On August 3, 2022, SMM Legal announced that the merger between PKN Orlen and Grupa Lotos (initially reported by CEE Legal Matters on May 23, 2018) had closed.
According to SMM Legal, the total capitalization of both companies amounts to more than PLN 47 billion.
As previously reported, in 2018, SMM Legal advised PKN Orlen on its merger with Grupa Lotos, with the former Weil Gotshal & Manges Warsaw office – now Rymarz Zdort – advising Lotos on the deal.
Subsequently, SMM Legal further assisted PKN Orlen with the merger notification to the European Commission in 2019 (as reported on July 5, 2019) and the 2021 Grupa Lotos spin-off of its Gdansk Refinery (as reported on November 26, 2021).
Furthermore, in early 2022, as part of a number of remedy transactions, CMS and Rymarz Zdort advised on Rossi Biofuel's acquisition of Lotos Biopaliwa (as reported by CEE Legal Matters on January 31, 2022) as well as on Mol's acquisition of petrol stations from Lotos (as reported on February 2, 2022). Baker McKenzie and CMS advised on Mol’s sale of petrol stations in Hungary and Slovakia to PKN Orlen (as reported on February 1, 2022). Noerr and CMS advised on Normeston Group's sale of Lukoil service stations in Hungary to Mol (as reported on January 21, 2022). Andersen, Greenberg Traurig, KDCP, CSW, and Clifford Chance advised on Unimot's acquisition of the fuel storage and bitumen businesses from Grupa Lotos (as reported on January 27, 2022). And finally, Allen & Overy, SMM Legal, and Rymarz Zdort advised on a number of Aramco’s associated acquisitions from PKN Orlen (as reported by CEE Legal Matters on January 20, 2022).
SMM Legal’s updated team included Managing Partner Maciej Mataczynski, Senior Partners Rafal Sikorski and Aleksander Czech, Partners Tomasz Sojka and Tomasz Jaranowski, Of Counsel Maksymilian Saczywko, and Senior Associates Jan Stranz, Izabela Jackowska, and Magdalena Cisowska.
An in-depth look at this major Polish energy transaction is available here, in an article featuring the Managing Partners of both firms that have been working on the merger since 2018 – Turning a Challenging EC Decision Into an Opportunity: The PKN Orlen and Grupa Lotos Merger.
