NKO Partners has advised GreenChem on the acquisition of Adeco Blue from Adeco. Sole practitioner Natalija Basic advised the sellers.

Savoric & Partners has advised Ing-Grad on its planned IPO on the Zagreb Stock Exchange, where the company aims to raise approximately EUR 55 million by selling 30% of its treasury shares.

Erdem & Erdem, working with Morgan Lewis and ADNA, has advised CoreX Resources on the acquisition of the majority shares in Compagnie Miniere Du Bafing. Wallace reportedly advised the sellers.

Sayenko Kharenko, working with Appleton Luff, has advised ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih in a sunset review of anti-dumping duties on steel concrete reinforcing bar imports to the United States.

Walless has advised ScaleWolf on its EUR 2 million investment in Pulsetto.

Linklaters, working with BonelliErede, has advised Metinvest on entering into a shareholders’ agreement with Danieli for the construction of a green steel facility in Piombino, Italy.

Kochanski & Partners has advised Mitmar on obtaining patent protection for its food processing technology.

Reals has advised Investika Real Estate Fund on the acquisition of the Anglicke Nabrezi – U Zvonu development project in Pilsen from private sellers. Krivanek Tomasek and Andrs and Haloun reportedly advised the sellers.

Papapolitis & Papapolitis, working with Linklaters and Studio Legale Associato, has advised the syndicate of arrangers and initial purchasers on DoValue’s pivotal EUR 300 million high-yield bond offering, aimed at refinancing its existing debt following the acquisition of Italian credit management company Gardant. Moratis Passas, working with White & Case, reportedly advised DoValue.

Ellex, working with Allen Overy Shearman Sterling, has advised Adven on the renewal of its financing platform by raising EUR 675 million.

Koutalidis has advised Sunlight Group and Olympia Group of Companies on Sunlight Group’s ongoing strategic realignment and internal restructuring.

Ellex has advised Enefit Green on a partnership with Sumitomo Corporation to develop the Liivi Bay offshore wind farm in the Gulf of Riga.

Decathlon Hungary Legal Counsel Timea Balazs has become the company’s new Head of Legal and Compliance.

Former Gianni, Origoni, Grippo, Cappelli & Partners Foreign Partner Soo Youn Kim has joined DZP as its new Co-Head of the Korean Desk.

Former Reff & Associates Senior Managing Associate Andreea Serban has joined Stratulat Albulescu as a Partner in the firm's Financial Services and Mergers & Acquisitions departments.

Thomas Hartl and Christoph Schober have been promoted to Partner at Binder Groesswang.

Klaudia Krolak and Konrad Kosicki have become Shareholders at Greenberg Traurig's Warsaw office.

Stefan Savic has joined NKO Partners as the firm's new Head of Antitrust and Competition Practice.

Kolcuoglu Demirkan Kocakli has promoted Busra Ozden to Partner.

Addleshaw Goddard has entered the Polish market via an agreement with Linklaters to transfer the former's Warsaw office.

Former Pearson Legal Director Dinc Sanver has joined PwC Turkiye as its new Director of the Legal Department.

Former Metrostav in-house Counsel Hana Nevralova has joined JSK as a Partner. At the same time, the firm elevated former Managing Associate Daniel Pospisil to its partnership ranks as well.

Peterka Partners has opened a new office in Rzeszow, the capital of the Subcarpathian Voivodeship near the Polish-Ukrainian border.

Kyrylo Kazak has become the new Managing Partner of KPD Consulting, taking over from Ihor Kalitventsev.

The European Union is following its roadmap to strengthen the cybersecurity framework. After the Cybersecurity Act (Regulation (EU) 2019/881), which created a certification framework and established the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA), and NIS 2 (Directive (EU) 2022/2555), which aims at enhancing the cybersecurity of essential and important services, the European Union introduced the protection of connected software and devices, in other words, the cybersecurity of the IoT. In October 2024, the European Council officially adopted the Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) which is about to be published in the EU Official Journal. The Czech Republic is now intensively preparing for the adoption of the Cybersecurity Act, which transposes the NIS 2 Directive, but awareness of CRA is low, even though critical software is being developed in the Czech Republic.

Slovakia is currently still in the process of approving the draft legislation for the implementation of Directive (EU) 2022/2555 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 December 2022 on measures for a high common level of cybersecurity across the Union, amending Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 and Directive (EU) 2018/1972, and repealing Directive (EU) 2016/1148 (NIS2 Directive). However, Slovakia has missed the implementation deadline of October 17, 2024, with the draft pending approval in Parliament, expected by late November 2024.

Hungary was one of the quickest in the EU to begin implementing Directive (EU) 2022/2555 (NIS2) and one of those few EU member states that met the deadline for implementation. Nevertheless, the Hungarian NIS2 implementation is still incomplete, and the current implementing laws have caused some practical and interpretational issues for various companies.

On August 1, 2024, the Artificial Intelligence Act (Regulation (EU) 2024/1689, AI Act) came into effect, establishing several regulations concerning artificial intelligence systems within the European Union. Although the regulation is already in force, its requirements will gradually come into effect: the first deadlines are set for February and August 2025, while most of the requirements will apply starting August 2, 2026.

Text and data mining (TDM) has emerged as a powerful technique for extracting valuable insights from large datasets, particularly in fields such as research, healthcare, and marketing. However, as the capabilities of TDM continue to expand, it is essential to consider the legal frameworks that govern its application. In Poland, this involves a complex interplay of national legislation and European Union directives, particularly regarding intellectual property rights, data protection, and exceptions for research.

Recent court decisions in the technology, media, and telecommunications sector are expected to influence the way in which businesses manage, protect, and enforce their intellectual property rights and trade secrets in Bulgaria.

Austria’s data strategy is derived from the European data strategy. It aims to improve the framework conditions for the data economy and to promote the secure exchange and broad use of data.

Lithuania has updated its national legislation, with the revised Cybersecurity Law aligning with Directive (EU) 2022/2555 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 December 2022 on measures for a high common level of cybersecurity across the Union, amending Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 and Directive (EU) 2018/1972, and repealing Directive (EU) 2016/1148 (NIS2 Directive). The new Cybersecurity Law took effect on October 18, 2024. The implementing legislation was adopted on November 6, 2024.

The NIS2 Directive is the EU-wide legislation on cybersecurity. It provides legal measures to increase the overall level of cybersecurity in the EU by modernizing the existing legal framework, broadening the scope of covered entities, and specifying high fines (2% or EUR 10 million for essential entities, or 1.4% of global annual turnover or EUR 7 million for important entities), directly involving the board members of covered organizations and holding them accountable for any breach of the legal framework established by the new Directive.

We are living in very interesting times with spectacular innovations in technology. The law is hardly keeping up with all these changes. Companies and authors of intellectual property works are also challenged and need to adjust to the new evolving environment.

In the summer of 2024, the Croatian Intellectual Property Office published a report detailing intellectual property (IP) infringement data for 2023. This statistical overview sheds light on the enforcement of IP rights across three main segments in Croatia: liability for misdemeanors (falling under the jurisdiction of the Croatian Customs Administration), criminal liability (managed by the State Attorney’s Office), and civil liability (which is enforced through private actions, often involving Collective Management Organizations (CMOs)). This article analyzes the trends observed in the 2023 report, aiming to provide insight into the future landscape of IP enforcement in Croatia and explore implications for rightsholders and other stakeholders in the IP space.

The Slovene language has long been a core part of Slovenia’s national identity, instrumental in unifying the nation during its journey to independence in 1991. However, globalization and digitalization have increasingly challenged the prominence of Slovene in public and commercial domains. This pressure has placed responsibility on the Slovenian government to safeguard the language’s role in the face of a rapidly globalizing world. Recent amendments to the Act on the Public Use of Slovene (Act) reflect this commitment to preserving and expanding Slovene’s presence in public, commercial, and digital spheres.

EAVISTA is acquiring 75.1% of the shares in card complete Service Bank AG from UniCredit Bank Austria and Raiffeisen Bank International.

We are delighted to announce that PRK Partners has been shortlisted with other three international law firms operating on the Czech legal market as finalists for the Czech Republic Law Firm of the Year 2025 in the 26th annual IFLR Europe Awards.

The Antimonopoly Office of the Slovak Republic (PMU) imposed a fine of EUR 675,200 on United Classifieds s.r.o. for a serious breach of competition rules, namely for abuse of a dominant position on the online real estate advertising market.

RTPR announces the promotion of Bogdan Cordos to Partner. He joins the team of 8 partners consisting of Costin Taracila, Victor Padurari, Alexandru Retevoescu, Mihai Ristici, Valentin Berea, Roxana Ionescu, Alina Stavaru and Cosmin Tilea.

The bpv Huegel team led by Elke Napokoj advised the founder and the shareholders of EVK DI Kerschhaggl GmbH (“EVK”).

A transaction team of bpv Huegel advised RWA Raiffeisen Ware Austria Handel und Vermögensverwaltung eGen (RWA eGen) on the acquisition of shares in RWA Raiffeisen Ware Austria Aktiengesellschaft (RWA AG) from BayWa Aktiengesellschaft (BayWa AG).

RADULESCU & MUSOI provided comprehensive legal support for the successful completion of the transaction through which DigiRay, whose majority shareholder is the investment fund Black Sea Fund, acquired the three Maraffka clinics in Ploiești.

Schoenherr has won Best Law Firm of the Year at the 2024 CIJ Awards Hungary gala in Budapest. In the last three years, Schoenherr's real estate practice has played a prominent role in landmark deals in Hungary. 

IMMOFINANZ takes further step to optimise group structure. IMMOFINANZ Group holds 100% of the shares in S IMMO following completion of the squeeze-out.

RTPR announces the successful closing of a new M&A transaction in the energy industry, the sale of the renewable energy portfolio of Evryo Group, owned by funds managed by Macquarie Asset Management, to PPC Group.

Nechala and partners advised the seller, Mr. Heimo Wallisch, on the successful sale of EASYS s. r. o.

Vienna, 04 November 2024. The experienced tax partner Nicolas Wolski (42) will take over as Head of Tax at bpv Huegel with November 2024.