It is with great pleasure that we announce the 2019 CEE Deal of the Year Award winners – the most important, complicated, significant, and valuable deals across Central and Eastern Europe.

Cerha Hempel has advised MK Group Global Limited on the acquisition of a loan portfolio from Heta Asset Resolution AG and the acquisition of the direct and indirect shareholdings of HETA in three Slovenian wind-down entities that manage receivables from non-performing loans granted by the former Hypo Alpe-Adria-Bank International AG and its subsidiaries to customers in Slovenia. Schoenherr advised the Republic of Austria as the owner of HETA. 

On 30 May 2020, the third Anti-COVID-19 legislative package was published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, introducing, among other measures, a screening instrument for foreign investments. This is a novelty in the Slovenian regulatory landscape.

CBD products are the latest consumer fad, and demand and supply has significantly increased all over the world. The market for CBD products is projected to keep growing, and according to some estimates, the European CBD market should be worth some EUR 1.5 billion by 2023. Despite such rapid development and expansion, placing CBD products on the Slovenian market remains somewhat of a legal grey area.

“Quite a lot, really —it’s like watching a movie on fast forward,” says Schoenherr Attorney at Law Marko Frantar, from Ljubljana, when asked what’s happening in Slovenia during the COVID-19 epidemic. “As elsewhere, we've been seeing a level of state intervention that is unprecedented in terms of both range and magnitude of measures adopted — all compressed into a period of two months."

In The Corner Office feature of CEE Legal Matters we ask Managing Partners at leading law firms across Central and Eastern Europe about their unique roles and responsibilities. In light of current events, the question for this online occurrence of the feature is: "What have been the top three most often asked COVID-19 related questions that you have gotten from clients in the last month?”

In The Corner Office we ask Managing Partners across Central and Eastern Europe about their unique roles and responsibilities. The question this time around: What major initiative or new plan does your office (or firm) plan – if any – for 2020?

Love them or hate them, conferences are a fundamental part of the successful commercial lawyer’s calendar. But time is precious. Those calendars are full. It’s vital for conference organizers to get them right, and critical for lawyers to choose wisely in determining which events to attend and which to skip.

In response to the coronavirus outbreak, most CEE/SEE countries have introduced provisions to close certain premises, while only some have banned the termination of leases in order to protect tenants who have lost revenues.

In December 2013 and (for one bank) in 2014, the Bank of Slovenia – the Slovenian central bank –imposed various extraordinary measures on six Slovenian banks. These measures resulted in a comprehensive bail-in and the termination of not only all the shares in each bank but also all subordinated financial instruments issued by them.

ODI Law worked alongside lead counsel Linklaters in advising cryptocurrency software development and research company nCHAIN on its acquisition of CREA, a Slovenia-based software development firm.

On 25 March 2020, the Government of Slovenia announced a EUR 2bln rescue package intended to mitigate the adverse and diverse effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The package primarily seeks to maintain jobs by providing pay check support and tax relief to employers and introducing additional mechanisms to reduce the liquidity shock on businesses.

“The new Slovenian Prime Minister was elected by the National Assembly on March 13th, just as the crisis was picking up in this part of Europe,” says Uros Cop, Managing Partner at Law Firm Miro Senica and Attorneys, in Ljubljana. “Fairly quickly, the new Prime Minister formed a team of ministers, which was confirmed the following week by the Parliament – we were in luck that this process went smoothly.“

Contributed by Jadek & Pensa.

In The Corner Office feature of CEE Legal Matters we ask Managing Partners at leading law firms across Central and Eastern Europe about their unique roles and responsibilities. In light of current events, the question for this online occurrence of the feature is: "How are you managing your team working remotely during this challenging period?"

On December 29, 2019, CEE Legal Matters reported that Selih & Partnerji had advised Supernova on its EUR 220 million acquisition of seven shopping malls and five smaller shopping centers from Centrice Real Estate. Johannes Wurzer, Head of Mergers & Acquisitions at Supernova, spoke with us about the deal.

Jadek & Pensa has advised Abanka on its acquisition by NKBM. NKBM was advised by Wolf Theiss, while Kavcic, Bracun & Partners advised the Republic of Slovenia as the seller.

ODI Law has advised Agromarket’s local Slovenian entity on its acquisition of Semenarna Ljubljana from Dezelna Banka Slovenije.