Martin Jurecko has joined CMS as a Partner in its Bratislava office's Real Estate practice.

Ments has launched a new Dispute Resolution practice in Slovakia with the addition of Counsel Tomas Langer and Associate Anna Kocurova.

In recent weeks, the Slovak Parliament has approved two laws that could substantially increase labour costs for employers in Slovakia. One amendment to the Minimum Wage Act raises the automatic determination rate of the minimum wage, while another introduces a new contribution to cover sports activities for employees' children.

The National Council of the Slovak Republic has recently approved significant changes to the Value Added Tax (VAT) rates, which will come into effect as of January 1, 2025. Here are the key updates:

On October 25, 2024, White & Case has announced that E&'s acquisition of PPF Telecom Bulgarian, Hungarian, Serbian, and Slovakian assets (as reported by CEE Legal Matters on August 9, 2023) has now closed.

From 1 April 2025, Slovakia will introduce a new financial transactions tax (daň z finančných transakcií) as part of the government´s consolidation package. This is not an early April fools' day joke.

Dentons, working with E+H, has advised a club of senior lenders, led by Tatra Banka as the global coordinator, on financing for Tatry Mountain Resorts consisting of a EUR 180 million senior facility and a EUR 110 million junior facility. Kinstellar advised J&T Banka as the junior lender. A&O Shearman advised Tatry Mountain Resorts.

Earlier in 2024, DLA Piper published its Medical Devices Advertising: CEE Comparison Guide, which reviews advertising regulations for medical devices in Austria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia. Life sciences team members who worked on the guide spoke with CEE Legal Matters about some of the regulatory differences across CEE and the practical implications for businesses.

Taylor Wessing has advised FLE on its investment and acquisition of a 620-hectare forest in Eastern Slovakia. Bohunicky & Co reportedly advised the undisclosed sellers.

Former PwC CEE Head of Legal Business Solutions Hugh Owen has joined Kinstellar as Partner.

Kinstellar has advised Mitiska European Real Estate Partners 3 on the acquisition of a 50% ownership interest in OP Centrum Retail 2 from OPC Group. AK KB and Rybanova & Partners advised OPC Group.

White & Case has advised joint lead managers Commerzbank, Danske Bank, DZ BANK, Erste Group Bank, Raiffeisen Bank International, and UniCredit Bank on the issuance of EUR 500 million 2.875% mortgage-covered bonds due 2029 under the EUR 10 billion mortgage-covered bond program of UniCredit Bank Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Ruzicka and Partners has announced the expansion of its circle of Equity Partners with the addition of Peter Ruzicka and Peter Bartos.

Dentons has advised JTRE Sports & Entertainment on its acquisition of HC Slovan Bratislava from Elena Hruba, Pavel Hofstaedter, and Eduard Janosik. Gunar Legal & Partners and BDO Legal advised the sellers.

A&O Shearman has announced the passing of its Slovakia Partner and Head of Dispute Resolution Practice for Central and Eastern Europe, Martin Magal.

Dentons has advised Yanmar Group on its acquisition of Tedom from the Jet Investment fund. DRV Legal advised Jet Investment Fund.

In 2022, the Slovak Parliament passed two long-awaited laws, an Act No 201/2022 on construction (hereinafter the “Construction Act”) and an Act No 200/2022 on spatial planning (hereinafter the “Spatial Planning Act”). I wrote about the adoption of these laws and their content in my last article published in CEE Legal Matters. Both laws, which together were intended to bring long-anticipated systemic changes to spatial-planning and building permit procedures in Slovakia, were supposed to take effect on 1 April 2024; however, this never happened.

Dentons has advised AniCura on the acquisition of VetCare Group in Slovakia and the Czech Republic from HardWood Investments. Acres reportedly advised HardWood Investments.