Ellex Klavins has advised Duke I S.a.r.l. on the acquisition of 83.14% of the share capital of AS Valmieras Stikla Skiedra from the company’s controlling shareholder group. In addition to the equity transaction, VSS debt was restructured with Duke I S.a r.l becoming the second-largest secured creditor in place of Danske Bank A/S. Eversheds Sutherland advised VSS and Cobalt advised both Danske Bank and AS SEB Banka on their participation in the restructuring process of VSS.

Sorainen has advised Fenner Dunlop, a part of the Michelin Group, on its acquisition of Technobalt Estonia.

TGS Baltic has advised the shareholders of Mailigen SIA, including private equity fund FlyCap, on the sale of email marketing automation platform company Mailigen SIA to international customer relationship management systems company Pipedrive Ireland Limited. Glimstedt reportedly advised Pipedrive Ireland on the deal.

Cobalt has helped Swedbank on its internal restructuring in the Baltics, as a result of which the bank’s existing subsidiaries in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania will continue under the ownership of the bank’s new subsidiary, Swedbank AB.

On January 14, 2021, CEE Legal Matters reported that the Riga office of Eversheds Sutherland had represented Euromin Holdings Limited before the Court of Justice of the European Union in a proceeding with the Financial and Capital Market Commission. CEEIHM spoke with Girts Apsitis, Member of the Management Board at AS Ventspils Nafta, to learn more about the matter.

TGS Baltic has advised real estate company AS Retail Mezaparks on the EUR 2 million sale of a 10,190 square meter property to SIA Plesko Real Estate for the construction of a Rimi supermarket in Riga.

Walless has advised the shareholders of SIA R&D Apdrosinasanas Brokers on the sale of a 60% stake in the company and its associated company SIA RD AB to Czech insurance service provider Renomia a.s.

Sorainen, working with lead counsel Kirkland & Ellis, has advised AE Industrial Partners on its acquisition of UAV Factory.

Walless has advised Lumi Retail Property Fund on its acquisition of the Juglas Centrs shopping center in Riga in a share deal from RCH Management.

TGS Baltic has assisted Latvian warehousing and logistics park SIA Olaines Logistics Parks and holding company SIA Olaines Logistics with the former’s merger into the latter. SIA Olaines Logistics is owned by United Partners Property OU via UPP Olaines OU.

Ellex Klavins has advised Danske Bank on the sale of its corporate portfolio to Luminor. Sorainen advised the buyer on the deal. The parties did not disclose the financial details.

Walless has advised UCTAM Baltics SIA on the sale of several land plots in Riga, covering a total area of 7.3 hectares, to Urban Investors. The total value of the transaction is EUR 5.5 million.

Cobalt has advised lead investor Change Ventures on its participation in Berlin-based startup Inzmo's EUR 3.1 million round. Inzmo was advised by PwC Legal Germany.

TGS Baltic has advised Latvian cars and light motor vehicles sales company SIA BRC's Estonian subsidiaries Balti Realiseerimiskeskus OU and BR Merger OU on their internal merger into SIA BRC.

Cobalt has successfully persuaded the Administrative Department of the Supreme Court Senate of Latvia to deny the appeal of the State Revenue Service of a decision by the District Administrative Court to revoking a decision by the State Revenue Service against the firm's client, SIA Lielzeltini.

“Currently, the main debate in Latvia is about when business will get back to normal and whether companies will be compensated for their lockdown-caused losses,” says Janis Zelmenis, Managing Partner at BDO Latvia, sighing that he expects the burden to eventually fall on the taxpayers’ shoulders.

In February, 2020, the Latvian authorities breathed a sigh of relief after the Financial Action Task Force voted against adding Latvia to the so-called “grey list” of jurisdictions with strategic anti-money laundering deficiencies. Prior to that, MONEYVAL, the permanent monitoring body of the Council of Europe entrusted with the task of assessing compliance with the principal international standards to counter money laundering, found that Latvian financial institutions had failed to introduce sufficient methods to identify suspicious funds primarily associated with clients from the former Soviet bloc countries.

In 2015, the word Cobalt took on a new meaning in the legal markets of Belarus, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, when a new pan-Baltic law firm with that name opened its doors, immediately entrenched in the top tier of the region’s legal markets. That firm owes much of its success and reputation to the Managing Partner of its Lithuanian office and Chairman of the firm-wide Management Board, Irmantas Norkus.