On the evening of April 25, 2023, the Deal of the Year Awards Banquet brought together, under the same roof, top-tier lawyers from Central and Eastern Europe's leading law firms and ILFs active in the region in Istanbul.
The black-tie Deal of the Year Awards Banquet, which ran in conjunction with the CEE General Counsel Summit, recognized and celebrated the largest and most important deals in Central and Eastern Europe.
This was the most competitive year to date, with the jury voting on a record number of submissions, making the ultimate winners all the more worthy of praise. And, without further ado, the winners of each Country Deal of the Year, as well as the winners of the CEE Deal of the Year are:
- Albania: 4iG's Acquisition of One Telecommunications (Boyanov & Co; CMS; Dentons; Kalo & Associates)
- Austria: Erste Group EUR 1.5 Billion Mortgage Bond Issuance (Schoenherr; Wolf Theiss)
- Bosnia and Herzegovina: BNBM's Joint Venture with Coal Mine and Thermal Power Plant Ugljevik (Doklestic Repic & Gajin; Shihui Law Firm)
- Bulgaria: BioIVT’s Acquisition of Fidelis Research (BDK Advokati; Boyanov & Co.; Divjak Topic Bahtijarevic & Krka; Hristov & Partners; Kolcuoglu Demirkan Kocakli; Nestor Nestor Diculescu Kingston Petersen; Penkov Markov & Partners)
- Croatia: SoftBank, Goldman Sachs, and Porsche Investment in Rimac (CMS; Kunstek Halle & Simac; Latham & Watkins; Linklaters; Savoric & Partners; White & Case)
- Czech Republic: GIC’s Acquisition of 30% Stake in Cetin from PPF (BDK Advokati; Djingov Gouginski Kyutchukov & Velichkov; Herbert Smith Freehills; Kinstellar; Lakatos, Koves & Partners; NautaDutilh; White & Case)
- Estonia: Gren’s Acquisition of VKG (Ellex; Cobalt)
- Greece: MORE's Acquisition of Anemos RES and Financing (AKL; Karatzas & Partners; Lambadarios Law Firm; PotamitisVekris; Watson Farley & Williams; Zepos & Yannopoulos)
- Hungary: Stellantis’ Acquisition of aiMotive (Baker McKenzie; Bird & Bird; Dentons; Noerr; VGG Associes)
- Kosovo: BEK's Acquisition of KS Siguria (RPHS Law)
- Latvia: Renta Group’s Acquisition of Uprent Group from BaltCap (Cobalt; Sorainen)
- Lithuania: Novator Partners’ Investment in NordVPN (Cooley; Ellex; NautaDutilh; TGS Baltic; White & Case)
- Moldova: EBRD Loan to CET Nord (Gladei & Partners)
- Montenegro: NLB´s Acquisition of N Banka d.d. (previously Sberbank Banka d.d.) (Allen & Overy; Baros, Bicakcic & Partners; BOPA Bojanovic & Partners; Kavcic, Bracun & Partners; Knezovic & Associates; Prelevic Law Firm; Rojs, Peljhan, Prelesnik & Partners; Tasko Pustina)
- North Macedonia: Fortis Energetika’s Financing for Construction of PV Power Plant (Karanovic & Partners)
- Poland: Allegro’s Acquisition of Mall Group and WeDo from PPF, EC Investments, and Rockaway Capital (Clifford Chance; Savoric & Partners; Selih & Partners; Srubar & Partners; White & Case)
- Romania: Romgaz’ Acquisition of ExxonMobil’s 50% Stake in Neptun Deep (Dentons; Nestor Nestor Diculescu Kingston Petersen; Suciu Popa)
- Serbia: Ivicom Energy’s EUR 155 Million Financing for Krivaca Power Plant (Dentons; Doklestic Repic & Gajin; Karanovic & Partners; MLL Meyerlustenberger Lachenal Froriep; Selih & Partners; Stelios Americanos & Co; Ulcar & Partnerji; Wenger Vieli; Zavisin Semiz & Partners)
- Slovakia: Microsoft’s Acquisition of Minit (Dentons; Majernik & Mihalikova; Reed Smith)
- Slovenia: NLB´s Acquisition of N Banka d.d. (previously Sberbank Banka d.d.) (Allen & Overy; Baros, Bicakcic & Partners; BOPA Bojanovic & Partners; Kavcic, Bracun & Partners; Knezovic & Associates; Prelevic Law Firm; Rojs, Peljhan, Prelesnik & Partners; Tasko Pustina)
- Turkey: IHC’s Acquisition of Kalyon Enerji (GKC Partners; Norton Rose Fulbright-Pekin Bayar Mizrahi)
- Ukraine: Ukraine’s Consensual Deferral of External Debt Worth Over USD 25 Billion (Avellum; Hogan Lovells; Latham & Watkins; Sayenko Kharenko; Weil, Gotshal & Manges; White & Case)
- …And the CEE Deal of the Year: Ukraine’s Consensual Deferral of External Debt Worth Over USD 25 Billion (Avellum; Hogan Lovells; Latham & Watkins; Sayenko Kharenko; Weil, Gotshal & Manges; White & Case)
If you were not able to join the event but wish to see what you missed, you can view the event photos on our Facebook page here. We look forward to seeing you all again next year and, in the interim, stay tuned for critical updates on the DOTYs methodology to be announced soon!
A full list of all past winning deals is here.
