A quarter century ago, when I started my career as a lawyer in the media and telecoms field, I learned the importance of understanding technology, its advancement, and in particular the importance of making it work in the best interests of your client.

According to the United Nations eGovernment Development Survey 2022, Serbia’s eGovernment Development Index was evaluated as “very high,” moving forward 18 places. Following the Strategy for the Development of Artificial Intelligence, Serbia set the use of AI in the healthcare sector as a priority and started supporting projects for cooperation between public bodies and commerce to share and use data. Digitalization prevents corruption but, on the other hand, cannot meet the expectations of citizens if data protection principles are not implemented in real time.

The telecommunication industry in Serbia and the region is going through transformative changes at the core of its business. The market has seen significant consolidation and competition for consumers has become tough. Considerable investment has ensued in the sector, introducing significant changes in both services and delivery. These trends have sparked a remarkable focus shift from traditional land and mobile telephony services to information technologies and media distribution. Consumer needs and aspirations, fueled by the convergence of technologies, have set the bar high, and telecommunication companies have been able to adapt quickly.

The Serbian Competition Authority (SCA) has been relatively busy lately, and the outcome is an abundance of soft law on the one hand and inconsistent practice in actual casefiles on the other.

M&A activity in Serbia finally showed some positive trends in 2022, despite high inflation and supply chain challenges. During the first three quarters of 2022, the Serbian M&A market has performed well, given the current economic environment, and was primarily defined by deals in the energy and real estate sectors, the IT industry, and further consolidation of the banking sector. 

Global economic movements have led the real estate and construction sectors across CEE to face several issues: supply chain problems, rising construction material prices, and labor shortages, to name but a few, have made it difficult for real estate and construction projects to be completed with the same efficiency as before. Bojovic Draskovic Popovic & Partners Partner Marija Bojovic, SOG Law Firm Partner Milos Gledovic, and Andrejic & Partners Partner Aleksandar Andrejic look at the extent to which these issues are reflected in the Serbian real estate market. 

The technology start-up sector in Serbia has, for a while now, been quite rewarding and attractive for investors from all walks of business. Looking at the past few years, the Balkan country has seen investments ranging from early-stage and entry-level all the way to complete buyouts, to the tune of several hundred million euros. With all this funding flowing into the country, Bojanovic & Partners Managing Partner Vladimir Bojanovic and Zivkovic Samardzic Partner Igor Zivkovski talk about where does it go afterward, and what kind of effects is it producing?

On December 8, CEE Legal Matters reported that BDK Advokati had advised MediGroup on its acquisition of Konzilijum. CEE In-House Matters spoke with Mihailo Obucina, Director of Strategy, M&A, and Business Development at MediGroup, to learn more about the acquisition.

BDK Advokati and Lakatos Koves & Partners have advised Integrator on its acquisition of Manpower’s human resources and workforce business in Hungary from the Manpower Group. PwC Legal Hungarian affiliate Reti Varszegi & Partners and Italy's PwC TLS reportedly advised the seller.

BDK Advokati has advised Sandberg Capital on its EUR 20 million investment in Quantox. Nestor Nestor Diculescu Kingston Petersen and Polenak reportedly advised Sandberg as well.

As the terms “hunger” and “benefits” in most cases exclude each other and expectations of all interested parties are high on both ends, we spent hours listening carefully
to what lecturers and panelists of our data protection conference were saying, to summarise ideas and solutions to a complex question from the headline.

BDK Advokati, working with Gernandt & Danielsson, has advised Catena Media on the sale of its AskGamblers business and associated casino brands to the Gaming Innovation Group for EUR 45 million.

Bojovic Draskovic Popovic & Partners has advised graphene nanotube manufacturer OCSiAl on starting its business operations in Serbia.

Deloitte Legal has advised Marketing Investment Group on the acquisition of a chain of 22 stores in Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Zivkovic Samardzic has been appointed the Republic of Equatorial Guinea's legal advisor for the negotiation and conclusion of commercial agreements with Serbian companies and for the country's business operations in Serbia.

Kinstellar has advised OTP Bank on its acquisition of Uzbekistan’s Ipoteka Bank. The White & Case London and Tashkent offices reportedly advised the seller.

Karanovic & Partners has advised Switzerland's GlobalGlass on its acquisition of Srpska Fabrika Stakla. The Manic Gojic Law Office advised SFS's insolvency administrator on the sale.

Jovana Velickovic has joined Gecic Law in Belgrade as a Partner and Head of the firm's Dispute Resolution team.