Ellex, Allen & Overy, and Hamilton have advised Blackstone on the EUR 1 billion acquisition by a consortium of private equity funds it manages of a 60% stake in Luminor from Nordea bank AB and DNB Bank ASA. Cobalt advised Luminor on the sale.
Allen & Overy was lead counsel and Hamilton provided Swedish law advice to Blackstone, while Ellex advised on Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian laws.
According to Ellex, the deal is the largest M&A transaction in Baltic history.
Nordea and DNB will retain an equal 20% equity stake in Luminor and will continue to support the bank with long-term funding, expertise, and ongoing representation on the Board of Directors. Additionally, Blackstone has entered into an agreement with Nordea to purchase their remaining 20% stake over the coming years.
Luminor, which was established in 2017 as a result of merger between the Baltic operations of DNB and Nordea as reported by CEE Legal Matters on October 9, 2017.
The Ellex team was led by Partner Sven Papp and Senior Associate Alla Kuznetsova in Estonia. The team in Latvia consisted of Partners Zinta Jansons and Egons Pikelis and Associate Partner Valters Diure. The Lithuanian team included Partners Dovile Burgiene and Gediminas Reciunas.
Cobalt’s pan-Baltic team was led by Partner Kristel Raidla-Talur and Senior Associate Karl Kull. The team also included Partners Marina Kotkas and Sandija Novicka, Specialist Counsel Andrejs Lielkalns, of-Counsel Toms Krumiņs, Managing Associate Eva Suduiko, Senior Associates Aurelija Balciune, Monika Koolmeister, Kristjan Kotkas, and Heleri Tammiste, Associates Madis Reppo, Liina Saaremets, Marius Banys, Diana Zepa, Arturs Valdersteins, Krisjanis Buss, and Aleksander Tsuiman, and assistant lawyers Sabine Vilka, Tiit-Gregor Mets, Kristiina Kraav, Milda Vaznelyte and Julija Kostomarova.
The Allen & Overy team was led by Partner Karan Dinamani and Senior Associates Hugh Robinson and Monika Przygoda and included Partners Nick Bradbury, George Link, Jim Ford, Senior Associate Rebecca Claxon, and Associates Daniel Hunter, Tina Barazandeh-Nejad, Gregory Talbot, and Nick Roudev.
The Hamilton team was led by Partner Jon Ericson.
Editor's Note: The transaction closed on September 30, 2019.
After this article was published, the Walless law firm in Lithuania contacted CEE Legal Matters to note that its lawyers, including both Partners Dovile Burgiene and Gediminas Reciunas, who were on the Ellex Valiunas team when negotiations for the deal began, in fact continued to serve as "the main legal advisers to Blackstone (as acquirer) in Lithuania ... after Walless' de-merger from Ellex Valiunas in late 2018," and then assisted with the deal's closing as well.
