CMS' Malgorzata Surdek-Janicka has been appointed as Vice-President of the International Court of Arbitration at the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris. Aside from Surdek-Janicka, 33 lawyers from CEE were appointed as members and alternate members of the court.

Havel & Partners and Sorainen have advised PriceHubble on its acquisition of Realtify. Sparring advised Realtify on the transaction.

Z/C/H Legal has advised ZDR Investments on its acquisition from an undisclosed seller of a Tesco hypermarket and a logistics park in the Slovak cities of Presov and Senec, respectively.

Havel & Partners has advised Compass Europe on forming a joint venture with Fipol Deniz Araclari ve Turizm Plastik Sanayi Ticaret AS. Ozderin Law Firm has reportedly advised Fipol on the deal.

Havel & Partners has advised Panara a.s. on an unspecified investment from Alpla Werke Alwin Lehner GmbH & Co KG. CMS reportedly advised Alpla on the deal.

Lead counsel PHH Attorneys at Law advised Austrian HPS Holding on the sale of five subsidiaries to Swedish Global Leisure Group. Lead counsel Kallan worked with Kinstellar to advise the buyer. Eversheds Sutherland and TM & Partners reportedly advised the seller on Slovakian and Swedish law. Schindler Attorneys reportedly advised the buyer on Austrian law.

Greenberg Traurig has advised Canadian Dream Industrial Real Estate Investment Trust on the acquisition of a corporate group holding a portfolio of 31 logistics properties in Europe, from Clarion Europe for EUR 882 million. Goodwin's London office advised the seller.

Glatzova & Co, working with global counsel Hengeler Mueller, has advised Chinese tool manufacturer Greatstar Group on its acquisition of the Behrens Group. According to Hengeler Mueller, Alrud, Soltysinski Kawecki & Szlezak, and Wolf Theiss advised the buyer on the Russian, Polish, and Austrian aspects of the deal and Barnes & Thornburg, Bonelli Erede Lombardi Pappalardo, Bruun & Hjejle, Corrs Chambers Westgarth, Jeantet, Macfarlanes, Mattos Filho, Niederer Kraft Frey, Schjodt, Uria Menendez, and Van Bael & Bellis advised the buyer in various other jurisdictions.

Dentons has advised the shareholders of Slovak facility management company BK on the sale of their shares to Zapadoslovenska Energetika, Slovakia’s largest electricity distributor. Allen & Overy advised the buyer.

Dentons has advised SPP - Distribucia, a.s. on its EUR 500 million Regulation S bond issuance due 2031 with 1% annual yield. Clifford Chance reportedly advised joint lead managers Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft, Erste Group Bank AG, ING Bank N.V., and Societe Generale.

DLA Piper has successfully represented U.S. Steel Kosice before the Constitutional Court of Slovakia in a case regarding employment termination notice under the Slovak Commercial Code. The Constitutional Court reversed the earlier verdict delivered by the Supreme Court.

The COVID-19 crisis continues to plague much of Europe. To get an overview of its effects across CEE – both on investment in the region and on the legal industry itself – we reached out to the members of Pontes the CEE Lawyers legal alliance, a Regional Sponsor at the upcoming Dealer’s Choice International Law Firm Summit.

A new competition act will come into force in Slovakia on 1 June 2021, replacing the former competition act applicable since 2001. The completely new act was adopted because the Slovak competition authority wanted a fresh start for the Slovak competition legislation and not just adopt its 11 amendments due to the need to implement the ECN+ directive.

Schoenherr has advised Ventus LLC and Sky Logistica on the acquisition of Skyport, a cargo operator based in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, from the Czechoslovak Group, a.s.. In a parallel transaction, Schoenherr also advised Elite Partners Capital on the acquisition of the Skyport RE cargo property company from the Czechoslovak Group. Dentons advised the Czechoslovak Group on the parallel deals.

The Bratislava office of Dentons has advised a syndicate of Tatra, Slovenska Sporitena, and UniCredit Bank Czech Republic and Slovakia on a EUR 116 million loan to Eurovea 2, s.r.o.

As of January 1, 2022, a deposit system for disposable beverage packaging will be introduced in Slovakia. Some disposable beverage packaging manufacturers and distributors will therefore have new obligations.

Only a handful of recent legislative initiatives have sparked as much interest in Slovakia’s business community as the draft of the country’s new Competition Act. What at first seemed to be a routine implementation of the EU ECN+ Directive resulted in a flood of comments and proposals. More than 350 suggestions from the public and various authorities were submitted after the original draft of the new Competition Act was published. Now the bill, having been approved by the cabinet, is entering deliberations in Parliament. The act, which will regulate the daily course of business of every entrepreneur under threat of exorbitant sanctions, certainly deserves a brief summary.

Dentons, working pro bono, has successfully obtained a favorable ruling from the Constitutional Court of the Slovak Republic on behalf of Jozef Andrej, who had been previously convicted of the manslaughter of his severely disabled son. The decision of the Constitutional Court sends his case back to the SlovakSupreme Court.