CEE Legal Matters
In-depth coverage of the news and newsmakers that shape Europe's emerging markets
CMS Partners Horea Popescu, Alexander Rakosi, and Ryszard Manteuffel discuss the ebb and flow of M&A deals in CEE, highlighting that the M&A landscape experienced a significant drop in overall deal values prompting strategic shifts amid ongoing geopolitical and financing challenges.
CMS has promoted Romania-based Alina Tihan, Hungary-based Veronika Kovacs, and Bulgaria-based Borislava Piperkova to Partner, as part of its latest promotion round that saw a total of 56 lawyers elevated to partnership ranks.
In The Corner Office, we ask Managing Partners at law firms across Central and Eastern Europe about their backgrounds, strategies, and responsibilities. With 2024 behind us, we asked: Looking at transactional volumes for this year, would you say that 2024 was better or worse than what you originally expected it to be, and why?
Turkiye has long had one of the lowest non-performing loan (NPL) rates in Europe, but recent years have seen some ups and downs. Between 2017 and 2020, the rate fluctuated between 3.25% and 3.46%. During the pandemic, the rate dropped significantly as borrowers benefited from extended loan payment schedules. Thereafter, the rate rose briefly before falling below the European Union average of 2.27% in 2023. Since the beginning of 2024, however, rising interest rates have pushed the NPL rate back up, to 1.71%. Experts expect the rate to rise to 2.5% by the end of the year, above the EU average and a challenge for borrowers and lenders.
CMS has advised Green Energy Market on a 10-year market coordinator license from the Energy and Water Regulatory Commission of Bulgaria.
CMS has advised joint lead managers HSBC, J.P. Morgan, Slovenska Sporitelna, and Tatra Banka on the Slovak Republic’s bond issuance of EUR 3 billion 3.750% notes due 2040.
CMS has advised the Romanian Commodities Exchange on its acquisition of a 75% stake in the Bulgarian Energy Trading Platform.
BBH has advised PPF Real Estate on its acquisition of Quinn Hotels Praha which owns Hilton Prague. CMS advised Quinn Hotels Praha.
CMS Sofia Managing Partner Kostadin Sirleshtov and Counsel Borislava Piperkova talk about energy in Bulgaria in 2025.
In The Corner Office, we ask Managing Partners at law firms across Central and Eastern Europe about their backgrounds, strategies, and responsibilities. This time around we asked: If you have a formal partnership track, how do you handle lawyers on it who do NOT end up living up to the requirements to make a Partner?
As Croatia prepares to implement a new real estate tax, Ilej & Partners in cooperation with Karanovic & Partners Partner Franka Baica, BDV Legal Partner Vladimir Batarelo, and CMS Partner Tamara Jelic Kazic talk about its objectives, potential impacts, and how property owners and investors should respond.
With the rollout of 5G technology, North Macedonia will have to clear a number of legal and regulatory hurdles before benefitting from its potential to transform industries, improve connectivity, and drive economic growth. The country’s telecommunications framework faces the dual challenge of accommodating this groundbreaking technology while ensuring alignment with EU standards.
CMS has advised Revolut on the launch of its banking and financial services for Ukrainian customers.
Greenberg Traurig has advised CCC on an agreement to acquire a minority stake in Modivo. Krassowski advised Modivo's minority shareholder Orion 47 Damian Zaplata on the sale.
CMS has advised Solar Park Trakiya on a EUR 32 million financing from EuroBank Bulgaria for the 57.6-megawatt-peal Sinitovo photovoltaic project.
CMS has advised a club of Czech banks including Ceska Sporitelna, Ceskoslovenska Obchodni Banka, Komercni Banka, and Raiffeisenbank, on financing for Smarty Brands Group.
CMS has advised Actis on the acquisition of Dot Towers through its Connectis Tower platform, adding 50 sites to Actis’ portfolio.
CMS has advised Laerdal Medical on its acquisition of SIMCharacters. Frotz Riedl reportedly advised the sellers.
CMS Sofia is a full-service law firm, the largest international law firm in Bulgaria and one of the largest providers of legal services in the local market as a whole. The breadth and depth of our practice means that our lawyers are specialised, with a level of specialisation that few of our competitors can match.
CMS Sofia is the Bulgarian branch of CMS, a top ten global legal and tax services provider with over 5000 lawyers in 43 countries and 78 offices across the world.
CMS entered the Bulgarian market as one of the first internationally active law firms in 2005 and is now among the most respected legal advisors in the country. We have 7 partners, 4 counsel and over 30 lawyers in our office in Sofia.
Our legal experts, who are rooted in Bulgaria’s local culture, can also draw on years of experience in foreign countries and are at home in several legal systems at once. We know the particularities of the local market just as well as the needs of our clients and combine both to achieve optimum solutions. Our lawyers are Bulgarian qualified and we also have English qualified experts – all of them regularly working on cross-border mandates.
In our work, we focus on M&A, Energy, Projects and Construction, Banking and Finance, Real Estate, Media, IP and IT law, Tax, Employment law, Competition, Procurement and any kind of Dispute resolution, including arbitration and mediation. What’s more, we also take care of the entire legal management of our clients’ projects.