On April 17, 2020, CEE Legal Matters reported that Greenberg Traurig had advised IAD Investments on its acquisition of the company holding the D48 office building in Warsaw from Penta Real Estate. We reached out to Vladimir Bolek, Member of the Board at IAD Investment, to learn more about the acquisition.

CMS has advised PZ Cussons on the sale of LUKSJA, a Polish personal care cosmetics brand present in several CEE and former CIS countries, to the Sarantis Group.

Greenberg Traurig has advised the Polsat Group on its acquisition of Interia Group from Bauer Media Group. Noerr advised the sellers on the deal, which remains subject to regulatory approval.

SSW Pragmatic Solutions has advised Zedra Malta Limited on the acquisition of 100% shares in Poland's Awans Corporate Services.

In The Corner Office feature of CEE Legal Matters we ask Managing Partners at leading law firms across Central and Eastern Europe about their unique roles and responsibilities. In light of current events, the question for this online occurrence of the feature is: "What have been the top three most often asked COVID-19 related questions that you have gotten from clients in the last month?”

SSW Pragmatic Solutions has advised Dirlango Trading & Investments Limited on the sale of shares in Virgin Mobile Polska to Play Communications.

SSW Pragmatic Solutions has advised Link4 TU S.A., a Polish motor insurance company, on the implementation of a blockchain-based project that will allow the company to, in the firm's words, "meet the requirements set by the regulator in the area of providing clients with documents, and save costs through digitization.”

Jaroslaw Lukawski, former Senior Counsel at Soltysinski Kawecki & Slezak, has joined Domanski Zakrzewski Palinka as Partner and Head of Competition law team.

In response to the coronavirus outbreak, most CEE/SEE countries have introduced provisions to close certain premises, while only some have banned the termination of leases in order to protect tenants who have lost revenues.

Bird & Bird and Kyriakides Georgopoulos have advised Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego on a credit agreement annex.

Alipay Limited has hired Polish lawyer Tomasz Janyst as its Chief Compliance Officer / Money Laundering Reporting Officer in Luxembourg.

Climate change-related risks have climbed to the top of the agenda of various stakeholders across the globe: governments, international organizations, NGOs, businesses, and ordinary citizens. The Global Risk Report 2020, presented this year at the World Economic Forum in Davos, demonstrates that climate-related risks – including extreme weather, climate action failure, natural disasters, biodiversity loss, and human-made environmental disasters – are among the top five long-term risks over the next ten years. Most notably, according to survey respondents, the failure of climate change mitigation and adaptation is this year’s number one long-term risk by impact. The report underscores that, in the 2020s, “concerted action is required not only to reduce emissions but also to develop credible adaptation strategies, including climate-proofing infrastructure, closing the insurance protection gap, and scaling up public and private adaptation finance.”

Dentons has advised ING Bank Slaski on a multimillion acquisition financing and refinancing of a portfolio of Polish solar projects with an aggregate capacity of 45 MW. The financing was granted to a project company controlled by a fund managed by Aberdeen Standard Investments, which was advised by Rymarz Zdort.

Jacek Kosinski Adwokaci i Radcowie Prawni has advised Dubai-based VC Shibumi International on its investment in Hustro, a Wroclaw-based company that operates in the construction sector. Hustro was advised by solo practitioner Maksymilian Imbirski.

White & Case has advised PKO Bank Polski on a tender offer to the holders of its EUR 750 million notes and USD 1 billion notes issued by its subsidiary, PKO Finance AB.

CMS has advised Real Assets Advisers on its structuring of the joint acquisition of 33% of Acciona Energía Internacional by AXA Real Asset and Acciona S.A.

CMS Warsaw has announced that it will be joined by five former Clifford Chance lawyers in August, including Slawomir Czerwinski and Mateusz Stepien, who will join as Partners, Jaroslaw Gajde, who will join as Counsel, Antoni Wandzilak, joining as Senior Associate, and Dominika Pietkun, joining as Associate. 

On April 9, 2020, CEE Legal Matters reported that Dentons had advised Hines Poland Sustainable Income Fund on the sale of a portfolio of six Polish distribution parks and the Nord Point office building in Warsaw to Chinese investor CGL Investment Holdings Corporation Limited. We spoke to Mietek Godzisz, Head of Hines in Poland, about the deal.