April 2015 - Kinstellar is pleased to announce that it has been named Hungarian Law Firm of the Year for 2015 at the prestigious Chambers Awards for Excellence gala held at Hotel Okura in Amsterdam on 24 April.
The Chambers Europe Awards recognise the best law firms and lawyers in the European legal market during last year and reflect law firms’ pre-eminence in key practice areas and notable achievements, outstanding work, impressive strategic growth and excellence in client service.
In addition to taking top honours in Hungary, Kinstellar was also shortlisted in the CEE, Czech Republic and Turkey categories — a recognition of an exceptional year for Kinstellar, with the firm taking on leading roles on some of the largest and most complex transactions in each of these markets in key areas including energy and transport infrastructure, greenfield investments and complex real estate deals.
Work highlights of the team in Hungary include: advising PSP Investments (Public Sector Pension Investment Board of Canada) on the EUR 1.1 billion acquisition of Hochtief AG's airport portfolio, including Budapest Airport (the main airport in Budapest, Hungary); advising Vnesheconombank (a Russian state-owned development bank) as the largest creditor and indirect minority shareholder on the EUR 600 million insolvency of Malév Hungarian Airlines (the Hungarian national airline), the largest and most complex insolvency in Hungarian corporate history; advising a consortium of international banks (as lenders) on a more than EUR 1 billion refinancing and corporate and debt restructuring of Budapest Airport, the largest and most complex existing bank financing structure of a Hungarian borrower; and advising South Stream Hungary Ltd. (a joint venture of Russia’s Gazprom and MVM, Hungary’s state-owned energy company) on a proposed EUR 1 billion financing for the Hungarian section of the South Stream Pipeline Project.
Csilla Andreko, Managing Partner of Kinstellar’s Budapest office comments: “We are honoured by this recognition of our team’s exceptional capabilities and tremendous commitment and effort. The award is a great acknowledg ment of our longstanding strength. I am proud to be part of this excellent team, and I thank my colleagues for their outstanding and consistent performance throughout the years.’’