Ellex has advised the Vilvi Group on the acquisition by its subsidiary AB Vilkyskiu Pienine of 70% of the qualifying holding of the SIA Baltic Dairy Board. Vilgerts advised the seller on the deal.

The Kyiv office of Baker McKenzie has advised the A.G.R. Group on its acquisition of the Alpha Farm and Eurasia-Agro enterprises in the Kherson region of Ukraine from AG Management Group LLC.

B2RLaw has advised Paine Schwartz Partners on an unspecified investment made by its Paine Schwartz Food Chain Fund V in Kynetec.

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

Souriadakis Tsibris has assisted Mytilineos S.A. with its successful application for permission to use Flash Notes to publish its preliminary financial results, making it the first Greek issuer to do so.

PWC Legal has been selected as the legal, business, and tax advisor of the Estonian e-residency program.

Clifford Chance Warsaw has advised Arctic Paper S.A. on a term and revolving facilities agreement concluded with Santander Bank Polska S.A., BNP Paribas Bank Polska S.A., and Bank Polska Kasa Opieki S.A., under which the lenders agreed to grant the company an approximately PLN 300 million equivalent multi-currency refinancing package, comprised of term and revolving facilities. Norton Rose Fulbright advised the banks on the deal.

Mariana Signeanu has made Partner at Biris Goran in Bucharest.

Karanovic & Partners has announced that former Tokic Ivic Sverak Partners Iva Tokic Culjak and Ivana Sverak have joined Ilej & Partners in cooperation with Karanovic & Partners in Croatia.

Dentons has acted as English, Russian and US federal securities law counsel to Domodedovo Airport Group on its Rule 144A/Regulation S issuance of USD 453 million 5.35 percent loan participation notes due 2028; the consent solicitation and tender offer in relation to its loan participation notes maturing in 2021; and the capped tender offer with respect to its loan participation notes maturing in 2023.

Karanovic & Partners has announced that former Tokic Ivic Sverak Partners Iva Tokic Culjak and Ivana Sverak have joined Ilej & Partners in cooperation with Karanovic & Partners in Croatia.

Paksoy has advised Matriks Bilgi Dagitim Hizmetleri A.S. and an unidentified underwriter on the initial public offering of Matriks’s shares on the Borsa Istanbul stock exchange.

Egorov, Puginsky, Afanasiev & Partners is representing a coalition of Avito, IVI, CIAN, Profi.ru, Tutu.ru, Drom.ru, 2GIS, and Zoon in a abuse-of-dominant-position case against Yandex initiated by the Federal Antimonopoly Service of Russia.

Szabolcs Szendro, a member of CMS Budapest's Competition team, has been promoted to Partner at the firm, effective as of May 1, 2021.

Karanovic & Partners has announced that former Tokic Ivic Sverak Partners Iva Tokic Culjak and Ivana Sverak have joined Ilej & Partners in cooperation with Karanovic & Partners in Croatia.

Souriadakis Tsibris has assisted Mytilineos S.A. with its successful application for permission to use Flash Notes to publish its preliminary financial results, making it the first Greek issuer to do so.

Kinstellar is assisting the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development with its review of Ukrainian corporate governance regulations and the related practices of state-owned enterprises, and benchmarking them against the OECD Guidelines on the Corporate Governance of SOEs.

Provaris has advised Hackrate on the development of an "ethical hacking services" offer for clients.

Motieka & Audzevicius has successfully represented Vilniaus Prekyba, UAB, in its claim for EUR 81.25 million in damages from defendant M. Marcinkevicius arising from Marcinkevicius' unjustified efforts to pause the acquisition of entities controlling the Akropolis shopping centers in Vilnius, Klaipeda, and Siauliai.

Hogan Lovells is advising CPI Property Group S.A. and White & Case is advising Aroundtown SA on their joint takeover offer for the entire issued share capital of Globalworth Real Estate Investments Limited.

Lawyers from the Warsaw and Paris offices of Dentons have advised the Ondura Group on its acquisition of CB S.A. Domanski Zakrzewski Palinka reportedly advised the sellers on the deal. 

The Budapest office of Baker McKenzie has advised the MET Group on its divestment from Tigaz Zrt via the sale of 50% of the shares in MS Energy Holding AG, representing a 49.57% stake in Tigaz, to Opus Global Nyrt. Kertesz & Partners reportedly advised the buyer.

Karanovic & Partners has announced that former Tokic Ivic Sverak Partners Iva Tokic Culjak and Ivana Sverak have joined Ilej & Partners in cooperation with Karanovic & Partners in Croatia.

Everlegal has advised UDP Renewables on its investment agreement with Nebras Power, a global power development and investment company headquartered in Doha, Qatar. Redcliffe Partners advised Nebras Power on the deal.

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.

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.

Given the importance of human rights in general and children rights in particular, the European Union (the “EU”) has considered that the international treaties do not offer an adequate level of protection of minors during criminal trials, and therefore, a common legal framework is necessary.

Karanovic & Partners has announced that former Tokic Ivic Sverak Partners Iva Tokic Culjak and Ivana Sverak have joined Ilej & Partners in cooperation with Karanovic & Partners in Croatia.

Cobalt has advised the Estonian Institute of Historical Memory foundation in the planning and carrying out a public procurement process for the design of the International Memorial Museum for the Victims of Communism planned for Tallinn's Patarei Prison.

Pohla & Hallmagi has successfully represented the interests of IDEMIA France in a public procurement dispute before the Estonian Public Procurement Dispute Resolution Board.

Former Clifford Chance Of Counsel Tomas Richter has moved to JSK in Prague as the firm's new Head of Restructuring and Insolvency.

Dentons has advised Czech airline Smartwings on its out-of-court restructuring and CZK 2 billion financing from UniCredit Bank, Komercni Banka, Ceskoslovenska Obchodni Banka, and Ceska Sporitelna, which will allow it to continue operating in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. White & Case advised the lenders, and Allen & Overy, Holland & Knight, and Norton Rose advised selected lessors on the deal. AK Zizlavsky advised Smartwings on insolvency law aspects.

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

Karanovic & Partners has announced that former Tokic Ivic Sverak Partners Iva Tokic Culjak and Ivana Sverak have joined Ilej & Partners in cooperation with Karanovic & Partners in Croatia.

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 subsidies will be paid for March and April 2021.

Bondoc si Asociatii has advised BFS Molecular on the sale of its assets, including intellectual property, to CareDx. DLA Piper advised CareDx on the deal.

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

Karanovic & Partners has advised Teva Pharmaceuticals on the sale of its Serbian factory, Zdravlje Leskovac, to Frontier Pharma and the Baystone Group. BDK Advokati and Go2Law advised the buyers on the deal.

KPD Consulting has successfully represented the community of the Vozdvyzhenka neighborhood in Kyiv in a dispute with the developer of the Podol Grad Vintage residential complex.

Motieka & Audzevicius has successfully represented Vilniaus Prekyba, UAB, in its claim for EUR 81.25 million in damages from defendant M. Marcinkevicius arising from Marcinkevicius' unjustified efforts to pause the acquisition of entities controlling the Akropolis shopping centers in Vilnius, Klaipeda, and Siauliai.

Lithuania's Marger law firm has successfully represented the former CEO of UAB KDS Grupe in a civil case against the bankrupt company.

Dentons has acted as English, Russian and US federal securities law counsel to Domodedovo Airport Group on its Rule 144A/Regulation S issuance of USD 453 million 5.35 percent loan participation notes due 2028; the consent solicitation and tender offer in relation to its loan participation notes maturing in 2021; and the capped tender offer with respect to its loan participation notes maturing in 2023.

The Law Office Vujacic has advised GE Capital Aviation Services on the sale of two Embraer 195 aircrafts to the Montenegro's ToMontenegro airline.

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.

On November 18, 2020, CEE Legal Matters reported that Gugushev & Partners had helped Fr. Lurssen Werft GmbH & Co KG, part of Northern Germany's Lurssen shipyard group, win a public tender for the supply of two multipurpose modular patrol vessels to the Bulgarian Navy. CEEIHM spoke with Dirk Malgowski, Managing Director at Fr. Lurssen Werft, to learn more about the matter.

KLC has advised SRH Marine SAIT on its agreement with Tototheo Maritime to form a new jointly-owned company, MAR360. 

Akol Law has advised Global Ports Holding on the sale of 99.9% of its stake in Port Akdeniz to QTerminals. Kolcuoglu Demirkan Kocakli, reportedly working with Clyde & Co as the coordinator on the deal, advised QTerminals.

Lawyers from the Warsaw and Paris offices of Dentons have advised the Ondura Group on its acquisition of CB S.A. Domanski Zakrzewski Palinka reportedly advised the sellers on the deal. 

Karanovic & Partners has announced that former Tokic Ivic Sverak Partners Iva Tokic Culjak and Ivana Sverak have joined Ilej & Partners in cooperation with Karanovic & Partners in Croatia.

Sorainen Estonia has helped Cuploop attract a EUR 550,000 investment from a group of investors, including Martin Henk, Martin Tajur, Ragnar Sass, Andrus Purde, and Lev Dolgatsjov, among others.

Cobalt has filed an Amicus Curiae brief on behalf of the Association of LGBT and Their Friends Mozaika in the Constitutional Court of Latvia in a case regarding the state fee applicable to testator’s same-sex partner.

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.

Kocian Solc Balastik has helped Katarina and Ondrej Vlcek establish the Vlcek Family Foundation, designed to support palliative care for children. 

KPD Consulting has successfully represented the community of the Vozdvyzhenka neighborhood in Kyiv in a dispute with the developer of the Podol Grad Vintage residential complex.

Hogan Lovells is advising CPI Property Group S.A. and White & Case is advising Aroundtown SA on their joint takeover offer for the entire issued share capital of Globalworth Real Estate Investments Limited.

The Estonian office of Cobalt has successfully represented Astro Vara in a dispute with Kermon Hekta and Kermon, companies held by Kersti Kracht.

On 28 March 2021 the package of tax benefit laws for major investment projects (“Projects”) entered into force. 

In 2014 Hungary introduced the advertisement tax as a direct business tax that must be paid by media content and service providers and publishers of advertisements. The tax base was the net sales revenue originating from the taxable activities in the tax year, i.e. the turnover and not the profit, and a progressive tax rate was established originally with six tax rates between 0% and 40%. The Advertisement Tax Act also provided that taxable persons whose pre-tax profits for the 2013 financial year were zero or negative, could deduct from their 2014 taxable amount 50% of the losses carried forward from the earlier financial years (“mechanism for partial deductibility of losses carried forward”).

Indirect Taxation Authority of Bosnia and Herzegovina (“ITA”) conducts, among other, the registration of the taxpayers for Value Added Tax (“VAT”) purposes in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Pursuant to the applicable Value Added Tax Act of Bosnia and Herzegovina, there are two types of registration: (i) obligatory – in case the turnover in previous year exceeds or is likely to exceed the amount of BAM 50,000 and (ii) voluntary.

Egorov, Puginsky, Afanasiev & Partners is representing a coalition of Avito, IVI, CIAN, Profi.ru, Tutu.ru, Drom.ru, 2GIS, and Zoon in a abuse-of-dominant-position case against Yandex initiated by the Federal Antimonopoly Service of Russia.

Lextal has advised Columbus A/S on the sale of Columbus Eesti AS to its General Manager Ivo Suursoo and Columbus Lietuva UAB to its CEO Dovydas Zinkevicius. Triniti advised the buyers on both deals.

The Draft law on the adoption of certain measures concerning informatics and communications infrastructures of national interest and the conditions for deployment of 5G networks (the “5G Draft Law”) initiated by the former Ministry of Transportation, Infrastructure and Communications (“MTIC”) has undergone a new series of examinations from the relevant public authorities as part of the legislative procedure.

White & Case and De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek have advised CTP B.V. on its initial public offering and listing of its shares on Euronext Amsterdam. Nestor Nestor Diculescu Kingston Petersen advised CTP on Romanian legal matters. Clifford Chance's London, Paris, and Amsterdam offices advised the underwriters on the deal. 

Former Karanovic & Partners Lawyer Stefan Petrovic has left the firm to launch Petrovic Legal in Belgrade.

On January 12, 2021, the Supreme Court of the Slovak Republic confirmed the verdict delivered by the Specialized Criminal Court in February 2020 on the forging of four promissory notes of private television broadcaster TV Markiza. Businessman Marian Kocner and former minister Pavol Rusko, a onetime owner of TV Markíza, were accused of forging the promissory notes and using them to demand EUR 69 million from the television station. Both Kocner and Rusko were convicted of forging the promissory notes and were each sentenced to 19 years’ imprisonment. Dentons' Litigation team in Bratislava represented TV Markiza in the case.