CMS has advised PFR Ventures on its investment in private equity funds British Apax Partners, French PAI Partners, and Poland-based Avallon MBO. The total value of the investment, which also included another, unnamed, company, is PLN 340 million.

CMS has advised US-based thermal management technology developer Modine Manufacturing Company on the sale of its Europe-based air-cooled automotive business to Austria’s Schmid Metall GmbH. Taylor Wessing advised the buyer.

Longtime CMS Local Partner Maria Orlyk has succeeded Johannes Trenkwalder as Managing Partner of CMS Reich-Rohrwig Hainze's Kyiv office.

The hot practice for CMS in Hungary is Dispute Resolution, and Zsolt Okanyi, Partner and Head of Dispute Resolution both for Hungary and globally at CMS, explains that his team's current workload is primarily driven by the COVID-19 crisis.

Good corporate governance contributes significantly to increasing company value and strengthening the confidence of investors. It has been promoted in Ukraine, as across the world, in the past few decades, and in March 2020, the Core Code of Corporate Governance, which was based on the work of over 50 Ukrainian and international experts, was adopted by the National Securities and Stock Market Commission of Ukraine (NSSMC).

Squeeze-out of minority shareholders is an important concept for joint stock companies in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). In the previous socialist system, many then-state-owned joint stock companies issued employee stocks as a form of partial privatization, leading to some companies having hundreds of minority shareholders with miniscule amounts of shares. This complicated the management of these companies, as majority ownership changed from state to private, since many small shareholders are unreachable, as they may be deceased or have relocated with unknown addresses. This situation often makes squeeze-outs essential for majority shareholders in order to efficiently manage these companies.

In our legal work in Montenegro, CMS has been engaged in a number of major mergers & acquisitions, representing both buyers and sellers, including Monte Rock’s acquisition of HIT Montenegro in connection with the Hotel Maestral in Budva-Przno, the Delhaize Group’s acquisition of food retailer Delta Maxi, KKR’s acquisition of SBB/Telemach Group, and OTP Bank’s acquisition of Societe Generale Montenegro.

Czech corporate law has changed significantly over these past few years. In 2014, the Act on Corporations replaced the Commercial Code that had been in place since 1991. On January 1, 2021, an additional amendment to the Act on Corporations (the “Amendment”) will go into effect.

Foreign investors of all types were increasingly interested in Life Science (LS) companies even before COVID-19 emerged. It is no wonder that Slovenian LS companies are of particular appeal, since this highly innovative community significantly contributed to Slovenia being ranked 21st in this year’s Bloomberg Innovation Index. Some say COVID-19 catalyzed the new deals this year, but they were more likely fostered by the new investment opportunities that keep popping up with each innovative solution offered by the relatively small (and relatively inexpensive) companies in Slovenia. The race to acquire these innovative scale-ups and start-ups has become increasingly competitive.

The Chinese Belt and Road Initiative is one of the most ambitious development projects since the turn of the century. Through thousands of individual projects implemented under the BRI umbrella, China intends to develop land and sea corridors to support economic trade and development, integrate various regions of the world, and facilitate policy coordination, connectivity, unimpeded trade, financial services, and the connection of people. The BRI was launched in 2013, and last year was revamped with a new set of objectives.

New technologies are all the rage, as law firms adapt to the telecommuting and digitalization realities that accompanied the Covid-19 pandemic. Accordingly, we decided to ask our Law Firm Marketing experts from across the region a simple question: “What is the single most important/valuable piece of software you use?” As always, we asked respondents to focus on the question at hand, rather than – as we put it – using the question simply as an excuse to “tell us that their firms are awesome.” Not everyone was able to resist.

CMS has advised BeeIN on its successful participation in a two-phase public tender to obtain access to 5G frequencies organized by the Communications Networks and Services Agency of the Republic of Slovenia.

CMS has advised TR Warszawa on the construction of a complex of buildings at Plac Defilad in Warsaw.

CMS has advised a syndicate of banks led by mandated lead arranger ING Bank N.V. in relation to the extension of a pre-export facility for Ukraine’s Kernel Group.

CMS has advised OTP Group affiliate OTP Mobile, a Hungarian online payment platform, on a FinTech cooperation agreement with Raiffeisen. 

CMS has advised AnaCap Financial Partners on its sale of the Equa Bank to Raiffeisen Bank International, acting through its Czech subsidiary. Havel & Partners and Linklaters advised the buyer on the deal.

Karanovic & Partners, working with lead counsel Clifford Chance, has advised Deutsche Private Equity on the local aspects of its acquisition of a majority stake in M-Sicherheitsbeteiligungen from Armira. CMS reportedly advised the seller.

On April 28, 2020, Ukraine’s “On Prevention and Counteraction the Legalization (Laundering) of Proceeds from Crime, Financing Terrorism and Financing the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction” Law (the “AML Law”), which replicates the recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force and implements provisions of 4th Anti-Money Laundering Directive ((EU) 2015/849), came into force.