BDO Law has advised Deichmann-Schuhe Service-GmbH on its investment of EUR 500,000 in its Latvian subsidiary, SIA Deichmann Apavi, increasing its capital to EUR 1.15 million.

Cobalt has advised Estonia's Helmes on its acquisition of all shares of software development company T2T from Latvia's Tet. 

The Latvian office of BDO Law has provided legal analysis to the European Investment Bank regarding a EUR 80 million financing agreement with the Latvian state.

The Latvian office of Cobalt has advised AirBaltic on a EUR 250 million investment in its shares by the Latvian Government.

We decided to lighten the mood this time around by asking our Law Firm Marketing experts from across the region a non-law-firm related question: “What did you most want to be when you were little?”

“In terms of national politics, when it comes to Latvia, the word of the day is ‘stability,'“ says Raimonds Slaidins, Senior Partner at Ellex Klavins in Riga. “The current coalition government has been in power for about one and a half years now, and other than the COVID-19 crisis this has been a good, stable period of time for us — there aren’t any indications that something might change in the near future regarding the national government.“

Sorainen has advised the Bite Group on a EUR 700 million bond issuance and refinancing. Latham & Watkins and Ellex reportedly advised initial bond purchasers and mandated lead arrangers Citigroup Global Markets Limited, Deutsche Bank AG, London Branch, ING Bank N.V., London Branch, and UniCredit Bank AG.

TGS Baltic has appointed Estonian Partners Kadri Kallas and Leonid Tolstov, Latvian Managing Partner Ivars Grunte and Partner Andra Rubene, and Lithuanian Executive Partner Marius Matonis to the firm's board and has elected Lithuania Managing Partner Vilius Bernatonis as Chair of the Board.

Cobalt has provided pro bono advice to the Apeirons Foundation regarding an opinion the latter submitted to the Constitutional Court of Latvia as amicus curiae.

Cobalt has successfully represented Latvian Television in a copyright and competition dispute against All Media Latvia that reached Latvia's Supreme Court.

TGS Baltic has successfully represented the Anti-Doping Bureau of Latvia in the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Cobalt Riga has created Patents, Trademarks, and Designs and Data Protection, IT, and Media subgroups within its IP&IT Practice Group, "to address ever-growing demand for legal services in the fields of intellectual property, data protection, information technology, pharmaceuticals, and life sciences."

Sorainen has advised the Vienna Insurance Group on consolidating the businesses of its group non-life insurance companies Compensa and Seesam in Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. 

It is with great pleasure that we announce the 2019 CEE Deal of the Year Award winners – the most important, complicated, significant, and valuable deals across Central and Eastern Europe.

Sorainen has successfully defended the interests of racing organizer NASCAR in disputes involving the registration of the company's trademark in Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia.

Cobalt has advised Nordea Bank Abp on amendments to a EUR 280 million loan agreement with AS Tallink Grupp, an Estonian shipping company, signed in 2016.

In accordance with statistical data from 2018 and 2019, Latvia’s State Agency of Medicines concluded that there is a high risk of unavailability of state-reimbursed medicines in the Latvian pharmaceutical market, mainly as a consequence of the behavior of the wholesalers. The same conclusion was reached by the Competition Council of the Republic of Latvia which, in late 2018 and 2019, published two reports on the availability of medicines. Accordingly, it was concluded that the existing regulatory framework was unable to provide an effective market protection mechanism to reduce the risk that patients in Latvia might not have access to state-reimbursed medicines, because after these medicines are made available in Latvia by producers or importers, they are exported to third countries or other EU member states by other market participants.

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