Former Squire Patton Boggs Of Counsel Stanislav Durica has joined Dentons as a Partner in Bratislava and will lead the office's Employment and Labor practice.

Eversheds Sutherland has advised Hartenberg Capital on its minority stake divestiture and agreement with CVC Capital Partners for a co-controlling holding in FutureLife.

CMS has advised Slovakia's Nafta International on the buyout of its joint venture partner Cub Energy to become the sole owner of the Ukrainian company holding a license for the exploration and production of hydrocarbons near Uzhhorod.

DLA Piper has advised Michelin on its acquisition of Cemat. Havel & Partners advised Cemat on the deal.

On October 5, 2021, CEE Legal Matters reported that Dentons had provided pro bono advice to the non-profit organization Spolocnost Jaromira Krejcara to protect the cultural heritage site of the former Machnac spa house in Trencianske Teplice, Slovakia. CEE In-House Matters spoke with Martin Zaicek, Director at Jaromir Krejcar Society, to learn more about the matter.

Norton Rose Fulbright, Krehic & Partners, and Magnusson have advised Inter Cars on the extension, increase, and reorganization of senior facilities in the aggregate amount of PLN 1.84 billion. Clifford Chance advised the financing consortium.

Contributed by Squire Patton Boggs.

Havel & Partners has advised Credo Ventures and Earlybird Digital East Fund as well as Slovak start-up Photoneo on its USD 21 million investment round.

Kocian, Solc, Balasitk has advised Titans Freelancers on the acquisition of a 75% stake in Bridgewater from Topelex and Jakub Konecny. Reportedly, Evan Advokatni Kancelar advised Topelex and Cerha Hempel advised Jakub Konecny.

Former Senior Associate Marek Holka has made Partner at Cechova & Partners.

Cytowski & Partners has advised Slovak healthcare startup Surglogs on its USD 10.5 million series A with Open Ocean. Royer Cooper Cohen Braunfeld reportedly advised Open Ocean on the deal.

On June 9, 2021, the Slovak Supreme Court finally ended its long-running proceedings against Slovak Telekom (ST). The case involved a more than EUR 17 million fine against ST for the abuse of a dominant position and resulted in an important decision regarding the application of the ne bis in idem principle in Slovak law.

Schoenherr has advised Slate Asset Management on the acquisition of a portfolio of real estate assets in Austria and Slovakia for approximately EUR 90 million.

Dentons has provided pro bono representation to blogger Jan Bencik in a defamation dispute regarding an article in the Zem a Vek magazine.

The possibility of the employer to investigate whether its employees are vaccinated against COVID-19 was subject of heated debate in Slovakia. The prevailing view was the employer could not request such information from them as allegedly there was no legal basis for it in the Labour Code or other regulations. Surprisingly, such view was also supported by the Slovak National Inspectorate of Labour that claimed it should be up to the employees whether they inform the employer about their vaccination. There were also discussions whether obtaining such information by the employer complies with the GDPR.

Schoenherr has announced the appointments of Austria-based Miriam Simsa, Bulgaria-based Alexandra Doytchinova and Czech Republic-based Vladimir Cizek to Equity Partners. The firm also promoted Austria-based Dominik Hofmarcher and Slovakia-based Sona Hekelova to Partners.

Eversheds Sutherland's Head of the Bratislava Office Bernhard Hager has been appointed Managing Partner for the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Principal Associate and Head of the Labour Law team Radek Matous was promoted to Partner in Prague.

HKV has advised the owners of Slovak radio stations Europa 2 and Radio Jemne on their sale to the Bauer Media Group. Paul Q advised the buyer.