SMM Legal is advising PKN Orlen on its merger with Grupa Lotos S.A., which is advised by the Warsaw office of Weil, Gotshal & Manges. According to SMM Legal, “the projected merger of Orlen and Lotos is believed to be the biggest merger deal in the entire history of the Polish economy.” The market capitalizations of Orlen and Lotos are valued at PLN 40 billion and PLN 10 billion, respectively.
According to SMM Legal, "the preliminary stage of the merger will consist of a detailed due diligence audit of the Lotos Group covering a dozen or so areas, an audit of commercial contracts made by the company, employment relationships, intellectual property rights and environmental aspects. The merger will also require drafting and lodging an application for the European Commission’s consent, as well as a detailed strategy to ensure compliance with rules and regulations applicable to public companies. The procedure, as per preliminary estimates, will last about a year."
The SMM Legal team was led by Managing Partner Maciej Mataczynski and included Senior Partners Rafal Sikorski and Aleksander Czech and Partner Tomasz Sojka.
The Weil team was led by Managing Partner Pawel Rymarz and included Senior Associates Lukasz Szatkowski and Jakub Zagrajek.
