Dentons and Kirkland & Ellis have represented GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, on the acquisition of the Maximus logistics real estate portfolio from funds managed by Apollo Global Management, a US-based private equity firm. Noerr advised the sellers on the transaction, which was signed in December 2019 and closed on January 31, 2020, and which was valued at approximately EUR 950 million.

In recent years, the Slovak Real Estate market has experienced significant growth thanks to extensive construction, especially in the capital, Bratislava. This is mainly due to the high demand for apartments, which is also reflected in their price.

MCL has advised MiddleCap Real Estate Ltd. on its acquisition, reconstruction, and development of the Gorkeho 4 office project and subsequently on the sale of the project to Kooperativa Insurance company, a member of the Vienna Insurance Group. Kooperativa Insurance was reportedly advised by CMS.

Noerr has advised NEI, an Indian bearings manufacturer and exporter that is part of the CK Birla Group, on its acquisition of international bearings producer Kinex Bearings and bearing trading company Global Supply. The sellers were reportedly advised by Ernst & Young.

Slovak lawyer Veronika Pazmanyova has been promoted to Partner at Glatzova & Co. in Bratislava.

"Every day I am afraid to open the news, to find out that yet another judge or prosecutor is being connected with certain criminal activity,” says Katarina Mihalikova, Partner at Majernik & Mihalikova in Bratislava. "On the other hand,” she adds, “it might mean that the cleansing process has finally started. We always suspected these things, but it seems we now have some proof. In the end, it turns out we were right!”

Bird & Bird has advised ForVEI II, a joint venture vehicle set up by Foresight and VEI Green, on its acquisition of 35 photovoltaic plants in Italy and Slovakia from the Origis Group. K&L Gates advised Origis on the deal, while Norton Rose Fulbright advised the financing banks, Deutsche Bank, Cooperatieve Rabobank U.A., and Landesbank Baden-Wurttemberg.

Allen & Overy has advised Vseobecna Uverova Banka on the sale and leaseback of its real estate portfolio to the Czech Republic's Franco Real Estates s.r.o. Stanek Vetrak & Partneri advised Franco Real Estate on the deal, which was signed on June 12, 2019, and closed on October 7, 2019. 

Cerha Hempel has advised Raiffeisen Property Holding International on its November 28, 2019 sale of Tatracentrum in Bratislava to an unnamed private foundation, which was advised by Jank Weiler Operenyi.

White & Case lawyers Jan Jakoubek, Karel Petrzela, Ida Kucerova, Jakub Wolkowicz, and Vladimir Ivanco have been promoted to Local Partner by the firm as part of its global promotion round, with those promotions becoming effective on January 1, 2020.

Peter Malovec is the Group Head of Legal at HB Reavis in Bratislava. He joined HB Reavis in 2010 after spending seven years in private practice with the BBH law firm. We reached out to him to learn more about his background, style, and strategies.

The legal profession in Slovakia will shortly celebrate 30 years of independence. And as the country itself is not much older than that, the profession-building and country-building have taken place side by side, going through ups and downs.

In the 26 years since its launch in 1993 by Marek Prochazka as a Prague banking and finance boutique, PRK Partners has added offices in Bratislava and Ostrava and grown into one of the largest and most successful law firms in the Czech and Slovak Republics. That growth, the firm’s partners maintain, is a by-product of the firm’s traditions of flexibility, professionalism, and innovation, rather than the result of a predetermined plan.

MCL has advised Italy's Bauli SpA on its acquisition of an unspecified majority stake in MaxSport, a Slovak manufacturer of health and protein food products. The unidentified sellers were advised by CMS and Vrba & Partners.

MCL has advised MiddleCap Group on its acquisition of nine Future Vision Optics centers in the Tesco hypermarket network from Galaxy Optical Services Slovakia. Bartosik Svaby advised Galaxy Optical Services on the deal.

MCL has advised Air Ventures, a start-up investment fund, on the acquisition of a 15% stake in Czech mobile provider Cross Network Intelligence from two unnamed individuals, who were advised by Abraham & Partners.

MCL has helped America medical startup SurgLogs establish a subsidiary in Slovakia, transfer copyrights and other rights concerning the company's medical app to that subsidiary, and set up a contractual structure for further development and funding of the medical app.

BPV Braun Partners has advised ConBrio Beteiligungen, a German investment holding company focused on small and midcap transactions in the DACH region, on the purchase of a majority stake in Europin. The sellers were reportedly advised by Arquis in Germany and Eversheds Sutherland Dvorak Hager in Slovakia.