BDK Advokati has advised Dubai's P&O ports on its EUR 23 million acquisition of Port Luka Novi Sad, in the Vojvodina province of northern Serbia.

Karanovic & Partners has advised Japanese automotive company Calsonic Kansei on its EUR 5.8 billion acquisition of Magneti Marelli, a high-tech components manufacturer for the automotive industry, from Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. Dentons reportedly advised the seller.

Zivkovic Samardzic has advised South Central Ventures on its investment in LeanPay, a consumer financing startup that helps people pay for consumer goods on credit in installments.

Vladimir Bojanovic, Managing Partner of Bojanovic & Partners in Belgrade, rejects the idea that legislative or regulatory updates are of critical importance in his country. "In Serbia it’s not legislative reform that would fuel the development on its own,” he says. “It’s closely connected with new investments that require modern legislation — so in a way recent investments (which are by and large the biggest in the recent history) are shaping and pushing forward modern legislation – the relation of these two is symbiotic.” And he reports that four sectors — Energy, Technology, Distressed Assets, and Corporate/M&A — are particularly active in Serbia at the moment.

Bojanovic & Partners has helped British company Vodafone obtain a license to work in Serbia from the Republic Agency for Electronic Communications and Postal Services.

Bojovic Draskovic Popovic & Partners has advised Turkish car part manufacturer Feka Automotive on the acquisition of 40 thousand square meters of land in the Municipality of Cuprija, Serbia, for the purposes of constructing a production plant.

In The Corner Office we ask Senior and Managing Partners across Central and Eastern Europe about their unique roles and responsibilities. The question this time around: “What is the one skill, ability, or characteristic that fresh law school graduates in your country most commonly lack?”

Law firm members of the SEE Legal Group, acting on behalf of Netlog Logistics, have completed a due diligence analysis of the Intereuropa group of companies, upon the announcement of a banking consortium that it is selling 72% share capital in Intereuropa d.d.

Prica & Partners is advising the Serbian government on the privatization process of Komercijalna Banka, the country’s second largest lender.

Bojanovic Partners Partner Filip Blagojevic successfully represented Slavko Perovic against Turkey's Denizlispor football club before the FIFA Dispute Resolution Chamber.

JPM has assisted the Gastrans d.o.o. gas inter-connector in its successful application for exemption from third-party access rules and regulated prices by the Energy Agency of the Republic of Serbia.

On 1 March 2019, the Agreement on Social Security between Republic of Serbia and Russian Federation entered into force.

Jankovic Popovic Mitic has been appointed as a compliance officer of Gastrans d.o.o. Novi Sad. The appointment of JPM was approved by the Serbian regulatory authority.

Zivkovic Samardzic has advised Astonko on the voluntary buyout of shares owned by 42 of the 43 minority shareholders of B92. Solo practitioner Aleksandar Sukiban advised the minority shareholders on the deal.

In the last five years significant changes have occurred in the Serbian business and political environment. This has been a time of dramatic change – with the general goal of transforming the position and the image of Serbia both regionally and globally, strongly affirming a pro-EU stance and making Serbia much more attractive for foreign investment. Obviously, both of these goals are interconnected because improving the image of a country brings more investments, and foreign investors generating profits in Serbia improves Serbia’s global image.

The Serbian legal market has changed rapidly over the past five years. After less than 30 years of existence in this form, our legal market is still relatively young and its pioneers emerged in the early 1990s. Nevertheless, it is also a dynamic market and brings change every year, especially due to the European Union accession negotiations and additional harmonization of the country’s legislation with EU legislation. On the other hand, frequent changes in law have become a general rule, providing more work for law firms, but also bringing a high level of uncertainty for their clients.

A transformation of the legal profession is happening globally, and its effects are also felt, slowly but surely, in the law firms of Southeast Europe. Due to the changing expectations concerning the quality, speed, and commerciality of services, we are seeing a move towards even more client-oriented solutions. Traditional sectors are being replaced with emerging industries, and where we previously had slow processes, with low profit margins, we see value being generated at lightning speeds. Also, a new generation that entered the workforce recently is slowly imposing their own values and approaches, necessitating changes in structure and the values of traditional legal practices.

Zivkovic Samardzic has achieved a victory for the Crime and Corruption Reporting Network and Stevan Dojcinovic, its editor in chief, Serbia's Court of Appeals.