CMS Prague has advised Ceskoslovenska obchodni banka, the Czech division of KBC Group, on the acquisition of 45% stake in the Czech building savings bank Ceskomoravska stavebni sporitelna from Bausparkasse Schwabisch Hall, advised by Schoenherr.

JSK has advised the Sedlacek family on the sale of PONY Auto Trend s.r.o. and PONY Plast s.r.o. to Fine Gusto Nature Trade s.r.o. The Marian Jerabek Law Firm in Brno reportedly advised Fine Gusto Nature Trade on the acquisition.

CMS has advised the ESPIRA private equity fund on the acquisition, made with ICON's executive management team, of ICON Communication Centres, an award-winning provider of multilingual contact centre services, from the joint administrators of former energy broker Utilitywise Plc. The Czech Republic's FORLEX law firm advised Icon management, and Pinsent Masons reportedly advised the administrator.

White & Case has advised PPF Arena 1 B.V. on the establishment of its EUR 3 billion Euro Medium Term Note Program and the debut issuance of EUR 550 million 3.125% notes due March 2026 thereunder. Allen & Overy represented the mandated lead arrangers, joint lead managers, and dealers under the program agreement in connection with the change of terms of financing of the acquisition of CEE and SEE assets of Telenor by the PPF Group, as well as the joint lead managers and dealers under the program agreement and the first issuance of notes under the program agreement.

PRK Partners, working alongside lead counsel Freshfields, has advised RWE on Czech aspects of its acquisition of 50.05% of the shares in Innogy Grid Holding. Czech counsel for the seller, Innogy SE, was Havel & Partners.

Dentons has successfully advised CPI Property Group on an update of a revolving credit facility, the issue of USD 350 million Reg S bonds, and a EUR 170 million senior unsecured Schuldschein. Allen & Overy reportedly advised the banks - Barclays, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, J.P. Morgan, Komercni Banka, Nomura, Raiffeisen Bank, UniCredit, Goldman Sachs, and Bank of China - on the credit facility update.

Dentons advised Penta Real Estate, the real estate division of Central European investment group Penta, on its EUR 250 million sale of the Waltrovka office complex in Prague to Munich-based real estate fund manager GLL Real Estate Partners, acting together with LB Asset Management on behalf of South Korean investor Hanwha Investment & Securities. Wilsons advised the buyers on the deal.

Budapest lawyer Balazs Csuday, Bratislava lawyer Daniel Lipsic, and Prague lawyer Jan Prochazka are among the 25 European lawyers promoted to partner by Dentons as part of its 2019 cycle.

Vladimira Chlandova was hired as the new Head of Legal Affairs at T-Mobile Czech Republic and Slovak Telekom.

Bulgarian lawyer Antonia Mavrova and Czech lawyer Tomas Cihula have been promoted to partner at Kinstellar.

Former Wolf Theiss Partner Jan Kotous has brought a five-person team from that firm to Deloitte Legal in Prague.

BPV Braun Partners has advised Redside, a fund management company, on the sale of Avenir E, a grade A office building located in Nove Butovice in Prague. Wilsons advised the investment company Investika on its acquisition of the building.

Squire Patton Boggs has promoted Czech dispute resolution specialists Eveli Lume and Maria Polakova to the firm's partnership.

PRK Partners has advised Martin Barry, the developer of the Manifesto marketplace in Prague, on the acquisition of a minority equity stake in Manifesto by the Rockaway Group. The transaction closed in February 2019, and financial details were not disclosed.

CMS has advised Zentiva Group a.s. on its acquisition of Romanian pharmaceutical company Solacium and its subsidiary Be Well Pharma from Siyiara Enterprises — a holding entity of A&D Pharma / Dr. Max Group — and entrepreneur Tony Trasca. The Czech Republic's Evan Law Firm advised Siyiara and Romania's Fine Law advised Trasca on the sale, which remains contingent on the satisfaction of several conditions, including the approval of the Romanian Competition Council.

The Prague office of Eversheds Sutherland has advised the Conseq real estate fund on its acquisition of the Retail Park Hradec Kralove s.r.o. from Tesco Europe B.V., advised by Wilsons. 

Former PWC Legal Prague Managing Partner Borivoj Libal has joined Noerr, bringing a team of four other lawyers with him.

There’s nothing happening at the moment in the Czech Republic which could fall into the category of “big news,” Daniel Weinhold, the Managing Partner of Weinhold Legal says, “but there a few pieces of news that are worth attention, and which are the source of some discussion among members of the legal profession.”