Dentons Counsel Patricia Gossanyiova has been appointed as the new Co-Head of the firm's Banking and Finance practice in Bratislava, taking the role over from Slovakia Managing Partner Peter Kubina, who has become Head of the Litigation and Dispute Resolution practice.

Allen & Overy has advised Epic Games on the acquisition of Capturing Reality from its founders.

Kinstellar has helped the Business Lease Group B.V. and its CEE subsidiaries obtain a EUR 242 million refinancing loan in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia from a syndicate of ABN Amro Bank N.V., ING Bank N.V., and Cooperatieve Rabobank U.A. Clifford Chance reportedly advised the lenders.

The Act Legal alliance has announced that all of its offices are being integrated under a new common brand.

On November 18, 2020, CEE Legal Matters reported that Hamala Kluch Viglasky had advised Slovakia's Budamar Logistics on the formation of a joint venture with Austria's Innofreight Consulting & Logistics. CEEIHM spoke with Lubomir Loy, Director for Sales and Marketing and Member of the Board of Directors at Budamar Logistics, to learn more about the deal.

Havel & Partners has advised Gi International on its acquisition of 100% of the shares of Work Service Czech and Work Service Slovakia.

Cerha Hempel has advised CA Immobilien Anlagen AG on the sale of the BBC1 and BBC1Plus office buildings in Bratislava to a fund managed by Wood & Co, which was advised by Bartosik Svaby.

Former White & Case lawyer Simona Rapava has joined Slovakia's MCL Law Firm as Co-Head of Banking and Finance.

One could argue that transparency and safeguard regulations in related-party transactions of companies should be well established and should not be an issue in M&As in the current environment. However, this is not the case with Section 59a of the Slovak Commercial Code, which found its way into the Code via the implementation of the Second Council Directive 77/91/EEC.

Interview with the Partners of the New NGL Symbio Alliance.

On 1 February 2021, the Slovak Ministry of Economy submitted an investment screening proposal to the government. This proposal was approved by the National Council (with amendments) on 5 February 2021 and is scheduled to enter in force on 1 March 2021.

Dentons, reportedly working with Law & Trust, has advised Slovak businessman Ivan Chrenko on the sale of his stake in Exponea to the US-based BloomReach e-commerce digital platform. Ferro Legal and Blumenfeld Legal advised Exponea, and Wilson Sonsini and Taylor Wessing reportedly advised the buyer on the deal.

Slovakia’s political life is currently marked by the government's internal struggles, says Martin Magal, Managing Partner at Allen & Overy Bratislava. “We have a fairly inept coalition government and our politicians are much more involved in fighting among each other than fighting against the COVID-19 pandemic.”

What changes must employers expect with respect to employee alimentation, working from home, employee intragroup assignment, or employing teenagers before their completion of compulsory education? The latest amendment of the Slovak Labour Code introduces several changes, establishes a new ground for dismissal, and also significantly modifies the regulation of collective labour relations.

On January 12, 2021, the Supreme Court of the Slovak Republic confirmed the verdict delivered by the Specialized Criminal Court in February 2020 on the forging of four promissory notes of private television broadcaster TV Markiza. Businessman Marian Kocner and former minister Pavol Rusko, a onetime owner of TV Markíza, were accused of forging the promissory notes and using them to demand EUR 69 million from the television station. Both Kocner and Rusko were convicted of forging the promissory notes and were each sentenced to 19 years’ imprisonment. Dentons' Litigation team in Bratislava represented TV Markiza in the case.

Havel & Partners has advised the Premium Design Group on its acquisition of 100% of the shares in the manufacturing cooperative Javorina.

Stetom has advised Slovak private equity group Eastfield on the restructuring and subsequent sale of the Raevskoe winery, together with vineyards and agricultural land plots in Anapa, in the Black Sea coast region, to the Krasnodarzernoprodukt Group.

Divjak, Topic, Bahtijarevic & Krka, working alongside Allen & Overy, has advised J&T Bank, the arranger on a public offering of senior secured bonds.