The Future is Now

“There are no major movements between firms, or any new firms popping up," says Petar Mitrovic, Partner at Karanovic & Partners in Belgrade, about the Serbian legal market. “There have been some movements, some partners leaving their law offices and moving to the private sector, but nothing worth writing home about."

Milica Savic, a former Senior Associate at Karanovic & Partners, has been promoted to Partner in the firm's Belgrade office.

Karanovic & Partners has advised NIBE Industries AB on its acquisition of the TIKI Group, Gorenje’s Serbian subsidiary. The TIKI Group was advised by the Zdolsek law firm.

Some might say that Serbia’s banking sector is blooming and steadily consolidating. Others may argue that actual consolidation is still far away. Either way, players on the local market are changing. This is clear now following the exit of Societe Genarale, BNP’s Findomestic, and two Greek banks, followed by the bold revamp of Hungary’s OTP and the strengthening of domestic investors such as AIK and Direktna Bank.

The wide usage of benchmark rates and their key role in the financial system requires that they be reliable and defiant to any manipulation. To ensure this, the EU undertook to reform the benchmark rate determination process and improve market confidence in them, resulting in the adoption of the EU Benchmarks Regulation (the BMR).

Karanovic & Partners has advised family-owned automotive industry supplier Brose on the acquisition of 23 hectares of land from the Republic of Serbia for the construction of a plant and a research center that will produce automotive equipment.

ODI Law has advised the Eta Invest Group on the refinancing of a development project encompassing 28 newly-constructed villas near Nova Gorica, Slovenia. The transaction included a transfer of claims held by various banking and non-banking entities to the Elements Capital Management investment fund, followed by the entrance into a Master Restructuring Agreement by Eta Invest Group and the investment fund. Karanovic & Partners advised Elements Capital Management.

At the moment, there is no generally applicable obligation to report a personal data security breach in Serbia. This type of obligation is currently envisaged only by certain sector specific laws such as the Law on Electronic Communications.

Karanovic & Partners acted as Serbian legal counsel for Vale Canada Limited on its acquisition of the option to earn-in in four of Mundoro Capital Inc’s exploration licenses in the Timok mining complex.

This April, the new EU foreign investment screening regulation entered into force, with terms scheduled to become applicable on October 11, 2020. The regulation was conceived and designed to provide member states with a valuable tool to employ in defending their strategic interests. We spoke to several experts in the region to learn more.

BDK Advokati and Clifford Chance advised the EBRD, IFC, and the Development Bank of Austria on financing for a waste management public-private partnership project in the Vinca district of Belgrade. The City of Belgrade was advised by Hogan Lovells and Karanovic & Partners, with Karanovic & Partners also advising the IFC on the matter.

Motieka & Audzevicius has advised Petstart UAB on its exit from a joint venture with a Romanian PET packaging waste company. The buyer was advised by Karanovic & Partners.

At the beginning of April 2019, the Serbian Parliament adopted the new Law on Healthcare Protection (the “Law”), with the aim of improving the legal framework and facilitate better functioning of the healthcare system in Serbia, aligning it more closely to EU standards in this field.

Pharmaceutical products have been in the spotlight of the Council of the European Union’s Product Liability Directive since its adoption in 1985. Despite the amount of time that has passed, some legal uncertainties remain that strike directly at the notion of defectiveness, as well as the causal link between the defect and the damage (which proved to be even more important in the case of pharmaceutical products). Establishing such causal link in cases involving vaccines is notoriously difficult, especially from the perspective of a lay consumer. This has led some EU member states, such as France, to introduce case law aimed at facilitating the burden of proof in specific sectors.

Tuca Zbarcea & Asociatii has advised Fadi Rida and Mihai Stanescu, founders of the Global Technical Group, on their sale of a majority stake in the group to private equity fund manager Abris Capital Partners. Clifford Chance Badea advised Abris Capital Partners on the deal.

In The Corner Office we ask Managing Partners across CEE about their unique roles and responsibilities. The question this time around: How do you do performance reviews, and how important are they to the planning and management of the firm?”

Karanovic & Partners has advised Ionity, a Munich-headquartered joint venture of the BMW Group, Daimler AG, Ford, and the Volkswagen Group with Audi and Porsche, on opening its first 350 kW charging stations in Slovenia.