Kinstellar Bratislava has advised the Japanese multinational electronics company JVC Kenwood on its acquisition of shares in the Slovak technology company Streamstar.

Czech lawyer Filip Cabart and Slovak lawyer Juraj Steinecker have been promoted to partner in the Prague and Bratislava offices of Havel & Partners respectively, bringing the firm's partnership to 29.

Kinstellar has advised a syndicate of international banks led by UniCredit Bank and including Tatra Banka, CSOB, and Hypo-Bank Burgenland in relation to a EUR 175 million club loan provided to HB Reavis for the construction of Nivy Station in Bratislava. Dentons advised HB Reavis on the deal.

Kinstellar has advised Penta Real Estate, a Central European investment group, on a EUR 110 million loan from a syndicated club of banks, led by Tarta Bank, for the construction of the Sky Park Residence in Bratislava. Dentons advised the banks on the deal.

Arcliffe has assisted Yazaki on corporate and labor-related matters related to the company's activity in Czech Republic, Slovakia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovenia, and Croatia. ODI Law supported Arcliffe in the Adria region countries.

Czech and Slovak lawyers turn to what’s really important: Basketball

Maple & Fish has successfully represented the Slovak Republic in a state aid case involving EUR 125 million in investment aid to Jaguar Land Rover before the European Commission.

Dvorak Hager & Partners is joining Eversheds Sutherland, one of the 40 largest law firms in the world.

Czech law firm UEPA has opened an office in Bratislava, led by Partner Marcel Macai, a recent addition to the firm's team.

Erika Csekes, the managing partner and co-founder of Slovakia's Ruzicka Csekes law firm, has announced her plans to retire, leading the firm to change its name, as of November 28, 2018, to Ruzicka and Partners.

Slovak lawyers Zoran Draskovic, Turkish lawyers Ceren Sen and Ates Turnaoglu, and the Czech Republic's Vaclav Zaloudek were included in White & Case's global local partnership promotions round, announced on November 27, and effective on January 1, 2019.

The competence of the Slovak Antimonopoly Office to conduct dawn raids is governed by Article 22a of Slovakia’s Act No 136/2001 Coll. on Protection of Competition.

Things are good in Slovakia at the moment, reports Martin Jurecko of MCL, who starts his provision of The Buzz by referring to recent celebrations related to the 100th anniversary of Czechoslovakia’s First Republic, including a national holiday on October 30th.

Alongside blockchain and crypto currencies, the Payment Services Directive 2 (PSD2) has become a much talked-about buzzword in the FinTech world - sparking discussions about a revolution in banking and financial services. One may argue that disruption to established practices may only result from technological advancement and not from (yet another) massive bundle of regulatory rules. However, through PSD2, the shift towards open banking is being fostered by the European legislator to support innovation and improve competition in the payment services area.

Denise Hamer has joined Kinstellar as Special Counsel, in a regional CEE/SEE position working in the firm's Finance, Private Equity, NPLs & Distressed Assets, and Restructuring practices.

Vladimir Kordos, Michal Hulena, and Peter Nestepny have founded a new law firm in Bratislava under the brand name Stentors.

After undergoing healthy levels of Corporate/M&A activity in recent times, as we move towards 2019 we expect the Slovak market to remain stable. A notable exception, however, is in the logistics asset class, where we project inbound investment to soar.

The demand for residential real estate is currently experiencing an unprecedented boom in Slovakia. According to official market surveys, the average price of flats has already exceeded the levels recorded before the outbreak of the world financial crisis, and further price increases are expected due to lagging supply and readily available sources of cheap funding from domestic banks. Not surprisingly, these conditions have resulted in a significant increase in the indebtedness of private households, which are currently the highest in the CEE region.