Partners Andrea Zubovic-Devedzic and Indir Osmic have been appointed the Co-Managing Partners of the CMS Sarajevo office as of April 1, 2023, taking over from Nedzida Salihovic-Whalen who will stay on as a Partner.

On March 20, 2023, Sajic announced that the EUR 190 million financing transaction between the Export-Import Bank of China and HE Dabar for the development of the Dabar hydropower plant (reported by CEE Legal Matters on January 19, 2022) had closed.

Contributed by Ibrahimovic & Co.

Vukmir & Associates and BH Legal have advised CEFTA on a cross-border project titled CEFTA Intellectual Property and Related Rights 2021-03.

This is a breakthrough moment for Bosnia and Herzegovina as the country receives the EU membership candidacy status but, still, there are difficulties ahead, according to Miljkovic & Partners Managing Partner Sead Miljkovic.

BDK Advokati, Binder Groesswang, and Lakatos Koves & Partners, working with SZA Schilling Zutt & Anschuetz, have advised Turkish investors Baran Celik and Nuvit Gundemir and their families on the sale and purchase agreement with insolvency administrator Jan Markus Plathner to acquire Veritas Group's subsidiaries in Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, China, Turkey, and Hungary and three production plants in Germany. 

The Sajic Law Firm has successfully represented the Association of Composers-Music Creators of Bosnia and Herzegovina (AMUS) before the Supreme Court of Republika Srpska in a dispute related to the unauthorized use of copyrighted musical works.

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

With large energy and infrastructure projects under development in Bosnia and Herzegovina, local legal professionals are facing an uphill battle against the double standards in their industry, according to Sajic Law Firm Senior Partner Natasa Krejic.

ODI Law has opened a new office in Bosnia and Herzegovina with the addition of Mia Civic as a Partner.

Dentons and Dimitrijevic & Partners have advised coordinator, bookrunner, and mandated lead arranger UniCredit on a EUR 90 million term loan facility for Mtel Banja Luka. Solo practitioner Loren Richards reportedly advised the borrower.

Contributed by Maric & Co.

“Coal still matters” has been the predominant energy policy in Bosnia and Herzegovina over the past decades. It sounds very old-fashioned these days in Europe, but lignite (brown coal) is the most important energy resource in the country. The fact that almost 60% of the electricity generated in the country originates from coal-fired thermal power plants leads to the conclusion that Bosnia and Herzegovina heavily relies on coal.

A lull in the markets and legislative activity, due to political and global concerns, is offset by high foreign finance confidence and high foreign investor interest in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with client-driven ESG projects a particularly bright spot, according to Attorney-at-Law Andrea Zubovic-Devedzic, a Partner of CMS Reich-Rohrwig Hainz.

Bosnia and Herzegovina does not have a foreign investment screening regime comparable to those now emerging in the European Union in light of the EU FDI Screening Regulation. However, it operates an authorisation system covering the defence and media sectors.

Resolving the political deadlock in one of the Bosnian entities, tackling inflation, and a shortage of workers are among the most recent challenges in Bosnia and Herzegovina, according to Partner Zlatan Balta of Legal Partners, in cooperation with Deloitte Legal.

Feeling the repercussions of global economic issues, Bosnia & Herzegovina finds itself in a more or less usual position in unusual times – with an upcoming general election this fall and swaths of legislative developments seeking to reshuffle the landscape in which lawyers operate, according to Dimitrijevic & Partners Partner Stevan Dimitrijevic.

Sajic has successfully represented the interests of Elektroprenos BiH in a commercial dispute worth over BAM 30.5 million with Elektroprivreda Hrvatske Zajednice Herceg Bosne before the Republika Srpska Supreme Court.