TGS Baltic, working with Gernandt & Danielsson and Lupp + Partner, has advised TUV SUD on its acquisition of Carspect Group Holding and its subsidiaries in Sweden, Estonia, and Latvia from IK Partners group company Arwen International and minority sellers. Sorainen reportedly advised IK Partners.

Schoenherr has advised mBank on the financing of Focus Telecom Polska's acquisition of Systell group companies. Dubinski Jelenski Masiarz and Partners and Porebski and Partners reportedly advised Focus Telecom.

MMD Associates has advised Beam Global on its acquisition of Telcom.

CMS has advised Ecosio on its sale to Vertex. DLA Piper advised Vertex.

RTPR, working with A&O Shearman, has advised 123FormBuilder shareholders 212 Regional Fund II, Catalyst Romania, Florin Cornianu, and Adrian Gheara on the sale of the company to Kiteworks. Stratulat Albulescu advised Kiteworks.

Walless has advised Affidea Lietuva on its acquisition of the Lithuanian business of Synlab Lietuva. Cobalt, working with CMS' office in Germany, advised the sellers.

Taylor Wessing has advised the shareholders of myClubs on the sale to Urban Sports Club.

Kocian Solc Balastik has advised KGAL Investment Group on its acquisition the 50-megawatt Saxonie solar power plant project from Sev.en and Micronix Group. Sole practitioner Petr Vorisek advised the sellers.

Turunc, working with DLA Piper's Atlanta office, has advised ICV Partners on its sale of Horizon Air Freight to GHK Capital Partners. Davis Polk & Wardwell reportedly advised the buyer.

Weil and Sayenko Kharenko have advised an ad hoc committee of bondholders of Ukraine’s Eurobonds on a USD 23 billion restructuring of Ukraine’s sovereign debt. White & Case and Avellum reportedly advised The Ministry of Finance of Ukraine.

Aksan Law Firm has advised Livzym Biotechnologies on a recent investment round led by Lallemand via its Swiss affiliate Danstar Ferment.

GFKK Grzybczyk Kaminski Gawlik has advised ArcelorMittal Distribution Solutions Poland on the spin-off of an organized part of the enterprise from its structure and establishment of a new company – ArcelorMittal SSC Poland.

Former Deloitte Legal Albania and Kosovo Local Legal Partner Sabina Lalaj has established her eponymous firm Lalaj & Partners in Tirana.

PwC Legal-affiliated D&B David si Baias has promoted Lucian Bozian to Partner.

BPV Huegel has promoted former Attorney at Law Paul Pfeifenberger to Partner.

Former Panattoni Legal Director Kamila Dutkowska-Wawrzak has joined Atlas Ward as Legal Director and Board Advisor.

Former Verdi Partner Ayse Demirel Atakan has joined Paksoy as a Partner in the firm's corporate law, M&A, and private equity practice.

CHG Rechtsanwaelte has launched a new practice group focusing on data and technology.

Dentons has appointed Partner Mark Segall as the new co-head of the Banking and Finance practice in Poland. He will lead the department alongside Partner Bartosz Nojek.

Former DLA Piper Counsel Magdalena Zablocka-Foulkes has joined Orlen as its new General Counsel.

Ramona Cirlig has founded RC International Disputes in Romania.

Cobalt has promoted former Specialist Counsl Edgars Pastars to Partner in its office in Latvia. Pastars will also Head the firm's Financial Regulatory and Compliance Practice.

Former Estateguru General Counsel Artur Sanglepp has returned to private practice and joined Rask as an Attorney at Law.

Dragana Poljak has joined AirSerbia as its new Ethics, Compliance, and Corporate Law Manager.

When developing their models, AI providers use various data sets. Sometimes these are provided by their clients, as in the case of tailor-made chatbots, and sometimes the models are trained on licensed or even publicly available data.

On 16 August 2024, new rules for the registration of geographical indications in Ukraine came into force ("Rules"). In accordance with Order of the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine No. 16370 dated 09.07.2024, the Rules establish requirements for the registration of geographical indications for agricultural goods, food and alcoholic beverages.

The exclusion of shareholders has been seen over the years as a specific procedure aimed at safeguarding companies, in case of a serious breach of the legal and contractual obligations of the shareholders or in case of events with legal effects on some shareholders – resulting in the loss of the “unanimous” consent expressed as affectio societatis (consisting in the shareholders’ intention to cooperate in running the business to achieve and share the benefits).

Manufacturers have less than a month left - until June 30, 2024 - before they must comply with the rules for products subject to the mandatory Deposit Refund System (DRS) when placing them on the market. Compliance with the new regulations will result in a price increase of HUF 50 per product, which consumers will have to bear - unless they return the relevant beverage cans and bottles.

The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine published Resolution No. 988 dated 16.08.2024, which amended the Procedure for Reservation of Persons Liable for Military Service during Martial Law (hereinafter – the “Reservation Procedure”). Key changes are:

In the Hungarian Gazette of 8 August 2024, four long-awaited decrees were published, which supplement and detail the provisions of the Hungarian ESG Act.

Montenegro lacks specific legal regulations or national strategies for AI, with current AI activities governed by general legal principles from existing laws. Despite the absence of detailed regulations or strong government support, public awareness of AI is relatively high, with 59.1 % of citizens familiar with the technology. Several initiatives are actively promoting the safe development and use of AI, reflecting a growing public interest in influencing future AI regulations.

As in every year, the Hungarian tax administration has published its yearly summary with the most important trends and numbers regarding taxation in Hungary during 2023. In the last year it seemed that, while the tax authority was still increasing its efforts to entice the taxpayers’ voluntary compliance, fines have also soared to unprecedented heights. The statistics also show that it remains worthwhile to take the case to the courts if one finds the National Tax and Customs Administration’s decisions unlawful.

Default penalty amounts generally has been doubled in Hungary as of 1 August 2024. According to the Governmental Decree published in the Hungarian Gazette on 8 July 2024, overwriting the Act on the Rules of Taxation, the increase is due to the Ukrainian war and is theoretically effective by the end of the emergency period.

The Parliament of Montenegro passed the Law on the Use of Energy from Renewable Sources, which was published in the Official Gazette of Montenegro on August 23rd, 2024. The Law will enter into force on the eighth day from the day of its publication in the Official Gazette of Montenegro.

Hungary's growing economic performance and competitive tax system offer a good business environment for companies from Switzerland, while the presence of Hungarian companies in Switzerland is also growing.

On 1 September 2024, the National Cyber Security Law came into force, replacing the Law on the Security of Information Technologies. 

RTPR has assisted the shareholders of 123FormBuilder – 212 Regional Fund II, Catalyst Romania, Florin Cornianu and Adrian Gheara – in relation to the sale of the company to American group Kiteworks.

Oliver Koppany will be joining Jalsovszky as Foreign Legal Counsel from September, focusing on US-Hungarian business connections.

Paul Pfeifenberger (36) specialises in real estate and has been with bpv Huegel since 2015.

RTPR has assisted OX2 in relation to the sale of a 99.2 MW onshore wind project located in the Eastern part of Romania to Nala Renewables, a joint venture between IFM Investors and Trafigura.

RTPR has assisted private equity fund Innova Capital in relation to the sale of Optical Investment Group to EssilorLuxottica, a global leader in the design, manufacture and distribution of ophthalmic lenses, frames and sunglasses.

RTPR has assisted Vectr Holdings, through its subsidiary Vectr Realty Holdings, in relation to the indirect acquisition of 100% stake in the company that owns The Landmark from funds managed by Revetas Capital and affiliates of Cerberus Capital Management.

RTPR has assisted Global Records and Stefan Lucian, the founder and CEO of the company, in the process of selling a 25% stake in the company to Believe, one of the world’s leading digital music companies and of setting up the terms of their strategic partnership.

The company transfer also successfully secures the future of SPORT 2000 in Austria.

Delighted to have contributed the chapters on Bulgaria in the latest edition of Chambers and Partners Corporate Governance Global Practice Guide 2024, alongside some of the leading international corporate law firms. Our partners Pavel Hristov and Dragomir Stefanov elaborate on key CG issues.

We are proud to announce that KCG Partners have advised Corvinus Zrt., the Hungarian state-owned investment fund in the strategic acquisition of majority interest of Budapest Liszt Ferenc International Airport.