SEKYRA GROUP
We assisted the Sekyra Group developer with legal advice on the acquisition of the remaining land around the Smíchov railway station in Prague from České dráhy, the Czech national railway company. A large-scale project titled Smíchov City is already being built on the land. When completed, it is expected to provide housing and workspaces for approximately 12,000 people. In terms of the total purchase price, the transaction ranks among the largest completed on the Czech market in 2023.
GEVORKYAN
After the company entered the START market of the Prague Stock Exchange in 2022, we assisted GEVORKYAN, a European leader in powder metallurgy, as legal advisors with its listing on the prime market of the Prague Stock Exchange in 2023. The market capitalisation was CZK 4.5 billion. This was the first case of transfer between the START and prime markets in history. Gevorkyan is a manufacturer of metal parts for cars, tools, locks, and garden equipment, among others. Gevorkyan subsequently went on to list on the Bratislava Stock Exchange in February 2024 in the form of a dual listing.
HAVEL & PARTNERS legal team, consisting of partner Jan Topinka, senior associate Martin Stančík, and associate Kristína Saktorová, has been the company’s long-term advisory and legal partner throughout all these steps.
REMAQ
For the client, we handled the sale of a 100% ownership interest in REMAQ, a major plastics recycler in Czechia, to Orlen Unipetrol, a petrochemical group. With the acquisition the group, which is aiming to be emission neutral by 2050, has entered a new segment – waste management.
Comprehensive transaction advisory was led by the firm’s dedicated M&A team consisting of partner Jan Koval, counsel Robert Porubský, and senior associate Ivo Skolil. The transaction was settled in 2023 following proceedings before the Czech Competition Authority.
INTEGRAL VENTURE PARTNERS
We handled the entry of our client, Integral Venture Partners, a Hungarian investment fund, into a joint venture with Genesis, an investment group, concerning the Borcad company. For over 30 years, the company has been manufacturing seats and interior fittings for passenger trains, from regional to luxury long-distance carriages. When creating the joint venture, the client received assistance from the firm’s dedicated M&A team consisting of partner Václav Audes, and senior associate Ivo Skolil.
SLOVAK INVESTMENT HOLDING
The Slovak HAVEL & PARTNERS law firm, namely the team of partners Ondřej Majer, Jaroslav Baier, and associate Kristína Saktorová, advised Slovak Investment Holding (SIH), a Slovak state-owned joint stock company. The company has become a major investor in InoBat, a company focused on the R&D and production of batteries for electric vehicles.
In the Series C investment round, SIH supported InoBat with an investment of EUR 12 million, or approximately CZK 303 million. The investment will be fully implemented in Slovakia, specifically in the company’s development centre and production plant in Voderady, a municipality in the Trnava district.
LEAD VENTURES
Our Slovak team assisted in one of the largest venture capital investments in the history of Slovakia. They provided legal advice to Lead Ventures, a Hungarian venture capital and private equity company, on its investment through the Enter Tomorrow Kockázati Tőkealap fund in CloudTalk, a Slovak startup offering cloud solutions for call centres.
Lead Ventures was one of the two lead investors in the Series B investment round for a total of EUR 26 million. A total of six investors from four countries (Germany, the Netherlands, Hungary, and Czechia) participated in the investment. The legal advice comprised due diligence, including foreign jurisdictions, structuring, and negotiating the transaction documentation as well as closing the transaction. On behalf of the Slovak HAVEL & PARTNERS law firm, partner Ondřej Majer and senior associate Peter Košecký led the advisory.
NETRISK GROUP
We represented the Netrisk Group in a transaction with a Central European element – the merger of online comparison platforms (in Czechia, the Netrisk Group included Klik.cz and Porovnej24.cz) with Bauer Media Group.
The legal advisory was led by partner Jan Koval and included managing associate Silvie Király and senior associate Peter Košecký. It ranged from a detailed process of due diligence of local entities to advising on the preparation of transaction documentation and regulatory approvals in both countries.
Upon completing the transaction, the entire group is set to reach approximately 80 million potential customers in Central Europe, namely in Czechia, Slovakia, Poland, Austria, Hungary, and Lithuania.
SEED STARTER ČESKÉ SPOŘITELNY
We represented one of the shareholders in Investown Technologies in relation to the entry of a new investor into the company, which operates an online crowdfunding application for real estate projects.
Throughout the transaction, advisory was provided to Seed Starter and the contractual documentation negotiated by partner Jaroslav Baier, senior associate Josef Bouchal, and junior associate Pavel Gapeev. The stake in Investown Technologies was acquired by Finbus, a real estate development company.
Investown was the first investment of the Česká spořitelna Seed Starter fund, dedicated to venture capital investments. Investown focuses on crowdfunding for real estate and development projects, and currently has over 90,000 registered users.
LUIGI´S BOX
Showcasing the coordination of our Czech and Slovak VC practice, we provided legal assistance to Luigi’s Box, a Slovak company, in the acquisition of Persoo, its Czech competitor. This was one of the few transactions that included market consolidation between two startups. This case concerned personalised search and product recommendation for e-shops. The advisory team was led by our partner Jaroslav Baier, and included managing associate Josef Bouchal, associate Kristína Saktorová, and junior associate Róbert Košala.
AMPHENOL
We worked on a major international consulting transaction for our client, Amphenol Corporation, a leading global connector manufacturer. The transaction included an acquisition of one of the divisions (industrial plugs & sockets manufacturing) of ABB, a leading supplier of digital technologies for the industry.
The legal advice, provided by partner Marek Lošan, counsel Robert Porubský, and senior associate Josef Bouchal, included negotiation and conclusion of extensive contractual documentation to transfer part of the business, which comprised ABB’s components across Europe, including the transfer of employees and intellectual property rights.
SYNCHRONICITY FILMS
We provided comprehensive legal advice to the producer and the financing bank on one of the biggest productions in Slovakia in recent years – a six-episode series based on the book titled The Tattooist of Auschwitz.
The advisory, led by partner Štěpán Štarha with significant contributions from senior associate Róbert Gašparovič, associate Adam Kližan and junior associate Petra Kováčechová, included a review of the production agreement between our client, an English producer, and a Slovak production company, inter alia regarding intellectual property law. We also reviewed and edited the complete contractual documentation related to the filming in Slovakia, such as agreements with actors, crew members, location agreements and other contractual documentation. In addition, we participated in securing the loan granted for the film project by the financing bank and in applying for support from the Audiovisual Fund of the Slovak Republic.financujúcou bankou, a využití podpory z Audiovizuálneho fondu SR.
IMMOFINANZ
As a legal advisor to IMMOFINANZ Services Slovak Republic, part of IMMOFINANZ, a major Austrian real estate group, we represented the company in the sale of Shopping Park Arkadia, a shopping centre in Trnava, to DELTA Consult.
Our partner Ondřej Majer and senior associate Peter Košecký were mainly involved in the advisory, which consisted of assisting with the buyer’s legal due diligence, intensive negotiations with the counterparty, and preparation and conclusion of the related transaction documentation.
