In Hungary, as is the case in other EU countries, recent economic growth has been accompanied by a labour shortage. This is largely due to Hungarian workers emigrating to other EU countries in search of higher wages and better living standards. According to statistics, approximately 5% of the country's working-age population has emigrated to other EU countries in recent years.

Noerr has advised AEW Europe on the acquisition financing of the Luxus Aruhaz retail unit at Vorosmarty square in the heart of Budapest. The transaction was financed by UniCredit Bank AG Vienna, which was represented by Wolf Theiss.

Deloitte Legal has helped Germany's ABO Wind AG launch a 5.2 MW solar power plant to the south of Debrecen in Hungary.

The Kapolyi Law Firm has assisted the CyBERG Corp. the owner of Budapest's Kajahu "social digital restaurant chain," with its initial placement of shares on the Budapest Stock Exchange's BSE Xtend mid-market and their introduction to trading.

Noerr has advised the European Investment Bank on financing provided to the Hungarian automotive technology company Almotive. 

Noerr Budapest has advised Hiventures on its investment in Oriana International, a Hungarian company providing low-code platform development and partnering in domestic and international sales.

Deloitte Legal has advised K&H Bank on long-term non-recourse project financing provided to Photon Energy Group for Photon Energy’s 11.5 MWp proprietary PV power plant portfolio in Hungary. Pontes Budapest advised Photon Energy on the deal.

Wolf Theiss has advised ALSO Holding AG on its agreement with MCI Euroventures, the majority shareholder of ABC Data S.A., to make a joint tender offer for all publicly-held shares of Warsaw Stock Exchange-listed ABC Data. Baker McKenzie advised MCI and ABC Data on the sale. 

Viktor Fuzi and Petr Hrncir have been promoted to Partner at Noerr in Budapest and Prague, respectively.

The new Hungarian Code of Civil Procedure (the “Code”) came with a number of ambitious promises, many of which have already been addressed in CEE Legal Matters. However, a prominent promise, namely increasing the transparency and predictability of litigation, has not yet been discussed in these pages.

In early 2017 the Hungarian Parliament passed the Code of Administrative Litigation as a beginning of the reform of the central administration. As the final step, the Hungarian Parliament adopted a law on the Administrative Courts on 12 December 2018. The goal of the new legislation was to ’restore the prestige of the administrative courts’ which was abolished in 1949. Since then no separate administrative court system existed, it was integrated into the civil courts.

The amendments of the Act on the Transactions in Agricultural and Forestry Land (Land Act) entered into force on 11 January 2019. Based on the new rules, in the approval procedure of the sale and purchase agreement for agricultural lands, the regional entity of the Hungarian Chamber of Agriculture as local land committee will prepare an opinion whether the sale and purchase agreement is in compliance with the aspects included in the Land Act (e.g. transparency of the relationship of tenures, preventing speculative land acquisition). The amendment determines the conditions that shall be considered in the course of the assessment of the compliance with these aspects, such as the purchase price of the land, the lands already owned by the purchaser, or how the sale and purchase of the land serves the acquisition of ownership of young farmers or new agricultural producers.

Tamas Feher has been promoted to Partner at the Jalsovszky law firm in Hungary. Feher will also lead the firm's newly-established Litigation practice.

The Hungarian Competition Authority (HCA) cleared the acquisition of sole control over Invitel Távközlési Zrt ("Invitel") by Digi Távközlési és Szolgáltató Kft ("DIGI") conditionally - with commitments - in May 2018. A few months later, it established that DIGI had intentionally misled HCA officials and therefore revoked the decision and imposed a fine on DIGI of HUF 90 million (approx. EUR 280,000). It then reopened the proceeding to assess the relevant markets affected by the misleading information. Revoking a merger clearance decision is not without precedent in the HCA's recent practice, as the HCA has invoked three clearance decisions in the last two years. What is new, however, is that the HCA granted a derogation from the suspension clause to prevent negative market consequences from interfering with the already closed transaction. The HCA also resorted to a dawn raid during the original proceeding, which is a new instrument in merger control cases.

Noerr has advised K&H Bank on the financing of the Wing Groups’ acquisition of the "Siemens Offices" real estate complex in Budapest from Siemens. CMS advised Siemens on the acquisition itself, while DLA Piper reportedly advised Wing.

On September 11, 2018, CEE Legal Matters reported that Akos Eros, the Managing Partner of Squire Patton Boggs in Hungary, had taken a team from that international firm to join Wolf Theiss, led in Budapest by his old friend Zoltan Faludi. The reunion of these two actual comrades-in-arms is a source of real excitement at Wolf Theiss Hungary, which is embracing the changing legal market of the moment with confidence and style.

On 20 November 2018, the European Parliament’s Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (“EMPL”) adopted modernised rules for coordinating social security systems. The EMPL focused on facilitating labour mobility while safeguarding the workers’ social security rights in cross-border situations, by determining under which Member State’ s system a person is insured. The purpose of the new rules is to make it easier for EU citizens to work in another EU Member State and to have a fair access to social security benefits.

Taylor Wessing Budapest, working with lawyers from America's Nixon Peabody law firm, has helped persuade the United States Supreme Court to uphold a lower court's ruling that US courts lack jurisdiction over the Hungarian State in a lawsuit involving the attempted restitution of artworks that once belonged to the Herzog Collection. The Court published its decision on January 7, 2019.