In line with a recent modification approved by the Hungarian Parliament as of 1 January 2018, employers are no longer able to prepare tax assessments for their employees. The aim of the modification was to ease the administrative burden on entrepreneurs. According to the records of the Hungarian Ministry of National Development, entrepreneurs spent an average of 34 working days per year with administrative duties, which was over the average in EU. 

Slovak lawyer Zoltan Sarkany has become Head of Legal Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary at the Arval BNP Paribas Group in Prague.

Latham & Watkins and Schoenherr have advised Telenor on its agreement to sell its assets in Central and Eastern Europe to the PPF Group for EUR 2.8 billion on an enterprise value basis. White and Case (as lead counsel) and Karanovic & Nikolic advised PPF Group on the deal. Allen & Overy, BDK Advokati, and Boyanov & Co. advised Societe Generale, as agent, and a syndicate of banks on a EUR 3.05 billion credit facility provided to PPF Group for the acquisition, which is expected to close in Q3 2018 and is subject to the relevant merger control and regulatory approvals. 

CHSH Budapest has advised GalGap Europe, a Vienna-based investment manager, on its acquisition of a mixed-purpose property named Central Udvar. The property lies in the heart of Budapest, and it is administered on behalf of a separate account for a German pension scheme by Institutional Investment Partners. The advisor on the seller side was Partos & Noblet in cooperation with Hogan Lovells.

KRS Kovacs Reti Szegheo has successfully represented the liquidator of Buda-Cash against Saxo Bank in the Metropolitan Regional Court in Hungary, after the Danish bank blocked Buda-Cash's customers' money. During the procedure, Saxo Bank was advised by Oppenheim, Budapest. 

Solo practitioner Andrea Zsuzsanna Kovacs has advised Austrian investor List Group on the sale of its Austria House office building to a Hong Kong based company backed by overseas investors. The Hong Kong company was advised by EY Law Hungary.

Noerr has advised Prologis on the sale of Prologis Park Hegyeshalom, in Hungary, to Horvath Rudolf Intertransport Kft. The buyer was represented by Deloitte Hungary.

Linda Szegvari is the Chief Legal Counsel of MET Hungary, an energy trading company that was established in 2007. The company is a subsidiary of the MET Group, which is present in 28 markets.

CMS Budapest has advised Belgian real estate developer Atenor on the sale of Building D of the Vaci Greens complex to an unnamed Hungarian private fund.

Hungary's Ban Karika law firm has joined Act’s Legal's European alliance.

The last 18 months have seen significant interest and activity in the Hungarian start-up ecosystem.

In The Corner Office, we invite Managing Partners at law firms from across the region to share information about their careers, management styles, and strategies. Our question this time: “What mistake do young associates commonly make that is most frustrating for you?”

As a result of the new Hungarian Code of Civil Procedure, from 1 January 2018 the parties of a dispute may conclude a settlement in civil cases before a public notary without initiating a court proceeding in the framework of a new non-litigious procedure.

The revised payment services directive (“PSD2”) has already been implemented in Hungary, most of the provisions will be effective on 13 January 2018. PSD2 will open up the payment market to new players (“fintech companies”) in the payment services, particularly to payment initiation service providers (“PISPs”) and to account information service providers (“AISPs”), and introduces strict security requirements for the initiation and processing of electronic payments (strong customer authentication – “SCA”). 

In November 2017 a new government decree entered into force on the status, organisation and tasks of the Hungarian State Treasury (Treasury). 

Lakatos, Koves & Partners has advised Atrium Properties on its sale of the EuroCenter Obuda Shopping Center in Budapest and the Family Center Shopping Center and the Praktiker Department Store in Szombathely, Hungary, to Hungarian real estate developer Wing Zrt. The buyer was advised by Szecsenyi & Partners.

CMS has advised Goodman, an Australian integrated commercial and industrial property group, on the development of an 87,200 square meter greenfield logistics facility in Hungary.

The Directive 2016/943 on the protection of undisclosed know-how and business information (trade secrets) against their unlawful acquisition, use and disclosure (“Directive”) was adopted by the European Parliament and the Council on 8 June 2016 and entered into force on 5 July 2016.