One more finalist for 2019 CEE Deal of the Year is removed from the shortlist, leaving only two nominees left. In other words: We're almost there!
Another recap: CEE Legal Matters is counting down towards Friday's revelation of the 2019 CEE Deal of the Year winner by eliminating one nominee from the five-deal shortlist each day. On Tuesday the Severgroup’s acquisition of TPG’s 34% shareholding in Lenta and subsequent mandatory tender offer was removed from the list, and on Wednesday the United Group’s acquisition of Vivacom Bulgaria was removed.
Today's victim is the PPF Group’s USD 2.1 billion acquisition of Central European Media Enterprises, which operates television stations in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia. BNP Paribas and Societe Generale acted as structuring advisors to PPF on the EUR 1.15 billion acquisition facilities, which were fully underwritten by BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole CIB, Credit Suisse, HSBC, Societe Generale, and UniCredit. White & Case, which submitted the deal for consideration, advised the PPF Group on the deal, which won Deal of the Year for Slovakia, with Bucharest's Bondoc si Asociatii, Sofia's Djingov, Gouginski, Kyutchukov & Velichkov, and the Ljubljana office of Karanovic & Partners serving as local counsel in Romania, Bulgaria, and Slovenia, respectively. CME was advised by Covington & Burling and Sullivan & Cromwell. Allen & Overy advised the arranging banks on the transaction.
Thus, with those three deals removed from the shortlist, only two remain:
- Advent International and Zentiva’s Acquisition of Alvogen’s CEE Business (CMS (submitting firm); Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer; White & Case)
- Steinhoff Restructuring (Wolf Theiss (submitting firm); Allen & Overy; Binder Groesswang; Dorda; Eisenberger & Herzog; Fellner Wratzfeld & Partner; Gleiss Lutz; Linklaters; Latham & Watkins; Kirkland & Ellis)
Tomorrow, we'll announce the firm that came in second, and reveal the Winner of the 2019 CEE Legal Matters CEE Deal of the Year.
