Recently, non-fungible tokens (“NFTs”) have become the subject of significant public attention, primarily due to the high amounts of money allocated for their purchase. For example, it is estimated that the worth of the global NFT market in 2021 was about 41 billion dollars, which is more than the value of the market of classical works of art. For the sake of comparison, that is approximately twice the amount of the budget of the Republic of Serbia for 2022. Bearing in mind the nature and manner of functioning of NFTs, the nature of things raises the question of their relationship with intellectual property law, and above all, the relationship with trademark law​.

Noerr has advised Espira on the sale of Icon Communication Centres to Yoummday. Kinstellar advised the buyer.

On July 12, four leading lawyers from Croatia, Lithuania, Poland, and Romania sat down for a virtual round table moderated by CEE Legal Matters Managing Editor Radu Cotarcea to discuss the latest in ESG developments with a focus on green financing, its regional and local drivers and roadblocks, its impact on non-financial reporting, and what it all means for the legal profession.

On July 11, 2022, Kinstellar announced that KBC Bank’s acquisition of Raiffeisenbank in Bulgaria (reported by CEE Legal Matters on November 25, 2021) had closed.

At the end of 2021, a public debate was held in the National Assembly on the Draft Law on Work Practice. The Draft itself is a reaction to relatively unfavourable basic labour market indicators, which predict that young people in Serbia lag behind their peers in the EU by 10%.

Dentons has advised Raiffeisen Bank on a USD 200 million five-year syndicated green loan facility for Volta Energy Solutions Hungary. Kinstellar advised the borrower.

The Government of the Republic of Serbia enacted the Decree on Establishing the Investment Program “Recovery and Development” (the “Program”) to establish a new credit line for the allocation of favourable credit funds to entities for the implementation of new investments, which will accelerate the recovery and growth of economic activity in the Republic of Serbia in difficult economic conditions caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

Kinstellar has announced it is providing pro bono legal advice to public charity organization Soborna Ukraine on implementing its programs across the country.

Data Protection Officer (“DPO”) is a person overseeing a company’s data protection strategy and implementation in order to ensure compliance with General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) requirements. Any company that processes or stores personal data is recommended to appoint a DPO.

On June 15, 2022, Peli Partners announced that S Immo’s acquisition of the Expo Business Park from Portland Trust (reported by CEE Legal Matters on April 22, 2022) had closed.

Did You Know that, according to the Activity Rankings function of the CEELMDirect website, the NKO Law Firm (with four) and SOG Law Firm (with two) are the only two law firms in Serbia to have reported working on more than one Real Estate deal in that country in the past year, with a total of 14 other firms reporting having worked on one.

The strongest forces shaping the dynamics of legal work in Bulgaria, according to Kinstellar Partner Antonia Mavrova, are the country’s recently approved Recovery and Resilience Plan and the branching consequences of the war in Ukraine.

Petr Bratsky has joined Kinstellar’s Prague office as Head of the firm’s local TMT sector and service line.

According to the CEE Legal Matters CEE By The Numbers report, between 2019 and 2021, Ukraine saw a large decrease in the number of ranked law firms and lawyers at ranked firms. While in 2019 the number of Ukrainian law firms ranked by Chambers & Partners and Legal 500 was 95, in 2021 the same number decreased to 69. Similarly, the number of ranked-firm lawyers decreased from 1,579 in 2019 to 1,338 in 2021. The decreasing trend is particularly visible in comparison to other CEE countries.

US-based and other multinational employers with subsidiaries in Bulgaria often include their Bulgarian employees in their equity plans and grant them equity awards. Implementing an international equity plan in Bulgaria for the first time can be challenging for any multinational employer, as they should ensure compliance with Bulgarian laws and regulations. Tax compliance could raise particular concerns, as Bulgarian tax law is silent on many issues and the views of the Bulgarian tax authorities lack consistency throughout the years.

Kinstellar has advised NN Group on the acquisition of a majority share in Finportal from Arca Investment and Rudolf Adam. Majernik & Mihalikova advised Rudolf Adam on the deal. Dentons advised Arca Investment and AG Legal advised Finportal.

On March 10, five leading lawyers in Serbia sat down for a virtual round table moderated by CEE Legal Matters Managing Editor Radu Cotarcea to discuss the current state and outlook of the renewables market in Serbia, with topics covered including the goals set and the country's National Renewable Energy Action Plan, the challenges presented by Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the "conservative wave" in the country, the main players and the deals pipeline in the sector, the availability of green financing for renewable projects in the country, as well as the biggest regulatory hurdles currently still affecting renewables in Serbia and the participants' wishlist of what could be done to remove some of these obstacles.

Former Counsel Nina Tsifudina has been promoted to Partner at Kinstellar.