damien Magrou.

Turkish lawyers Candemir Baltali and Begum Yorukoglu have been promoted to Partner at CCAO in Istanbul.

Romanian lawyers Monica Statescu and Olga Nita have been promoted to Partner at Filip & Company.

An increasingly popular option for enjoying a pleasant time is tourism in Romanian rural areas, which has progressively developed in recent years and, although affected by the pandemic, still has considerable development potential. In fact, the COVID-19 crisis is expected to equally have positive effects, including in areas such as this one, when stronger emphasis is placed on an environmentally friendly tourism economy.

Law No. 58/2021 approving GEO no. 211/2020 and amending GEO 132/2020 was published in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part I, No. 345 of 5 April 2021 and will enter into force on 8 April 2021 (the “Law”).

The adoption of the Law on Same-Sex Unions is expected soon in Serbia and it will, for the first time, regulate the existence and legal consequences of partnership between same-sex persons. Such persons will now be enabled to exercise certain rights that are guaranteed by positive legislation only to spouses and partners in extramarital unions, such as acquisition of joint property, inheritance, right to pension, hospital visits etc.

The subsidies will be paid for March and April 2021.

Over the last five years, Turkish payment services and payment systems have gone through turbulent times, with pressure both from competition authorities (demonstrated by BKM Express’ rollercoaster ride between 2016 and 2020) and financial market regulators. Though the power of incumbent banks remains strong, the market is liberalizing and opening up for fintech players.

The most substantial changes to the BCA (effective as of 1.01.2021) will be:

On 30 December 2020, sweeping changes to Russian legislation regulating integrated area development (hereinafter referred to as "IAD") came into force.

On 29 March 2021, Emergency Government Ordinance 19/2021 (“EGO 19”) implementing certain fiscal measures was published in the Official Gazette no. 315/29.03.2021.

It is 2017 and you are a foreigner (non-resident of Serbia) aiming to purchase a share of a Serbian company. After you negotiate principal terms, conduct the due diligence, set final terms, and negotiate transaction documents, at the closing you transfer the purchase price in euros to the Buyer’s euro bank account in Serbia, and all is well. Now it is 2021, you are again in Serbia undertaking the same steps, but this time, you are in breach of the Foreign Exchange Act (“FX Act”). Why is that?

On February 23, 2021, the Turkish Competition Authority (“Authority”) has published seminal judgments of the 13^th Chamber of the Council of State (“Council of State”). These are landmark decisions that upheld the Turkish Competition Board’s (“Board”) analysis within the scope of its decision regarding the allegations that Mey İçki San. ve Tic. A.Ş. (“Diageo Turkey”) violated Article 6 of Law No. 4054 on the Protection of Competition (“Law No. 4054”) through exclusionary practices in the vodka and gin markets (“Vodka and Gin Decision”). The decisions of the Council of State are of particular significance since they affirmed a very rare usage of the “ne bis in idem” principle (i.e., a legal concept that restricts the possibility of a defendant being penalized repeatedly on the basis of the same offence, act or facts with the same time period) in terms of competition law.

In line with the latest estimates, the ore reserves in Serbia are valued at 200 billion dollars. After copper ores, the most significant metal ores are lead and zinc ores which are currently exploited in 5 active mines. Great attention has been brought to the excavation of jadarite, a mineral containing lithium and boron, at a location near the river Jadar, which is estimated to contain ten percent of the total lithium supplies discover throughout the world so far.

As part of the EU strategy to create a Digital Single Market, Directive 2018/1972 of the European Parliament and Council establishing the European Electronic Communications Code (the „EECC” or the „Code” and the „EECC Directive”) was published on December 17^th, 2018 and entered into force on December 20^th, 2018. The EECC should be considered together with EU Regulation 2018/1971 establishing the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications („BEREC”).