In 2021, the green financial markets substantially increased according to the Green Finance Report of the Central Bank of Hungary (MNB). Credit institutions launched green lending, and four banks are taking advantage of the MNB's green capital requirement discount for housing. Among green financing products, the green bonds are very popular both at public and corporate level, and green lending has also been launched on the corporate side. In the investment segment, ESG products are already available, but only to a limited extent.

At the initiative of the Ministry of Justice, the Hungarian National Bank and the Hungarian Bar Association, the Government adopted a Government Decree in April 2022 regulating in detail the payment of lawyers' deposits at financial institutions in the event of liquidation and winding-up proceedings. The Government Decree provides that in the event of the winding-up and liquidation of a financial institution, the provisions of the Bankruptcy Act, the Company Registration Act, the Act on Credit Institutions and Financial Undertakings and the Investment Firm Act shall apply with the additions and derogations included in the Government Decree.

The Orban & Perlaki law firm has announced it partnered with UK-headquartered Gunnercooke, with the Budapest-based firm rebranding to OPL Gunnercooke.

Wolf Theiss and Yavuz & Uyanik & Akalin have advised 4iG Nyrt on the acquisition of an 80.27% stake in AlbTelecom from a subsidiary of Turkey's Calik Holding. Tashko Pustina reportedly advised the sellers. The deal was cleared by the Albanian Competition Authority on March 4, 2022.

Screening of foreign direct investment (FDI) has been present in Hungarian law since 2019 in relation to certain specific investment-related activities. During the COVID-19 pandemic, additional FDI screening legislation was introduced in May 2020. The 2020 regime has had an impact on a significantly wider range of business transactions and, therefore, this summary focuses solely on the 2020 regime (FDI Rules). Given that a real estate asset deal may also fall within the scope of the FDI Rules, assessing the potential application of the FDI Rules has become an important item on the real estate due diligence to-do list. Below you will find a summary of the applicable regime based on our experience to this date.

A sound investment requires an understanding of all the risks involved in the transaction. The main objective of real estate financial due diligence is to thoroughly inspect the fundamentals of the property, financing, seller and compliance obligations to be able to reduce and mitigate financial uncertainties.

Growing inflation and budgetary limitations are the key challenges faced by Hungary's newly elected parliament, according to Jalsovszky Law Firm Partner Tamas Feher.

Senior Managing Associate Linda Al Sallami has become the new Head of Banking, Finance & Capital Markets at Deloitte Legal’s Budapest office.

EU and Hungarian competition law considerations are also highly relevant in any real estate transaction, especially from a merger control and information exchange perspective.

Clifford Chance has advised Norsk Hydro on its tender offer for the purchase of Alumetal. Lakatos, Koves, and Partners reportedly advised Norsk Hydro on Hungarian law-related matters. Penteris reportedly advised Alumetal.

The Hungarian Government issued a decree that amends certain provisions of the bank's liquidation proceedings.  The decree entered into force on 15 April, and it affects the solvent liquidation of Sberbank Hungary, subsidiary of Sberbank Europe AG, Hungarian member of the Russian Sberbank group. 

Former Mediaworks Hungary General Counsel Istvan Szatmary has returned to private practice as a Partner.

Timea Bana, Radoslaw Goral, Marceli Kasperkiewicz, and Michal Wasiak have been promoted to Partner as part of Dentons' recent promotion round that also included the recently reported promotion of Tomasz Zwolinski to Partner (as reported by CEE Legal Matters on April 28, 2022).

The Hungarian National Authority for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (NAIH) recently published its annual report for 2021, which contains some useful information for data controllers.

CEE Legal Matters spoke with CMS Partners Alexander Rakosi, Horea Popescu, Philipp Mark, and Tetyana Dovgan about the impact the rise of ESG is having on the M&A landscape.

In “The Corner Office” we ask Managing Partners at law firms across Central and Eastern Europe about their backgrounds, strategies, and responsibilities. The question this time: Who was your favorite professor in university and why?

The summary below highlights the most important changes to the Hungarian Tax Regime for 2022.

Taylor Wessing has advised Seon on its recent USD 94 million series B funding round led by Silicon Valley-based IVP and including existing investors Creandum and PortfoLion. Reportedly, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati advised Seon as well.