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 firm Energy experts: What, in your view, is the most effective scheme currently in place in your jurisdiction to attract investments in renewable energy? If you had to pick one, what additional step from the regulators do you believe would have the most positive impact?

As Europe begins a tentative re-opening following several difficult months of quarantining, social distancing, and working-from-home, we spoke to CMS’s Warsaw-based Employment Partner Katarzyna Dulewicz and Vienna-based Dispute Resolution Partner Daniela Karollus-Bruner for their perspective on the process.

Efficient energy consumption, reducing CO2 emissions, and energy from renewable sources have been in the spotlight of the European Union for a while now. Although the Republic of Slovenia has not attained the goals envisaged by the EU by 2020 – i.e., a 20% share of energy produced from renewable sources (i.e., 20% increase in energy efficiency and 20% reduction in CO2 emissions) – it remains above the EU average in that regard. Renewable energy sources amount to less than 3% of the overall energy produced in Slovenia, with the rest acquired through nuclear power (40%), fossil fuels (33%), and hydro energy (25%), allowing for substantial growth of the former in the future.

Rymarz Zdort and Prica & Partners have advised Innova Capital on the sale of 100% of the shares of subsidiary Trimo d.o.o. to Kingspan Group plc. Jadek & Pensa reportedly also advised Innova Capital on the deal, which remains subject to regulatory approvals and is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2020.

Over the past few years CMS advised the OTP Bank Group on an extensive series of acquisitions across Bulgaria, Moldova, and former Yugoslavia. This series of separate deals was shortlisted for CEE Legal Matters’ CEE Deal of the Year in each of the countries involved, actually winning the 2018 Deal of the Year for Bulgaria and the 2019 Deal of the Year Award for Montenegro. We reached out to Eva Talmacsi, who led CMS’s multi-jurisdictional team, to learn more about the firm’s impressive work on OTP’s behalf.

Stay informed about the latest developments in competition law in Central and Eastern Europe with Schoenherr's multi-jurisdictional newsletter. Each issue offers insight into developments in merger control, anti-trust, as well as public and private enforcement in the region.

ODI Law has advised Hranilnica Lon on a new issuance of shares.

After operating under the brands Andersen Tax, Andersen Legal, and Andersen Tax & Legal, the member firms of Andersen Global in Europe, will now operate under a single brand: "Andersen".

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.

Cerha Hempel has advised MK Group Global Limited on the acquisition of a loan portfolio from Heta Asset Resolution AG and the acquisition of the direct and indirect shareholdings of HETA in three Slovenian wind-down entities that manage receivables from non-performing loans granted by the former Hypo Alpe-Adria-Bank International AG and its subsidiaries to customers in Slovenia. Schoenherr advised the Republic of Austria as the owner of HETA. 

On 30 May 2020, the third Anti-COVID-19 legislative package was published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, introducing, among other measures, a screening instrument for foreign investments. This is a novelty in the Slovenian regulatory landscape.

CBD products are the latest consumer fad, and demand and supply has significantly increased all over the world. The market for CBD products is projected to keep growing, and according to some estimates, the European CBD market should be worth some EUR 1.5 billion by 2023. Despite such rapid development and expansion, placing CBD products on the Slovenian market remains somewhat of a legal grey area.

“Quite a lot, really —it’s like watching a movie on fast forward,” says Schoenherr Attorney at Law Marko Frantar, from Ljubljana, when asked what’s happening in Slovenia during the COVID-19 epidemic. “As elsewhere, we've been seeing a level of state intervention that is unprecedented in terms of both range and magnitude of measures adopted — all compressed into a period of two months."

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?”

In The Corner Office we ask Managing Partners across Central and Eastern Europe about their unique roles and responsibilities. The question this time around: What major initiative or new plan does your office (or firm) plan – if any – for 2020?

Love them or hate them, conferences are a fundamental part of the successful commercial lawyer’s calendar. But time is precious. Those calendars are full. It’s vital for conference organizers to get them right, and critical for lawyers to choose wisely in determining which events to attend and which to skip.

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.

In December 2013 and (for one bank) in 2014, the Bank of Slovenia – the Slovenian central bank –imposed various extraordinary measures on six Slovenian banks. These measures resulted in a comprehensive bail-in and the termination of not only all the shares in each bank but also all subordinated financial instruments issued by them.