Biris Goran has helped River Development sell The Light One office building in Bucharet to UNIQA Real Estate GmbH. Schoenherr advised UNIQA on the deal.

Schoenherr has advised Raiffeisen Bank International as arranger on a true sale securitization of a EUR 538 million portfolio of vehicle leasing receivables by Raiffeisen Leasing Group. Clifford Chance advised RBI on German law aspects of the transaction, and anchor investors, which include the European Investment Bank and the European Investment Fund, were advised by Linklaters and Binder Groesswang.

Over the last couple of years, more and more countries have deployed technologies that allow them to match digital images of a person (e.g. from a surveillance camera) against a database of pictures.

JPM Jankovic Popovic Mitic has advised Pertula Holdings Ltd. and Aleksandar Popovic on the sale of the remaining shares in Grand Production to Grand Slam Group. Moravcevic Vojnovic and Partners in cooperation with Schoenherr reportedly advised the buyers.

In December 2020 the Higher Administrative Court issued an interesting ruling regarding the party status of environmental organisations (EOs). Until now, the scope of EOs' participation rights in Austrian nature conservation proceedings was unclear. The court's ruling clarifies that EOs' party status is to be interpreted broadly.

Herbst Kinsky has advised Viennese start-up GoStudent on its EUR 70 million Series B investment round, which included existing investors Left Lane Capital and DN Capital as well as New York fund Coatue. Goodwin and Schoenherr advised Left Lane, and Cooley and Wolf Theiss reportedly advised Coatue.

Binder Groesswang and White & Case advised Verbund AG on their issuance of innovative green and sustainability-linked notes with a volume of EUR 500 million. Schoenherr and Linklaters advised BofA Securities and J.P. Morgan in their capacities as joint ESG structuring agents and joint bookrunners, as well as Erste Group, Morgan Stanley, and Societe Generale in their capacities as Joint Bookrunners.

Schoenherr and PRK Partners have advised B&B Hotels on the sale of properties in Hungary and the Czech Republic to Primonial REIM. Clifford Chance and Szecsenyi & Partners advised the buyers on the deal, which included a leaseback by B&B Hotels.

In general, a medicinal product can be placed on the Bulgarian market after obtaining a marketing authorisation / certificate for registration issued under the Bulgarian Medicinal Products in Human Medicine Act or after completing the "centralised procedure" under Regulation (EC) No 726/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 31 March 2004 laying down Community procedures for the authorisation and supervision of medicinal products for human and veterinary use and establishing a European Medicines Agency ("Regulation 726/2004").

Schoenherr has advised APS on the refinancing of existing indebtedness under CZK 620 million public bonds traded on the Prague Stock Exchange, by way of a loan facility from UniCredit Bank Czech Republic and Slovakia, a.s. Dentons advised the banks on the transaction, with Nauta Dutilh acting as local counsel on Luxembourg legal matters. BDK Advokati acted as local legal advisor to UniCredit Bank in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro and Savoric & Partners acted as local legal advisor to UniCredit Bank in Croatia.

On December 15, 2020 CEELM gathered legal experts from across the region for its annual Year-in-Review Round Table conversation. In a wide-ranging discussion, participants shared opinions and perspectives on their markets, on strong (and less-strong) practices across the region, and the effect of the COVID-19 crisis on both, as well as on how technology is changing the legal industry, and what the industry will look like in 2021.

The European Union is committed to the fight against climate change ("European Green Deal"). One of the pillars in this fight is the expansion of renewable energy sources. According to the current goals, the share of renewable energy sources within the Union should increase to 32% by 2030. In practice, however, the expansion of renewable energy is increasingly being slowed down by the interpretation of EU nature conservation regulations by the European Court of Justice ("ECJ"). Also, the latest decision of the ECJ is no "boost" for renewables. 

Schoenherr has advised joint lead managers Barclays Bank Ireland Plc, Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank, DZ Bank AG Deutsche Zentral-Genossenschaftsbank, Frankfurt am Main, Erste Group Bank AG, and Raiffeisen Bank International AG on the successful issue of EUR 500 million 0.875 % senior non-preferred eligible notes 2021-2026 by Volksbank Wien AG. Wolf Theiss advised Volksbank Wien on the issuance. 

The Serbian government has continued to upgrade the legal framework for granting State aid, having recently adopted a Regional State Aid Regulation. A new State Aid Control Act has been in force in Serbia since early 2020 and the process of harmonising bylaws with the new law is underway.

Schoenherr has helped Viennese crypto-currencies retail broker Bitpanda obtain a EUR 143 million Series B investment from Valar Ventures and DST Global. Taylor Wessing advised Valar Ventures on the deal.

Schoenherr has advised the Liechtenstein Group on an unspecified investment in PV-Invest, a renewable energy company active in Austria and Southern and Southeastern Europe.

For our Checking In feature, we reach out to partners and heads of practice across CEE to learn how specific practice areas are faring in their jurisdictions. This time around we asked Data Protection experts: Overall, how compliant would you say economic agents are with relevant local regulations on data protection, and what are the main gaps that have yet to be addressed?

Amendments to the Competition Protection Act ("CPA") came into force on 26 February 2021. On paper, the changes look good and are another step towards competition rules that are aligned with European regulations. In particular: