I started my legal career back in 1993 as a student clerk, and over the past 25 years I have literally grown up with the firm. I’ve had the pleasure of advising clients during some of the most exciting periods in Czech history – from the “Wild Wild East” of the nineties, to EU accession, through the global financial crisis and recovery.

The Deal: On October 4, 2017, CEE Legal Matters reported that Dentons’ Bratislava office had advised CNIC Corporation Ltd., an investment company owned by the Chinese government, on its acquisition of Prologis Park Galanta-Gan in Slovakia – which Dentons described as “the largest logistics asset, both by area and investment volume, ever sold in the CEE region” – from Prologis, and that Kinstellar had advised Prologis on the deal.

Former Clifford Chance Partner Tamer Amara and his team have joined the Moscow office of Dentons.

On January 11, 2018, CEE Legal Matters reported that Dentons advised the London branch of UniCredit Bank AG and MUFG as coordinators on a EUR 750 million revolving credit facility provided by a group of 13 banks to MOL Plc, the Hungarian multinational oil and gas company. CMS advised MOL on the deal, which represented the largest financing deal in Hungary in 2017.

According to experts, Ukraine ranks fourth in the world in export of IT-products; i.e., software. It is not a rare phenomenon for Western counter-parties buying software to encounter a low level of pre-sale clearance. In other words, the Ukrainian sellers are not always able to confirm their title rights to the software they dispose of, potentially exposing foreign buyers to the risk of IP-related claims of third parties.

The Hungarian real estate and housing market is experiencing golden days. Although the market took a serious hit during the financial crisis in 2008, today enormous sums are again being invested in office buildings, shopping malls, hotels, residential areas, and retail. In order to map the underlying reasons behind the market’s boom, and to better understand how the country is dealing with the high demand for development lands and properties, CEE Legal Matters sat down with six Hungarian lawyers specialized in Real Estate & Construction and a Legal Counsel from Prologis, a Real Estate & Supply Chain Logistics company. 

Turkish lawyer Belit Polat Dagdeviren has joined the Reckitt Benckiser Group plc as Global Senior Legal Counsel - Competition.

Public protests that surrounded the February 2018 death of Slovakia journalist Jan Kuciak and his fiancee have somewhat abated, says Dentons Bratislava Partner Zuzana Simekova, but the controversy and ultimate consequences are still up in the air.

Former Pepeliaev Group lawyers Vladimir Sokov, Sergey Klimenko, Nigina Rabieva, and Radmila Nikitina have moved, with their teams, to Dentons’ Moscow office.

Dentons will be joining forces with a team of former EY consultants in Hungary to launch Impact Advisory, a joint venture offering consulting services that will complement Dentons’ legal services. The business is being piloted in Hungary with the intention to expand into other countries.

Perry Zizzi was named Managing Partner at Dentons in Romania.

Former Dentons Partner Milan Kohlrusz has joined forces with Csaba Bittera and Peter Toth, long-time legal advisors to Budapest Airport, to launch Budapest's new Bittera, Kohlrusz & Toth law firm.

Public private partnerships and concessions are effective tools to allow governments to partner with the private sector to develop and finance key infrastructure projects. These forms of collaboration are particularly relevant in Russia, where infrastructure investment needs are estimated by the World Bank to be about USD 1 trillion.

On October 30, 2017, CEE Legal Matters reported that South African investment fund Coast2Coast had acquired Polish soup and pate manufacturer Profi — one of several recent CEE investments. Coast2Coast's Regional Counsel CEE Anna Wawrzynczak agreed to answer our questions about the recent acquisitions.

Former Dentons Partner Michal Mezykowski has joined CMS Poland as Head of Banking & Finance, bringing a team of eight lawyers along from his former firm.

TCiting "family-related reasons," former Akol Law lawyer Jonathan Clarke has left his position with the Istanbul-based firm to move back to the UK, where he re-joins DLA Piper as a Legal Director.

On May 7, 2018, Agnieszka Sztoldman joined the SMM Legal team, where, together with Senior Partner Rafal Sikorski, she will manage the firm’s Intellectual Property and Competition practices.

The Slovak energy market is in a state of transition. Energy security continues to be a key driver of the country’s energy policy. Long characterized by its reliance on gas from the Russian Federation, Slovakia continues to seek alternative sources to supply its energy needs. To a large extent, the solution has been to invest billions into nuclear power, while the development of renewable energy sources (RES) has so far been slow.