Boyanov & Co., Kalo & Associates, and Hugh Owen of Go2Law have advised Albania Telecom Invest, a joint venture of entrepreneurs Spas Roussev and Elvin Guri, on its EUR 50 million acquisition of Telekom Albania from OTE (Deutsche Telekom). White & Case and Wolf Theiss advised the sellers on the deal, which remains subject to closing conditions, including the approval by the competent local authorities and financing, and is expected to be completed within the first half of 2019.

“Nothing really big is happening at the moment,” says Anisa Rrumbullaku, Partner at CR Partners in Tirana. "Not much has happened recently — it’s been pretty stable for the past three months.”

Arcliffe has assisted Yazaki on corporate and labor-related matters related to the company's activity in Czech Republic, Slovakia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovenia, and Croatia. ODI Law supported Arcliffe in the Adria region countries.

BDK Advokati and Kirkland & Ellis have advised BC Partners on its agreement to acquire a majority stake in United Group B.V. from KKR, which retains a substantial minority stake. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed, and the transaction is subject to relevant regulatory approvals.

October 30, 2018, Hyatt Regency Hotel, Belgrade

We are excited to announce that registration for the 2018 Balkan General Counsel Summit is now open. The event will take place in Belgrade’s Hyatt Regency Hotel on October 30, 2018.

CMS has acted with lead counsel Jones Day in advising the OTP Bank Group on its acquisition of Societe Generale subsidiaries SG Expressbank Group, Sogelife Insurance Company, and SG Banka Albania, for over EUR 600 million. Schoenherr's Sofia office and Kalo & Associates in Tirana advised Societe Generale on the sale.

“As part of Albania’s new judicial reform, in the beginning of 2018 a vetting law entered into force, which stipulates that about 800 judges and prosecutors will undergo a professional and ethical re-evaluation,” reports Alban Caushi, Managing Partner at CR Partners. “As a result, there is an impasse in the judiciary system: The Constitutional Court does not have a quorum to take over cases and the Supreme Court is paralyzed.”

Wolf Theiss has advised the Chinese home appliance producer Hisense on its takeover offer for 95% of the shares in Slovenian white-goods manufacturer Gorenje. Jadek & Pensa advised Gorenje on the sale. The transaction value exceeds EUR 250 million.

The winners of the 2017 CEE Deal of the Year Awards were announced at the first ever CEE Legal Matters Deal of the Year Awards Banquet last night in Prague. The biggest smiles in the joyous and music-filled celebration of CEE lawyering, perhaps, were on the faces of Partners from Avellum and Sayenko Kharenko, which, along with White & Case and Latham & Watkins, won the award both for Ukrainian Deal of the Year and CEE Deal of the Year for their work on the 2017 Ukraine Eurobond Issue (a story initially reported by CEE Legal Matters on October 2, 2017).

“In Albania we have a hospitable climate for foreign investors, not just from a legal perspective, but from a business perspective as well, and we are trying to do the best to implement the laws as they are written,” reports Jonida Skendaj, Partner at Boga and Associates.

The western Balkan countries of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia, and the Republic of Macedonia share the desire to join the European Union. Two of these countries — Albania and Macedonia — are particularly close to accession. we spoke to several lawyers to learn more about how accession could affect the business landscape and the work of lawyers in the two countries.

Albania's Hoxha, Memi & Hoxha law firm has joined the South East Legal Alliance.

CR Partners has acted as local counsel to National Bank of Greece S.A. on the February 2, 2018 sale of NBG's entire stake in its Albanian subsidiary, Banka NBG Albania Sh.A. to American Bank of Investments SHA. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer served as international counsel to MBG on the sale, while Kerameus & Partners advised ABI.

On November 3, 2017, CEELM reported that CEE Attorneys Romania had helped logistics company EshopWedrop Group — part of Xpediator Plc — establish a relationship with franchisees in Albania and Cyprus. We spoke with Mircea Bandean, Managing Director at EshopWedrop, for more information. 

On Thursday, November 30th, leading legal practitioners from across Central and Eastern Europe gathered in Prague to help CEE Legal Matters celebrate its fourth successful year as the leading chronicle of the legal industry in the region, participating in an expert Round Table conversation about the year just concluded and enjoying an evening of dinner, drinks, and bonhomie. 

The latest amendments to the Civil Procedure Code of Albania (CPC) which will enter into force in November 2017 are designed to increase the efficiency and performance of the country’s judicial system.

CEE Attorneys in Romania has provided legal assistance to EshopWedrop Group, the B2C service of Xpediator Plc., a provider of freight management services across the UK and Europe, in its awarding of franchises in Cyprus and Albania to Kronos Express and Albanian Courier SHPK, respectively.

The Buzz in Albania, according to Perparim Kalo, the Managing Partner at Kalo & Associates, is not as bleak as many who listen to the complaints of his countrymen might believe. "It is common to complain in the Balkans,” he says with a smile. "We usually consider positive trends or developments as less important than failures. It is a kind of a complaining culture.”