Karanovic & Partners has advised the Czech Republic's PPF Group on its acquisition of Telenor Banka, the first fully mobile and online bank operating in Serbia, from Norwegian mobile operator Telenor. Schoenherr and Latham & Watkins advised the sellers.
The PPF Group is the largest private investment group in CEE, and it invests into multiple market segments such as banking and financial services, telecommunications, mechanical engineering, biotechnology, insurance, real estate, and agriculture.
Telenor Banka provides its services primarily to Telenor clients; currently, its portfolio includes more than 400,000 clients. At the end of 2018, the bank had assets under management worth EUR 135 million.
In 2018 Schoenherr advised Telenor and Karanovic & Partners advised the PPF Group on the latter's EUR 2.8 billion acquisition of Telenor’s assets in Central and Eastern Europe, which is shortlisted for CEE Deal of the Year in several of the countries involved as reported by CEE Legal Matters on February 6, 2019.
The Karanovic & Partners team in the Telenor Banka deal was led by Partner ⃰ Milos Jakovljevic and Associates ⃰ Sava Draca and Marija Vicic.
The Belgrade-based Schoenherr team was led by Partner Luka Lopicic and included Attorney at Law Ivan Kostic.
