On the evening of April 1, 2025, the Deal of the Year Awards Banquet brought together, under the same roof, over 200 top-tier lawyers from Central and Eastern Europe's leading law firms and General Counsel from across the region in Prague.
The black-tie Deal of the Year Awards Banquet, which ran in parallel with the 2025 CEE General Counsel Summit, recognized and celebrated the largest and most important deals in Central and Eastern Europe. The winners of each Country Deal of the Year, as well as the winners of the CEE Deal of the Year, are:
- Albania: AYEN AS Energji’s EUR 110 Million Syndicated Loan (GKC Partners (White & Case); Kalo & Associates; Kolcuoglu Demirkan Kocakli; Wolf Theiss)
- Austria: Vauban Infrastructure Partners’ EUR 803 Million Acquisition of Cellnex’s Austrian Telecommunications Tower Assets (Clifford Chance; Hogan Lovells; KPMG Law; Schoenherr; Wolf Theiss)
- Bosnia and Herzegovina: Schneider’s Acquisition of Imaco Systemtechnik (Aulinger Rechsanwalte; Maric & Co)
- Bulgaria: E&’s Acquisition of PPF Telecom Bulgarian, Hungarian, Serbian, and Slovakian Assets (Djingov, Gouginski, Kyutchukov & Velichkov; Karanovic & Partners; Lakatos Koves & Partners; Perkins Coie; Schoenherr; Sullivan & Cromwell; Van Doorne; White & Case)
- Croatia: Aggreko’s Acquisition of Resalta (Allen Overy Shearman Sterling; BDK Advokati; Divjak, Topic, Bahtijarevic & Krka; RTPR; Rutgers & Posch; Schoenherr; Selih & Partnerji)
- Czech Republic: CEZ´s Acquisition of GasNet from Macquarie (Allen Overy Shearman Sterling; Burges Salmon; Loyens & Loeff; Skils)
- Estonia: Mainor Ulemiste’s Acquisition of Majority Stake in Technopolis Ulemiste from Technopolis Baltic Holding (Triniti; Sorainen; Ellex)
- Greece: Athens International Airport 30% Stake Sale Through IPO (Clifford Chance; Dracopoulos & Vassalakis; Koutalidis; Latham & Watkins; Milbank; PotamitisVekris; Linklaters; White & Case; Your Legal Partners; Zepos & Yannopoulos)
- Hungary: Corvinus and Vinci Airports’s Acquisition of Budapest International Airport from AviAlliance, Malton, and CDPQ (Bittera, Kohlrusz & Toth; CMS; Freshfields; Herbert Smith Freehills; KCG Partners; Kinstellar; Latham & Watkins; Linklaters; Orrick; PK Law Firm; Wolf Theiss)
- Kosovo: Maverix Private Equity’s USD 30 Million VC Funding of Kode Labs (Cytowski & Partners; Nallbani Law Firm; Osler Hoskin & Harcourt)
- Latvia: AirBaltic’s EUR 380 Million Bonds Issuance (Arthur Cox; Cobalt; Dentons; Linklaters; TGS Baltic)
- Lithuania: AB Siauliu’s EUR 200 Securitization Vehicle (Ellex; TGS Baltic)
- Moldova: Trans-Oil Group’s USD 550 Million Eurobond Issuance (Arthur Cox; Baker & McKenzie; Gladei & Partners; Harneys Aristodemou Loizides Yiolitis; Homburger; Linklaters; Sayenko Kharenko; Turcan Cazac)
- Montenegro: Krnovo 72-Megawatt Wind Power Plant Refinancing by KfW IPEX-Bank (Allen Overy Shearman Sterling; Karanovic & Partners; Dentons)
- North Macedonia: SMA’s Holding’s Acquisition of Studio Moderna (Bona Fide; Deloitte Legal; Tashko Pustina; Van Campen Lien)
- Poland: Cerberus’s Acquisition of VeloBank from Bank Guarantee Fund (Clifford Chance; CMS; Linklaters; Rymarz Zdort Maruta)
- Romania: EnergoNuclear and FCSA Joint Venture’s EUR 3.2 Billion EPCM Contract for Cernavoda NPP Units 3 and 4 (CMS; Dentons)
- Serbia: Actis-Led Consortium’s Acquisition of Telekom Srbija Tower Portfolio (CMS; Deloitte Legal; Kinstellar; Paul Hastings; PwC Legal; Simpson Thacher; Van Campen Liem; White & Case)
- Slovakia: Creditas Group’s Acquisition of a 100% Stake in GGE from Infracapital (Barger Prekop; BPV Braun Partners; Dentons; Polacek & Partners; Watson Farley & Williams)
- Slovenia: Aggreko’s Acquisition of Resalta (Allen Overy Shearman Sterling; BDK Advokati; Divjak, Topic, Bahtijarevic & Krka; RTPR; Rutgers & Posch; Schoenherr; Selih & Partnerji)
- Turkiye: Petrol Ofisi’s Acquisition of British Petroleum’s Downstream Business (Akin Gump; Ashurst; Baykal Saris Law Firm; Gen Temizer Erdogan Girgin; Kinstellar; Kolcuoglu Demirkan Kocakli)
- Ukraine: NJJ Holding and Horizon Capital-led Consortium’s Acquisition of Datagroup-Volia and Lifecell (Avellum; Bredin Prat; Clifford Chance; CMS; Dentons; DWF; George Yiangou; Gide Loyrette Nouel; Kinstellar; Redcliffe Partners)
- And the CEE Deal of the Year: E&’s Acquisition of PPF Telecom Bulgarian, Hungarian, Serbian, and Slovakian Assets (Djingov, Gouginski, Kyutchukov & Velichkov; Karanovic & Partners; Lakatos Koves & Partners; Perkins Coie; Schoenherr; Sullivan & Cromwell; Van Doorne; White & Case)
Congratulations to all the winning deals and those who made them happen!
