Sorainen and Greenberg Traurig have advised Allianz SE on its acquisition of life and non-life insurance operations and the pension and asset management business in Poland and Lithuania — including Lithuanian subsidiary Aviva Lithuania — from the Aviva Group. The Aviva Poland business also includes Aviva’s 51% shareholding in life and general insurance joint ventures with Santander: Santander-Aviva Towarzystwo Ubezpieczen Na Zycie S.A. and Santander-Aviva Towarzystwo Ubezpieczen S.A. Wiercinski, Kwiecinski, Baehr, working with lead counsel Slaughter and May, advised Aviva on the deal in Poland, and Cobalt advised Aviva on Lithuanian aspects. Rymarz Zdort advised Santander.
The transaction, which remains subject to required regulatory approvals, is expected to complete within the next twelve months, and is valued at EUR 2.7 billion.
Sorainen’s team in Lithuania was led by Senior Associates Agne Sovaite and Inga Macijauskaite and Partners Tomas Kontautas and Mantas Petkevicius and included Senior Associates Indre Peledaite, Aurelija Daubaraite, Monika Malisauskaite-Vaupsiene and associate Simona Vaicekauskaite.
Slaughter and May's team included Corporate Partners Claire Jackson, Richard Smith, and Nick Pacheco, Tax Partner William Watson, IP/IT Partner Rob Sumroy, and Competition Partner Anna Lyle-Smythe, as well as Associates Chris Tolley, Olivia Hosker, Charles Osborne, Nicola Dinan, Oliver Howley, Ben Allen, and Kadambari Chinoy, and Trainees Yan Lai, Elizabeth Oladunni, and Sophia Russell.
WKB’s team included Partners Jakub Jedrzejak, Jakub Pokrzywniak, Marcin Smolarek, Ben Davey, and Aleksander Stawicki, Counsels Agata Szczepanczyk-Piwek and Krzysztof Wawrzyniak, Senior Associates Tomasz Maslak, Aleksandra Przybysz, Monika Obieglo, and Wojciech Kulczyk, and Associates Katarzyna Stefaniak, Konrad Kropiwnicki, and Sebastian Lys.
Greenberg Traurig’s team included Senior Partner Lejb Fogelman, Partners Stephen Horvath, Lukasz Pawlak, and Robert Gago, Local Partners Maciej Pietrzak, Michal Bobrzynski, Anna Halas‑Krawczyk, and Maciej Kacymirow, Senior Associates Ewa Tabor, Anna Celejewska-Rajchert, Magdalena Medynska, Anna Wisniewska, Marek Kleczek, Agnieszka Stopinska, Magdalena Bachleda-Ksiedzularz, and Associates Filip Drgas, Marta Kownacka, Angelika Makar, Julia Gontarska, Aleksandra Staromiejska, and Adam Andula, and London-based Partner Graham Iversen and Associate Kathryn Jones.
Cobalt's team in Vilnius included Partners Juozas Rimas and Akvile Bosaite, Managing Associate Deimante Pagiriene, and Senior Associate Inga Mazvilaite.
Rymarz Zdort's team included Partners Lukasz Gasinski and Jacek Zawadzki and Associates Marzena Iskierka and Aleksander Jakubisiak.
Editor’s note: After this article was published, Hogan Lovells informed CEE Legal Matters that it had advised the Aviva Group on the deal. The firm’s team consisted of Warsaw Office Managing Partner Beata Balas-Noszczyk, Counsels Tomasz Grygorczuk and Bartosz Romanowski, and Senior Associate Maryla Surowiec.
In August 2021 Greenberg Traurig informed CEE Legal Matters that it had advised the Allianz Group on obtaining the European Commission’s merger control clearance for the acquisition. The firm's team was led by Partner Robert Gago and included Senior Associates Ewa Tabor and Anna Celejewska-Rajchert and Associates Filip Drgas and Marta Kownacka.
In November 2021, Greenberg Traurig announced that the deal had closed successfully and provided additional details as to the firm’s team composition. Further team members included also Of Counsel Adam Opalski, Senior Associates Natalia Wolkowycka and Joanna Kuc, and Associates Agata Izyk, Maciej Jablonski, Dawid Malinowski, Michal Baldowski, and Marta Poplawska.
