On January 30, 2018, a select group of prominent Serbian lawyers gathered at the Prica & Partners law firm in Belgrade for a CEE Legal Matters Round Table to discuss the current economic conditions in Serbia and the country’s legal services sector.

Patricia Gannon is a founder and Senior Partner at Karanovic & Nikolic, where she focuses primarily on the management, business development, strategy, and expansion of the firm. Gannon qualified as a Solicitor in Ireland and after a short period working at the European Commission in Brussels she moved to Serbia and founded the firm. She is a committed advocate of corporate philanthropy, and was amongst the founding members of the Serbian Charity Forum, an umbrella forum of leading foundations in the country.

The Motieka Audzevicius arbitration team has represented Serbian state company JP Srbijagas to secure enforcement of four ICC and VIAC awards in the Republic of Lithuania against the Lithuanian corporation Arvi.

Francois d’Ornano, together with almost the entire Budapest office of Jeantet, has left the French firm to launch the D’Ornano Partners law firm, with offices in Hungary, Serbia, and Romania.

Zivkovic Samardzic has advised the joint-stock public company that owns and operates the Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport on its share capital increase through contribution of 28 real estate properties owned by its majority shareholder – the Republic of Serbia.

The Serbian Minister for Mining and Energy recently stated that Serbia will manage to fulfill its obligation and reach the target of 27% of total energy consumption from renewables by 2020. The statement followed a stream of positive news in relation to development of several large-scale wind power projects in Serbia, such as Cibuk I, Kovacica, and Alibunar. 

The past decade was rather dynamic in terms of the development of the legal framework for bankruptcy in Serbia, as, since its adoption in 2009, the Bankruptcy Law has undergone several amendments, most recently in late 2017, designed to improve the efficiency of the bankruptcy proceedings.

Geographical indication of origin, this very peculiar form of industrial property protection, has undergone a revival phase over the past few years, becoming omnipresent not only within natural circles of interest, but also amongst the Serbian public at large.

Jovan Velkovski is the Head of Legal at JAT (Yugoslav Airlines) Tehnika, an Aircraft Maintenance Repair & Overhaul Center in Belgrade. Prior to joining the company, he worked as a Senior Legal Advisor at Privredna Banka Beograd, where he gained professional experience in bankruptcy cases.

JPM has advised Raiden Resourced Limited, a publicly listed Australian mining company, on the process of raising additional funds to explore and develop its future mining projects through the acquisition of 100% Western Australian-based Timok Resources — the parent company of Serbian companies Kingstown Resources and Skarnore Resources. Australian law firm Bellanhouse advised Raiden Resourced Limited on Australian aspects of the deal.

Harrisons provided Serbian legal advice and Norton Rose Fulbright provided English law advice to the EBRD in relation to an Issuing Bank Agreement and Revolving Credit Agreement with Addiko Bank ad Beograd. Addiko did not retain outside counsel on this deal.

BDK Advokati has represented journalist Slobodan Georgiev against the publisher and the editor-in-chief of the Informer, a daily Serbian newspaper.

Jelena Aleksic has been promoted to Partner at JPM Jankovic Popovic Mitic.

BDK Advokati has assisted India's Tractors and Farm Equipment tractor producer on the acquisition of the assets of IMT Beograd — including the trademarks and the location for the development of a new production plant — in bankruptcy. 

Zivkovic Samardzic has successfully represented Titan, an international cement and building materials producing group headquartered in Athens, in a dispute with former minority shareholders of Cementara Kosjeric, the group’s Serbian subsidiary, relating to the 2009 squeeze-out of minority shareholders, which was governed by the 2006 Securities and Other Financial Instruments Act in force at the time.

The Paris office of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe has advised the Republic of Serbia on a 25-year concession awarded to French infrastructure group Vinci for the expansion, operation, and maintenance of the Belgrade’s Nikola Tesla airport.

In order to speed up turnover of funds in the Serbian economy, the Serbian parliament enacted a piece of legislation in 2012 regulating the terms of payment in commercial transactions, including ones in which public sector entities are debtors, and regulating the public sector’s obligation to register the received invoices – the Act on Terms of Payment in Commercial Transactions (the “Act”).

Latham & Watkins and Schoenherr have advised Telenor on its agreement to sell its assets in Central and Eastern Europe to the PPF Group for EUR 2.8 billion on an enterprise value basis. White and Case (as lead counsel) and Karanovic & Nikolic advised PPF Group on the deal. Allen & Overy, BDK Advokati, and Boyanov & Co. advised Societe Generale, as agent, and a syndicate of banks on a EUR 3.05 billion credit facility provided to PPF Group for the acquisition, which is expected to close in Q3 2018 and is subject to the relevant merger control and regulatory approvals.