Kocian Solc Balastik has advised the Corinthia Palace Hotel Company Limited on the sale of its Panorama Hotel Prague and adjoining land and property to the Austrian developer S + B Gruppe.

Kocian Solc Balastik has advised PepsiCo CZ on the sale of its Toma bottled water business to Coca-Cola HBC Cesko a Slovensko.

Kocian Solc Balastik has advised the Solitea Group on its acquisition of Dotykacka and Smart Software.

JPM, Clifford Chance, and Kocian Solc Balastik have advised Pepsico and Karlovarske Mineralne Vody on the acquisition of Knjaz Milos, a producer of mineral water and soft drinks in the countries of former Yugoslavia, from Mid Europa Partners. Karanovic & Partners advised the sellers.

Establishing a real and sustainable energy mix is a crucial task for every democratic state. In addition, any energy mix that has been chosen and put in place may change. Indeed, it has to, if the terms and conditions on which it was established undergo important changes. This, of course, applies in the Czech Republic as everywhere else.

Kocian Solc Balastik has established a new subsidiary: KSB Accounting, which will offer services in the fields of accounting and auditing to businesses operating on the Czech market.

The Deal: In May, 2018, CEE Legal Matters reported that Linklaters, Kocian Solc Balastik, the BLC Law Office, Paksoy, and Tsvetkova Bebov Komarevski had provided advice on Czech, English, Georgian, Turkish, and Bulgarian law, respectively, to Energo-Pro a.s. on its EUR 250 million Eurobond issue in London. Allen & Overy, BGI Legal in Tbilisi, Boyanov & Co. in Bulgaria, and Turkey’s Gedik & Eraksoy advised the joint bookrunners, BNP Paribas, Citigroup Global Markets Limited and J.P. Morgan Securities plc, and the Trustee, Citibank, N.A., London Branch.

Drahomir Tomasuk has been made Partner at Kocian Solc Balastik in the Czech Republic.

Kocian Solc Balastik has successfully represented Asiana in a dispute with transportation company Student Agency before the Regional Court in Brno.

Recently-introduced reforms to the Czech Code of Civil Procedure, the country’s new Act on Insurance Distribution, and the Istanbul Convention on Domestic Violence are among the topics Czech lawyers are most commonly discussing at the moment, according to Kocian Solc Balastik Partner Sylvie Sobolova.

Former Kocian Solc Balastik Partner Christian Blatchford has accepted an offer to become the first General Counsel of KSB client Energo-Pro a.s.

Clifford Chance has advised Ceskoslovenska Obchodni Banka, a. s., as mandated lead arranger, facility agent, security agent, and underwriter on the initial finance documentation and in relation to subsequent syndication and transactional closing with Ceska Sporitelna, a.s. and the EBRD on  financing provided to Karlovarske Mineralni Vody's for its acquisition of PepsiCo's assets and operations in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary. Kocian Solc Balastik advised KMV on the financing and on the underlying acquisition, and represented KMV in proceedings before the Czech Competition Authority.

Representatives of more than sixty law firms from across Central and Eastern Europe and from as far away as the United States, United Kingdom, and China came together in Prague on June 6, 2018, for the first ever Dealer’s Choice international law firm conference and CEE Deal of the Year Awards Banquet.

After a valuable and information-rich day of panel discussions on important business development and law firm management topics, participants reconvened that evening (and were joined by several dozen newcomers) at the first ever CEE Legal Matters Annual Banquet and Deal of the Year Awards Ceremony – a celebration of CEE’s legal markets and the lawyers who work within them. Awards were presented for 17 qualifying markets in CEE – plus a surprise award for overall CEE Deal of the Year – with many of the lawyers playing key roles in nominated deals joining the celebration.

Start-Ups represent a unique subset of clients for major law firms, as they are often unable to pay the fees those firms generally require, but – particularly in the tech sector – hold out the potential of significant profitability down the road. Intrigued by the unique challenges and opportunities for law firms offering their services to these cash-poor but potential-high clients, we invited partners from four prominent law firms in the Czech Republic and Slovakia to share their strategies and experiences with Start-ups with us in the offices of Kocian Solc Balastik in Prague. KSB Partner Christian Blatchford moderated the conversation. 

Kocian Solc Balastik has advised Continuum Search Fund on its acquisition of exhibition stand manufacturers Best Expo and IRE — the first acquisition by a search fund in the Czech Republic. The sellers — entrepreneurs Hellen Berends and Petr Kotvas — were advised by Havel & Partners.

Kocian Solc Balastik has advised Skoda Auto DigiLab on its Care-Driver Project: a German service based on combining transportation and home care services for children, seniors, and disabled citizens.

The European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation is, according to the EU-hosted GDPR website, “the most important change in data privacy regulation in the past 20 years.” The Act, which was approved by the EU Parliament on April 14, 2016 and will become fully effective on May 25, 2018, was designed “to harmonize data privacy laws across Europe, to protect and empower all EU citizens’ data privacy, and to reshape the way organizations across the region approach data privacy.”