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Kinstellar advises on the acquisition of EQOS Energie’s Polish and Czech operations
Kinstellar has successfully advised Genesis Private Equity Fund III and the Poland-based Avallon MBO Fund II on the acquisition of EQOS Energie Polska Sp. z o.o. and of EQOS Energie Česko spol. s r.o. Both companies were previously part of the international EQOS Energie Group, a leading provider of services in comprehensive technical infrastructures in Europe and backed by the German-Swedish private equity firm Triton. Upon the transaction’s closing, the Czech and Polish companies will operate under a new brand – Stangl Technik. For GPEF III, the transaction marks its sixth investment and its first-ever deal in Poland. The transaction closing is subject to approval by the Polish anti-monopoly authority.
Kinstellar advises Credit Value Investments regarding its investment in Griffin
Kinstellar has advised Credit Value Investments (CVI) – an independent investment firm, the leader in non-bank debt financing for SME in Poland and the CEE region – regarding its investment into Griffin, a Slovak company developing a nursing home and a specialized Alzheimer’s senior housing including a rehabilitation centre in Bratislava. The parties signed the transaction documents on 30 November 2017. With regard to the transaction, Viliam Myšička, Counsel in the Bratislava office and the head of the firm-wide TMT sector, commented: ''We are delighted to have advised CVI in connection with a transaction in which an innovative form of financing enables completion of a project in the area of services typical
Amendments to the Bankruptcy Law in Serbia
On 14 December 2017, the Serbian Parliament adopted amendments to the Bankruptcy Law aimed at, among other things, shortening the bankruptcy procedure and improving settlement of the bankruptcy and secured creditors’ claims. The relevant novelties are harmonized with the Strategy for Resolving Non-Performing Loans, which was adopted by the Serbian Government back in 2015. The amendments came into force on 25 December 2017. The position of secured creditors has been further improved. Namely, they now have the right to appoint one representative onto the board of creditors. The representative is chosen at a separate meeting attended solely by secured creditors, which voting power is determined by presumed degree of
Ukraine amends civil aviation insurance rules
New “Rules and Regulations for Mandatory Civil Aviation Insurance” (adopted by the Resolution of Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No.676 on 06.09.2017) entered into force on 20 December 2017. The new rules replace regulations that have governed aviation insurance in Ukraine since 2002. The new rules aim to harmonise Ukrainian aviation insurance market practices with the provisions of the Air Code of Ukraine and the Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules for International Carriage by Air (the Montreal Convention). Changes brought by the new rules include the increase in the types of mandatory aviation insurance from 5 to 11, including the introduction of third-party liability insurance for persons on-board
Kinstellar advises MET Group on its acquisition of Tigáz
ˆ’ Kinstellar has successfully assisted the Swiss-based MET Group in entering into an agreement for the acquisition of 98.99% of the registered capital and voting rights in the Hungarian company Tigáz Zrt from the Italian oil & gas giant Eni, including Eni’s gas distribution operations in Hungary through its participations in Tigáz DSO and Turulgáz. The deal, which is the largest M&A transaction in the Hungarian natural gas sector in 2017, is expected to be closed in the second quarter of 2018, subject to regulatory approval. Tigáz owns and operates a 33,700 km-long network in north-eastern Hungary (representing 48% of the national grid) and 1.2 million delivery points in a regulated market environment.
Kinstellar advises Magyar Telekom and T-Systems Magyarország on the acquisition of ITgen
Kinstellar’s Hungarian M&A and Corporate team has successfully advised Magyar Telekom Nyrt., the leading Hungarian telecommunications service provider and its affiliate T-Systems Magyarország Zrt., on the acquisition of ITgen Kft., an SAP technology and security specialist. The acquisition of ITgen allows T-Systems to provide more comprehensive and therefore more competitive SAP services through acquiring competencies that are highly complementary to its existing portfolio. ITgen Kft. possesses unique competencies in SAP technology consulting, SAP GRC and SAP security. The Kinstellar team was coordinated and supervised by Partner Anthony O’Connor, Partner, who commented that: "We have had the privilege
Ukraine delays protectionist measures against foreign-made regional jets
On 7 December 2017 the Ukrainian parliament voted to approve legislation (Draft Law No. 7280 “On The Amendment to the Law of Ukraine 1796-VIII â€) to extend the exemption from import duties (including VAT) for certain foreign-made aircraft to 1 January 2021. The law relates specifically to 44–110 seat aircraft that are flown by Ukrainian airlines under operating dry leases. Prior to the adoption of the draft law, the above-mentioned exemption was only valid until 1 January 2018. In 2016, the Ukrainian government initiated a set of measures to support the domestic aircraft construction industry. The Law of Ukraine No.1796-VIII “On the Amendment to the Customs Code and to the Law of Ukraine On the Development of
Kinstellar partner speaks at real estate investment conference in South Africa
Victor Constantinescu, a Kinstellar Partner and head of the firm’s Real Estate practice in Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Turkey and Ukraine, was an invited speaker at SBG Securities’ annual real estate conference, which took place in Cape Town, South Africa on 4 December 2017. SBG Securities is a wholly owned subsidiary of Standard Bank, one of South Africa’s largest banking groups. The conference gathered over 50 high-level real estate professionals and investment managers interested in the CEE region. In his presentation, Victor gave an overview of the investment climate and risks in CEE, focusing on political and economic developments, inves tor perceptions and the legal and regulatory aspects of
Cybercrime: The road begins in Hungary
Each year hundreds of billions of dollars are lost by companies due to cybercrimes committed by criminals. These attacks vary from sophisticated hacking to primitive fraud attempts. However, with the right preparation and countermeasures in place, companies can prevent certain types of cyberattacks, or at least mitigate the associated losses. Recent Examples With increasing frequency, perpetrators are hacking employee email accounts (typically those belonging to the person responsible for payments in the company’s name) by sending a message from a specially-created email address differing only by one or two characters from the email address of an actual company business partner. The email contains a
New procedural rules for the 21st century, in Hungary
The Hungarian Parliament has recently adopted three new procedural laws: Act CXXX of 2016 on the Code of Civil Procedure (“CCPâ€), Act I of 2017 on the Code of Administrative Litigation (“CALâ€), and Act CL of 2016 on Administrative Proceedings, which will all enter into effect on January 1, 2018. These new procedural laws come on the heels of the recodification of many substantive laws such as the Civil Code and the Criminal Code. This article aims to give a brief overview of these new procedural laws. The New Code of Civil Procedure The legislative goals behind the adoption of the CCP were the modernization and “professionalization†of litigation. To this end, the CCP introduces mandatory legal
Kinstellar advises Genesis Private Equity Fund III on its investment in industrial automation and robotics group D2G
November 2017 – Kinstellar has successfully advised Genesis Private Equity Fund III on its investment and establishment of D2G holding, an industrial automation and robotics group with turnover of more than CZK 450 million. The group consists of Deimos (to be renamed D2Automation), a company focused on industrial automation (known for realising David Černý’s mechanical Franz Kafka sculpture at the Quadrio shopping centre in Prague ); O.K. NAVY (to be renamed to D2Manufacturing), specialising in precision tool-making, injection mould production and maintenance, and a producer of systems and machine parts; and Kvelb (to be renamed to D2Drives) a distributer of industrial drives and one of the top distributors and solution partners of Siemens
Ukraine revises its arbitration law, introduces new arbitration rules
Ukrainian arbitration law, which follows almost to the letter the 1985 UNCITRAL Model Law (the "Model Law"), has been largely unrevised since its adoption in 1994, despite subsequent changes introduced to the Model Law in 2006. As a result, Ukrainian legislation has construed arbitration agreements in a rather out-dated manner and virtually has not provided for court-ordered interim measures. To remove these discrepancies and finalise the judicial reform process that began in June 2016, on 3 October 2017, the Ukrainian parliament adopted Bill No 6232 “On Amendments to the Commercial Procedure Code of Ukraine, the Civil Procedure Code of Ukraine, the Code of Administrative Proceedings and other legislative actsâ€