Cobalt has advised Baltic Agro Machinery OU on the sale of John Deere’s agricultural and horticultural machinery business in Estonia to Wihuri OU.

Avellum has advised the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank on a long-term secured loan of up to USD 10 million to Butsefal LLC and Prometey Swiss SA.

Kinstellar has advised Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH, a development finance institution and subsidiary of KfW Bankengruppe, on a USD 20 million credit facility for Nibulon, an agricultural commodities exporter and producer in Ukraine. Clifford Chance's Frankfurt office advised DEG on matters of English law.

TGS Baltic has successfully defended the interests of TV Play at the Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania against the Radio and Television Commission of Lithuania in a dispute involving the "must carry" obligation under Lithuanian law.

Filip & Company has successfully represented Romania’s Financial Supervisory Authority in a dispute against a former board member of the National Securities Commission involving labor and administrative issues worth over RON 1 million.

Ukraine's Esquires law firm has successfully defended the interests of Diezelmashservice KR LLC in the first-instance Dnipropetrovsk District Administrative Court and then the Third Administrative Court of Appeal in a VAT dispute with Ukraine's tax authorities.

Skrastins & Dzenis Partner Vigo Krastins has been appointed an administrator of insolvency proceedings of AS PNB Banka in Latvia.

BCGL has advised mBank S.A. on financing granted to PGB Holdco and its subsidiaries for the development and start-up of biogas plant facilities. Gessel advised PGB Holdco on the deal.

Vegas Lex has won what it calls "two crushing victories" in the Arbitration Court of the North-Western District in the interests of pharmaceutical company Alium in disputes related to the construction contract of a large pharmaceutical plant. 

TGS Baltic and Dentons have advised Ignitis group on the approval of its renewed EUR 1.5 billion medium-term debt securities program and EUR 300 million bond issuance. Clifford Chance and Walles advised intermediaries BNP Paribas, Citi, J.P. Morgan, and Luminor bank.

Sorainen has advised Nasdaq CSD SE on a cross-border merger with Nasdaq CSD Iceland hf. 

White & Case has advised lead managers Barclays Bank, Citigroup Global Markets Limited, Deutsche Bank AG, HSBC, and Intesa Sanpaolo Group member Vseobecna Uverova Banka on the Slovak Republic's dual tranche issuance of EUR 2 billion 0.250% notes due 2025 and EUR 2 billion 1.000% notes due 2032.

Marchenko Partners has helped Carlsberg Ukraine conduct a competition compliance spot check by reviewing numerous aspects of the company's commercial operations and providing recommendations on options available for the strengthening of its competition compliance system.

Furtuna si Asociatii has represented the Romanian Airport Services handling company before the Romanian Competition Council regarding the abuse of dominant position investigation of the Avram Iancu Cluj International Airport.

Jaroslaw Lukawski, former Senior Counsel at Soltysinski Kawecki & Slezak, has joined Domanski Zakrzewski Palinka as Partner and Head of Competition law team.

Marchenko Partners has helped Carlsberg Ukraine conduct a competition compliance spot check by reviewing numerous aspects of the company's commercial operations and providing recommendations on options available for the strengthening of its competition compliance system.

Krzysztof Mazurek, former Legal & Compliance Director for CEE at Bayer, has been promoted to Regional Legal & Compliance Operations - Head Team EMEA.

SSW Pragmatic Solutions has advised Link4 TU S.A., a Polish motor insurance company, on the implementation of a blockchain-based project that will allow the company to, in the firm's words, "meet the requirements set by the regulator in the area of providing clients with documents, and save costs through digitization.”

Sorainen has advised Nasdaq CSD SE on a cross-border merger with Nasdaq CSD Iceland hf. 

Dentons Partner Anita Horvath has been appointed Co-Head of the firm’s Corporate and M&A Practice in Hungary, where she will work alongside Partner Rob Irving.

Wolf Theiss and Covington & Burling have advised MSD on the acquisition of 100% of Austrian biotech company Themis Bioscience. Brandl & Talos and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati advised the selling shareholders on the deal, which remains subject to regulatory approval, with McDermott Will & Emery and Herbst Kinsky advising Themis Bioscience. Financial details were not disclosed.

TGS Baltic and Dentons have advised Ignitis group on the approval of its renewed EUR 1.5 billion medium-term debt securities program and EUR 300 million bond issuance. Clifford Chance and Walles advised intermediaries BNP Paribas, Citi, J.P. Morgan, and Luminor bank.

BCGL has advised mBank S.A. on financing granted to PGB Holdco and its subsidiaries for the development and start-up of biogas plant facilities. Gessel advised PGB Holdco on the deal.

CMS has advised Korea's Solarian Holdings Ltd. on the acquisition of a 5 MW photovoltaic power plant in Bulgaria from FEC Perun.

Balazs Sahin-Toth, Counsel in the Budapest office of Allen & Overy, working pro bono in conjunction with Peter Gardos from Hungary's Gardos Mosonyi Tomori Law Firm and Hungarian solo practitioners Adel Kegye and Eleonora Hernadi, has persuaded the Hungarian Supreme Court to uphold the lower court's decision that the Hungarian segregation of Roma students between 2003 and 2017 provided a lower level of education.

Vasil Kisil and Partners has successfully represented the interests of the applicant, Czech national Vasil Sadocha, in a case against Ukraine before the European Court of Human Rights.

Redcliffe Partners, Clifford Chance, and over 100 law firms around the world have participated in a global mapping survey for the United Nations Special Rapporteur for Human Rights and the Environment related to the existence (or non-existence) of a fundamental human right to a healthy environment.

Dracopoulos & Vassalakis, Your Legal Partners, and Alexiou-Kosmopoulos have been appointed as legal advisors to the Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund on the privatization of regional ports of Alexandroupolis, Heraklion, Igoumenitsa, and Volos through the sale of majority stakes in the state-owned port operating companies.

Deloitte Legal has advised Magenta Telekom on structuring cooperation with the City of Vienna regarding broadband coverage. Lumsden and Partners advised the City of Vienna on the deal.

NKO Partners has advised Dr. Max, the largest pharmacy network in Central Europe, on a public-private partnership project involving the concession of 27 state owned pharmacies located in the City of Krusevac and the Rasina District of Serbia.

Skrastins & Dzenis Partner Vigo Krastins has been appointed an administrator of insolvency proceedings of AS PNB Banka in Latvia.

Eversheds Sutherland Ots & Co Managing Partner Maivi Ots has been designated the reorganization adviser for proceedings related to AS Tallinna Moekombinaat, the owner and administrator of the T1 Mall of Tallinn.

The impending economic crisis is expected to upset the financial position of many businesses. At these companies, the responsibilities of the company manager will also change: in a near-bankruptcy situation, the manager is obliged to take into account not only the interests of the company but those of the creditors as well. But what is simple on paper is not so straightforward in practice.

Filip & Company has successfully represented Romania’s Financial Supervisory Authority in a dispute against a former board member of the National Securities Commission involving labor and administrative issues worth over RON 1 million.

With respect to the declared state of danger and in order to alleviate the economic difficulties resulting from the Covid-19 epidemic, the government has taken several measures, the following document summarizes the most significant provisions of governmental decrees in the field of labour law effective as of and related to the operation of legal persons.

On March 11, 2020, CEE Legal Matters reported that Sorainen had successfully defended HR solutions provider Amston before the Equal Opportunities Ombudsperson in Lithuania. We spoke with Henrika Bivainiene, Director of Amston, about the case.

Wolf Theiss and Covington & Burling have advised MSD on the acquisition of 100% of Austrian biotech company Themis Bioscience. Brandl & Talos and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati advised the selling shareholders on the deal, which remains subject to regulatory approval, with McDermott Will & Emery and Herbst Kinsky advising Themis Bioscience. Financial details were not disclosed.

Vegas Lex has won what it calls "two crushing victories" in the Arbitration Court of the North-Western District in the interests of pharmaceutical company Alium in disputes related to the construction contract of a large pharmaceutical plant. 

Ellex Raidla has advised NGO Back to Work on testing one of the world's first digital immunity passports — an application that enables users to securely share data when a person has taken a COVID-19 virus test or an antibody test.

Sorainen has successfully represented the Polybius Foundation, which had conducted an initial coin offering, in a dispute involving one of the buyers, Maksim Velitsko, who was attempting to force a reversal of his token purchase. 

Vegas Lex has won what it calls "two crushing victories" in the Arbitration Court of the North-Western District in the interests of pharmaceutical company Alium in disputes related to the construction contract of a large pharmaceutical plant. 

TGS Baltic has successfully defended the interests of TV Play at the Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania against the Radio and Television Commission of Lithuania in a dispute involving the "must carry" obligation under Lithuanian law.

Bird & Bird has successfully won the right to advise the Solidarity Transport Hub on its selection of key consultants for a new airport in Poland.

Georgiev, Todorov & Co has successfully defended the rights of concessionaire BMF Port Burgas – Burgas East 2 and Burgas West port terminals – in an administrative proceeding appealing against the Energy and Water Regulatory Commission’s decision under Art. 22 of Bulgaria's Energy Act in a dispute concerning direct connection to electricity grids.

Former Mares Danilescu Mares Partner, Lucian Danilescu, has joined forces with Andreea-Oana Hulub to launch Danilescu Hulub & Partners - a new boutique focusing on transportation. 

Mehtap Payne has joined Turkey's Guden Law Firm as its new Senior Legal Counsel and Head of Maritime Law.

Dracopoulos & Vassalakis, Your Legal Partners, and Alexiou-Kosmopoulos have been appointed as legal advisors to the Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund on the privatization of regional ports of Alexandroupolis, Heraklion, Igoumenitsa, and Volos through the sale of majority stakes in the state-owned port operating companies.

Koutalidis has advised Aktor Concessions S.A. on its successful bid to own, use, administer, operate, and exploit the Marina of Alimos. The concession, which is good for 40 years, was granted by the Hellenic Asset Development Fund. The HADF was advised by Dracopoulos & Vassalakis and Your Legal Partners.

Kronbergs Cukste Levin has advised environment management group Eco Baltia on the sale of a controlling stake in the company to INVL Baltic Sea Growth Fund. Primus Derling reportedly advised the buyers on the deal, which remains subject to regulatory approval from the Lithuanian Competition Council.

Cobalt has advised Change Ventures on its investment in fintech startup askRobin.

Gessel has advised Systexan SARL, a fund managed by Enterprise Investors, on its exit from X-Trade Brokers Dom Maklerski S.A., including its conducting a public offer in the form of accelerated book-building worth PLN 111.2 million. Global coordinators were PKO BP and Ipopema Securities.

Balazs Sahin-Toth, Counsel in the Budapest office of Allen & Overy, working pro bono in conjunction with Peter Gardos from Hungary's Gardos Mosonyi Tomori Law Firm and Hungarian solo practitioners Adel Kegye and Eleonora Hernadi, has persuaded the Hungarian Supreme Court to uphold the lower court's decision that the Hungarian segregation of Roma students between 2003 and 2017 provided a lower level of education.

Greenberg Traurig has helped Zygmunt Solorz, the founder and major shareholder of Grupa Polsat, purchase 200 thousand genetic tests to be used by all Ministry of Health laboratories in Poland to diagnose the coronavirus. The tests were purchased for PLN 16 million.

Sorainen has launched a special pro bono program dedicated to supporting projects in the Baltics and Belarus set up to help solve pandemic-related issues.

Vegas Lex has won what it calls "two crushing victories" in the Arbitration Court of the North-Western District in the interests of pharmaceutical company Alium in disputes related to the construction contract of a large pharmaceutical plant. 

Dentons has advised CPI Property Group on a successful tender offer of bonds and the issue of EUR 750 million 2.75% Notes due 2026 under CPI's EUR 8 billion Medium Term Note Program.

Integrites has advised Sibelco on the acquisition of Ukrainian clay producers Euromineral LLC and Kurdyumovsky Plant PrJSC. The seller was advised by in-house counsel Yana Petrova.

Ukraine's Esquires law firm has successfully defended the interests of Diezelmashservice KR LLC in the first-instance Dnipropetrovsk District Administrative Court and then the Third Administrative Court of Appeal in a VAT dispute with Ukraine's tax authorities.

Golaw has successfully represented international cosmetics manufacturer Evyap Trading Ukraine in a tax dispute worth over UAH 65 million.

The Hungarian Government introduced two special taxes from 1 May 2020 in order to tackle the financial effects of the coronavirus disease: the special tax on credit institutions and the tax on commercial chains. According to the official communication of the Ministry of Finance „the goal is that the burden of these taxes – that contribute to the improvement of the balance of public finances – are borne not by the consumers but by the actors that are capable of such.”

Sorainen has successfully represented the Polybius Foundation, which had conducted an initial coin offering, in a dispute involving one of the buyers, Maksim Velitsko, who was attempting to force a reversal of his token purchase. 

Cobalt has advised Lithuania's AB Lietuvos Radijo ir Televizijos Centras - Telecentras on the sale of its data transmission and digital television business developed under the Mezon brand to Lithuania's Bite Group.

Deloitte Legal has advised Magenta Telekom on structuring cooperation with the City of Vienna regarding broadband coverage. Lumsden and Partners advised the City of Vienna on the deal.

Sorainen has advised Tenova India Private, an international innovative solutions provider for metals and mining, in an asset recovery process.

Russian lawyer Vakhtang Fedorov has joined Art De Lex as Head of its Criminal Law practice.

Peeter Viirsalu has been promoted to Partner and Head of Real Estate and Triin Kaurov has been promoted to Associate Partner and will continue as Head of Regulatory at TGS Baltic.