CEE Legal Matters In-depth coverage of the news and newsmakers that shape Europe's emerging markets 
Havel & Partners has advised British investment firm CapVest on Czech legal aspects of its sale of Valeo Foods to Bain Capital Private Equity. Weil, Gotshal & Manges reportedly advised the buyer.
Havel & Partners has advised shareholders Tomas Rutrle, Martin Lips, Yvona Parmova, Martin Slama, and Libor Malek on their sale of IT company Komix to the Cleverlance Group, a subsidiary of the Aricoma Group. Dunovska & Partners advised the buyers on the deal.
Havel & Partners, acting on behalf of T-Mobile Czech Republic, has persuaded the Regional Court in Brno to annul a decision of the Czech Competition Authority regarding T-Mobile Czech Republic's entrance into interconnection agreements with other mobile operators.
As of January 1, 2022, a deposit system for disposable beverage packaging will be introduced in Slovakia. Some disposable beverage packaging manufacturers and distributors will therefore have new obligations.
Is it possible to perceive some elements of the corona crisis positively? And is it possible that changes could take place that would have a positive effect on the Slovak legal market? I may be too optimistic, but I am convinced that the answer to both questions is “yes.”
Havel & Partners advised Hyundai Motor Czech s.r.o. on its entrance into financing agreements with Essox s.r.o. related to the importation and distribution of Hyundai vehicles in the Czech Republic.
Havel & Partners' Partner Frantisek Korbel, acting as a legal representative for the Ceske Radiokomunikace a.s. telecommunications company, has successfully appealed a Czech Supreme Court resolution to the Czech Constitutional Court in a dispute over the removal of the Petrov TV translator station from property owned by the defendant.
Havel & Partners has advised Sebre, Havel & Partners' Managing Partner Jaroslav Havel, and Sebre Managing Director Jan Kubicek, on the joint acquisition of a 50% shareholding in SousedeCZ, a company operating an online platform for digital communication of homeowner associations in residential buildings, from entrepreneurs Tomas Holomoucky and Tomas Sikora.
Havel & Partners has successfully represented Apple in a dispute with the President of the Czech Republic's Industrial Property Office involving the trademark for the company's "Think Different" slogan in the Czech Republic.
Noerr has advised facility services provider ISS on the divestment of its main subsidiaries in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, and Hungary to Hungarian facility management company B+N Referencia Zrt. Havel & Partners advised B+N Referencia on the transaction, which remains contingent on regulatory approval.
New Act No. 37/2021 Sb. on the Register of Beneficial Owners (“ARBO”) will enter into force on 1 June 2021 in the Czech Republic. In contrast to the current legislation, the ARBO introduces significant sanctions for a breach of the obligations it imposes, including fines up to CZK 500,000 or invalidation of voting rights and the right to dividends.
Havel & Partners has advised Dentamed CZ on its acquisition of 100% of the shares of Medema.
Havel & Partners has advised Gi International on its acquisition of 100% of the shares of Work Service Czech and Work Service Slovakia.
Havel & Partners has advised Moravia Containers on its acquisition of 100% of shares in Contimade. Rakovsky & Partners advised the sellers on the deal.
In the Czech Republic, persons who undergo Covid-19 vaccination have been given the opportunity to claim financial compensation from the state if the vaccination (or, more precisely, the medicinal product containing a vaccine) causes harm. The Czech Parliament adopted Act No. 569/2020 Sb., on the Distribution of Medicinal Products Containing a Vaccine for Covid-19 Vaccination and on Compensation for Harm Caused to Those Vaccinated by These Medicinal Products (“Act No. 569/2020 Sb.”), which allows such compensation. According to the explanatory memorandum, this measure aims to “facilitate compensation of those who get vaccinated if they are harmed by the vaccination, thereby also indirectly promoting interest in Covid-19 vaccination.”
Havel & Partners has advised D&FG Sumava I s.r.o. on the development and subsequent CZK 220 million sale of three buildings of the Sumavske Strane Project to over 70 individual buyers.
CMS has advised AnaCap Financial Partners on its sale of the Equa Bank to Raiffeisen Bank International, acting through its Czech subsidiary. Havel & Partners and Linklaters advised the buyer on the deal.
Havel & Partners has advised entrepreneur Jaroslav Rudolf on the sale of Salvator Strechy s.r.o., a specialized roofing material company, to an unidentified construction material company.
HAVEL & PARTNERS, attorneys-at-law, with offices in Prague, Brno, Bratislava, Pilsen, Olomouc, and Ostrava, has a team of 220 lawyers, tax advisors and 500 employees in total, is the largest independent law firm in Central Europe.
Our clients include large international companies, leading Czech and Slovak firms, including strategic state-owned companies and public sector authorities, as well as medium-size businesses, individual entrepreneurs, and investors. We advise approximately 100 of the Fortune 500 companies, and almost 50 of the Czech Top 100 companies. HAVEL & PARTNERS currently provides its services to a total of 2,000 clients. We have the most comprehensive international support available to both Czech and Slovak law firms. We provide legal and tax advice in 12 world languages in more than 90 countries around the globe. Up to 70 % of the transactions we deal with involve an international aspect.
HAVEL & PARTNERS was named the best law firm operating in the Czech Republic by the prestigious British rating agencies Chambers and Partners (2020) and Who’s Who Legal (2018, 2019). It is also the most successful law firm, providing the most comprehensive legal services in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, based on the total number of all nominations and awards in all years of the Law Firm of the Year awards. The firm became the absolute winner of this competition four times in the last six years, receiving the main award Domestic Law Firm of the Year in the Czech Republic (2015, 2017, 2018, 2020) and ranking as one of the most recommended law firms in all categories of law. Our company is also a three-time winner of the Law Firm of the Year award for Best Client Services (2015, 2016, 2019). In the field of M&A, HAVEL & PARTNERS is the best law firm in the Czech Republic based on the annual International Advisory Experts awards (2018, 2019). In Slovakia, it also won the prestigious global M&A Today Awards (2013–2018) for Mergers & Acquisitions six times in a row, and repeatedly won first place in the ranking by Lawyer International Legal 100 (2017, 2018). Prestigious international rating agencies EMIS DealWatch and Mergermarket have ranked HAVEL & PARTNERS among the leading law firms by the number of transactions completed in the entire CEE region since 2009. Based on annual awards of the Acquisition International magazine, HAVEL & PARTNERS has become the Law Firm of the Year 2019 in the M&A category in the CEE region.
Firm's website: https://www.havelpartners.cz/en/