Clifford Chance

Clifford Chance advises on three CEE Deals of the Year in 2020

Clifford Chance advised on three award-winning transactions at the CEE Deal of the Year Awards 2020 hosted by CEE Legal Matters across the following categories:

• Estonia Deal of the Year was awarded for advice on the inaugural issue of covered bonds by Luminor Bank, with an aggregate nominal value of EUR 500 million. Clifford Chance advised the underwriters on Luminor Bank’s Covered Bond Programme and previously advised the arranger in respect of the establishment of Luminor Bank's EMTN Programme in Estonia. The deal team were Partner David Dunnigan and Senior Associate Eric Green. This marks the first-ever issue of covered bonds in the Baltic region.
  
  
• North Macedonia Deal of the Year was awarded for the acquisition of technology company Seavus by the Aricoma Group (part of the KKCG Group). The transaction team advising Aricoma Group was led by M&A Counsel Michal Jašek who was assisted by Associates Jakub Veselý and Tomáš Procházka. The finance team was led by Partner Miloš Felgr who was assisted by Senior Associate Dominik Vojta. David Koláček, Partner and Co-Head of the Corporate practice, supervised the Clifford Chance team. The Prague team was further assisted by colleagues from the Amsterdam and New York offices of Clifford Chance. Karanovic & Partners’ North Macedonian office provided advice on the transaction in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Albania.
  
  With this acquisition, the Aricoma Group expands further in Europe and strengthens its position in the USA. At the same time, it becomes an international player in the IT services industry, with consolidated revenues of EUR 300 million.

• Poland Deal of the Year was awarded for the EUR 1bn sale of AXA's subsidiaries in Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia to UNIQA. The international team advising AXA was led by Partner Marcin Bartnicki. The core team also consisted of Corporate Counsel Tomasz Derda, Nick Fletcher and Krzysztof Hajdamowicz, as well as Banking/Insurance Counsel Marta Bieniada. Senior Associate Vladimír Rýlich headed the work on Czech aspects and Senior Associate Stanislav Holec was in charge of Slovak advice with the support from Junior Lawyer Andrej Havko. Partner Anastasios Tomtsis led on the EU merger control aspects of the transaction, Partners Mathieu Remy and Pierre-Benoît Pabot du Chatelard led on French law and Partner Nicholas Mace on English law tax aspects.

The transaction was one of the largest M&A transactions in the CEE region in 2020.

Prague Office Managing Partner, Alex Cook, comments: "We are delighted to have been awarded three CEE Deals of the Year, and we are pleased that our strengths have been recognised so broadly. It reflects our excellent standing in the CEE region, in which we have built up extremely close working-relationships with colleagues throughout the region to ensure exceptional value and seamless client service on high-calibre instructions in areas including corporate, banking & finance, real estate, litigation / arbitration and tax. Thank you and congratulations to everybody involved."