Ellex has advised Trigon Capital on its acquisition of Estonia Farmid.

Fort Legal has advised Idavang on a EUR 40 million loan from Swedbank for the early redemption of its EUR 75 million floating rate senior secured bonds, originally due in 2025.

Kinstellar has advised a syndicate of banks led by BRD Groupe Societe Generale and Banca Transilvania, with Raiffeisen Bank Romania as a sustainability agent, on a EUR 73 million syndicated facility to Grup Serban Holding. RTPR advised Grup Serban Holding.

Everlegal has advised VisionFund on establishing its Ukrainian entity and obtaining a financial company license, enabling it to provide non-banking financial services such as granting loans and banking metals.

Nyerges & Partners has advised KER Toki on obtaining an electricity supply license from the Romanian Energy Regulatory Authority.

CMS has advised Florian Prasky on co-founding with Katharina Porenta Wattwise FlexCo.

Spasov and Bratanov, working with Clifford Chance, has advised the International Finance Corporation and Raiffeisenbank International on the EUR 90 million financing for R Engineering to construct a solar power park. CMS advised R Engineering.

Filip & Company has advised Credit Europe Bank Romania on a cross-border merger by absorption into Credit Europe Bank.

Former Schoenherr Managing Attorney at Law Andrei Muresan has joined the Tiriac Group as its new Head of Legal - Special Projects.

White & Case’s Turkish affiliate law firm GKC Partners has advised Gulermak Heavy Industries Construction & Contracting on its TRY 4.845 billion IPO on Borsa Istanbul.

Wolf Theiss has advised Erste Group Bank on the successful issuance of EUR 750 million fixed to floating rate green preferred senior notes due 2033. CMS, working with Linklaters, advised the international banking syndicate working on the issuance including Danske Bank, Erste Group, Landesbank Baden-Wuerttemberg, Landesbank Hessen-Thueringen, Societe Generale, and TD Global Finance.

White & Case has advised Rohlik.cz Finance II on a CZK 4 billion retail offering of senior secured fixed rate bonds due in 2029 which feature an equity-linked bonus.

Madalina Fildan-Raileanu, Ana Atanasiu, Oana Bucsa, and Alexandra Ionita have joined the partnership ranks at PeliPartners.

Gessel and Kambourov & Partners have advised MS Galleon on its acquisition of Corab. TGS Baltic reportedly advised MS Galleon as well.

Former Counsel Denys Medvediev has been promoted to Partner at Redcliffe Partners. The same promotion round also saw Kateryna Zheltova promoted to Senior Associate.

Several amendments to pharmaceutical promotional laws in Hungary came into effect on 1 January 2025, with others following on 1 February 2025. Some of these amendments have long been urged by the pharmaceutical industry.

On 26 December 2024, the Law “On Amendments to the Criminal Code of Ukraine, the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine, and Other Legislative Acts of Ukraine to Improve Mechanisms for Holding Legal Entities Accountable for Bribery of Foreign Officials” No. 4111-IX entered into force. It is meant to implement the OECD Council’s Recommendation on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions.

The Law on Environmental Impact Assessment ("Official Gazette of the RS," No. 94/2024) and the Law on Strategic Environmental Impact Assessment ("Official Gazette of the RS," No. 94/2024) entered into force on 6 December 2024.

Walless has advised InMedica on its sale to Mehilainen. Cobalt advised Mehilainen.

PRK Partners has announced a partnership with Quantera Global.

AP Legal has advised Inn-Flex on its acquisition of Parir Print. Sole practitioner Tomislav Stankovic reportedly advised the sellers.

Spasov and Bratanov, working with Clifford Chance, has advised the International Finance Corporation and Raiffeisenbank International on the EUR 90 million financing for R Engineering to construct a solar power park. CMS advised R Engineering.

Nedelka Kubac Advokati has advised Energeticky a Prumyslovy Holding on its acquisition of a 50% stake in West Burton Energy from TotalEnergies.

Madalina Fildan-Raileanu, Ana Atanasiu, Oana Bucsa, and Alexandra Ionita have joined the partnership ranks at PeliPartners.

Musat & Asociatii has won an appeal before the High Court of Cassation and Justice against a prior decision by the Bucharest Court of Appeal, allowing the retrial of the review application in the case concerning the torturers of Romanian anti-communist dissident Gheorghe Ursu.

Ellex has offered pro bono representation in a same-sex parenthood case before the national courts in Lithuania, resulting in the first-ever recognition of same-sex parents.

On April 22, 2024, Everlegal announced it had been appointed to provide legal support to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees – the UN Refugee Agency – for its activities in Ukraine.

Former SHMP Schwartz Huber-Medek Pallitsch Partner Philipp Pallitsch has joined Dorda as Partner alongside his team.

Former DLA Piper Partner Adriana Mierzwa-Bronikowska has joined Dentons’ Warsaw office with a team of four lawyers to form a Projects team to focus on infrastructure. As part of the same expansion move, Dentons also hired Former DLA Piper Counsel Aleksander Haleniuk, who joined as Counsel, and four additional lawyers.

CMS has advised the Via Salis consortium, comprising Vinci and Meridiam, on the D4 highway public-private partnership project in the Czech Republic. Kinstellar, working with Linklaters, advised the financing banks. White & Case advised the Ministry of Transport of the Czech Republic.

Koutalidis has advised Sfakianakis Group on the restructuring of its debt with a total value of approximately EUR 300 million.

Filing a claim in insolvency proceedings may be the only way for creditors to recover at least part of the amount they are owed. In the Czech legal system, however, creditors face an understated but significant risk: if they overstate the amount of their claim, not only do they risk having it disregarded but they may also be required to pay a penalty to the debtor’s estate. This provision, embedded in the Czech Insolvency Act, acts as a double-edged sword: while it aims to prevent unfounded claims and speculation in insolvency proceedings, it often deters legitimate creditors from fully asserting their claims. This financial penalty has no equivalent in other European countries. So, how can creditors avoid penalties, and what should they know before submitting a claim in insolvency proceedings?

Rymarz Zdort Maruta has advised the bankruptcy trustee of Getin Noble Bank on the sale of Noble Securities to Skarbiec Holding.

On 27 June 2024, the Constitutional Court of Serbia issued a Decision initiating proceedings to assess the constitutionality of the Gender Equality Act. This decision implies that all activities undertaken based on the said Act, including executing individual acts and actions, are suspended until a final decision on its constitutionality is rendered.

Starting 1 January 2025, only citizens of Georgia and Armenia will be eligible for residence permits for the purpose of employment and guest worker residence permits. This marks a significant tightening of the previous rules, which allowed citizens of 10 countries to obtain guest worker residence permits and had no such restrictions for residence permits for the purpose of employment. Although these changes do not affect currently valid permits, the new rules will apply to all new permit issuances

With the amendments to the Companies Act (the “Act”), which entered into force on 5 December 2024, Croatia has implemented EU Directive (EU) 2022/2381 on gender balance on corporate boards of listed companies (the “Directive”). The so called “Women on Boards” Directive aims to ensure that at least 40% of non-executive board seats or 33% of all board seats for listed companies are occupied by the “underrepresented sex” by the end of June 2026.

Walless has advised InMedica on its sale to Mehilainen. Cobalt advised Mehilainen.

Former Novo Nordisk Regional General Counsel and Vice President for legal, compliance, and quality in the Asia Pacific region Meltem Ozker Gunduz has joined GE HealthCare as its new General Counsel.

Several amendments to pharmaceutical promotional laws in Hungary came into effect on 1 January 2025, with others following on 1 February 2025. Some of these amendments have long been urged by the pharmaceutical industry.

Markiyan Malskyy has returned to Arzinger as Partner and the firm’s new Head of the West Ukrainian Branch as well as the Co-Head of the International Dispute Resolution and Arbitration Practice. 

Andrej Jelenkovic has been promoted to Partner at Karanovic & Partners.

Madalina Fildan-Raileanu, Ana Atanasiu, Oana Bucsa, and Alexandra Ionita have joined the partnership ranks at PeliPartners.

Harrisons, working with Bird & Bird, has advised the EBRD on a EUR 20 million loan to Serbia and Montenegro Air Traffic Services SMATSA.

Reff & Associates | Deloitte Legal has advised Damen Galati Shipyard on EUR 25 million in financing from Exim Banca Romaneasca.

Cobalt has advised PSA on its acquisition of 50% of Parnu Sadam shares from Transcom.

Kyriakides Georgopoulos announced that the Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund's sale of a 67% stake in the Heraklion Port Authority to a consortium consisting of Grimaldi Euromed and Minoan Lines (as reported by CEE Legal Matters on January 11, 2024) closed on September 18, 2024.

PeliPartners has advised Bogdan Idu and his group companies on the sale of an LPG maritime terminal in Romania to Nawaf Salameh Family Office Group.

Your Legal Partners’ Katerina Politopoulou, Maria Golfinopoulou, and Prokopis Linardos Talk About the Deal of the Year in Greece.

Brandl Talos has advised Graph Therapeutics on a USD 3.1 million pre-seed financing round led by Squareone and Merantix Capital, with participation from NAVEC Investment Management and angel investors, including the Atomico Angel Program. Herbst Kinsky advised NAVEC. Schoenherr advised Squareone. Fladgate reportedly advised the Atomico Angel Program.

Walless has advised Indexo Real Estate Fund on its acquisition of the Olimpia shopping center in Riga for over EUR 40 million. 

Greenberg Traurig has advised Resource Partners-backed Buglo Play on its acquisition of Elverdal and LeikkiSet.

Musat & Asociatii has won an appeal before the High Court of Cassation and Justice against a prior decision by the Bucharest Court of Appeal, allowing the retrial of the review application in the case concerning the torturers of Romanian anti-communist dissident Gheorghe Ursu.

Ellex has offered pro bono representation in a same-sex parenthood case before the national courts in Lithuania, resulting in the first-ever recognition of same-sex parents.

Dentons has successfully represented an unlawfully sterilized woman in administrative court proceedings against the Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic regarding a denied claim for compensation and subsequent appeal on a pro bono basis.

Walless has advised Indexo Real Estate Fund on its acquisition of the Olimpia shopping center in Riga for over EUR 40 million. 

Madalina Fildan-Raileanu, Ana Atanasiu, Oana Bucsa, and Alexandra Ionita have joined the partnership ranks at PeliPartners.

Clifford Chance has advised a club of banks including ING Bank, Erste Group Bank and its Czech subsidiary Ceska Sporitelna, and Komercni Banka on a EUR 268 million facility agreement supporting a new joint venture partner’s entry and the expansion of Unibail-Rodamco Westfield's Centrum Cerny Most in Prague. Dentons reportedly advised Unibail-Rodamco Westfield.

PRK Partners has announced a partnership with Quantera Global.

In this article, we highlight the most relevant changes to Slovenia’s tax laws, from the perspective of corporate income tax, VAT, personal income tax and tax procedure that enter into force on 1 January 2025.

On 27 December 2024, the Parliament of North Macedonia adopted the new Law on Minimum Global Corporate Income Tax (“Law”).

Brandl Talos has advised Graph Therapeutics on a USD 3.1 million pre-seed financing round led by Squareone and Merantix Capital, with participation from NAVEC Investment Management and angel investors, including the Atomico Angel Program. Herbst Kinsky advised NAVEC. Schoenherr advised Squareone. Fladgate reportedly advised the Atomico Angel Program.

Conducting legal due diligence on the target company is standard practice before completinga transaction. Even today, eight years after the GDPR came into effect, some companies still fail to implement basic data protection principles in their internal policies or in their relationships with business partners and suppliers. Some even claim not to process any personal data at all.

TGS Baltic has advised the Latvian Electronic Public Media Council on the merger of Latvian Radio and Latvian Television creating a single national public media entity known as Latvian Public Media.

On 26 December 2024, the Law “On Amendments to the Criminal Code of Ukraine, the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine, and Other Legislative Acts of Ukraine to Improve Mechanisms for Holding Legal Entities Accountable for Bribery of Foreign Officials” No. 4111-IX entered into force. It is meant to implement the OECD Council’s Recommendation on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions.

On 6 December 2024, the Law on Amendments to the Law on Prevention of Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism and the Law on Amendments to the Law on Public Notaries entered into force. These two laws were adopted by the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia and published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia on 28 November 2024.

The UK government recently unveiled guidance on a major update to its corporate fraud laws: the “failure to prevent fraud” offence, introduced through the 2023 Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act (ECCT). Taking effect on September 1, 2025, this law could have serious implications for companies operating within the EU.