Baker & McKenzie has advised on the merger of the energy companies owned by Kulczyk Investment under the umbrella of Polish Energy Partners (PEP), a company listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange.
According to a firm press release, Baker & McKenzie's involvement for Polish Energy Partners included: "support in the development of the transaction strategy; assistance in preparing Polenergia Holding, another company owned by Kulczyk Investment, to be integrated into PEP (through an in-kind contribution); and obtaining corporate approvals in PEP.
According to Baker & McKenzie Partner Jakub Celinski, “this transaction will create the largest private energy group in Poland, with a capitalization of nearly PLN 1.5 billion. We are happy that we were able to work on such a landmark project in the development of the energy sector in Poland.”
At the same time that Polenergia Holding's assets were acquired by the stock exchange-listed PEP, the company also gained a minority shareholder: CEE Equity Partners, a Chinese fund set up in February of this year by the state-owned Export-Import Bank of China. The fund has acquired a 16-percent stake in the merged Polenergia for PLN 240 million. This is the first investment of CEE Equity Partners. According to Baker & McKenzie, “the fund plans to invest as much as USD 2 billion in 16 Central and Eastern European countries. Baker & McKenzie also participated in the negotiations between PEP and the Chinese fund. B&M was also involved in preparing the prospectus for the purposes of floating the contributed shares for the Chinese investor, and for the public issue of shares."