SEE Legal (South East Europe Legal Group)

Co-Chairs: Borislav Boyanov, Gus Papamichalopoulos and Gabriela Cacerea

Number of partners: 120

Number of lawyers: 450

Languages: Albanian, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Croatian, English, French, German, Greek, Italian, Macedonian, Montenegrin, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovenian, Spanish, Turkish

Member Law Firms:

• KALO & ASSOCIATES (Albania and Kosovo)
• MARIC & Co Law Firm Ltd. (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
• BOYANOV & Co. (Bulgaria)
• Divjak Topic Bahtijarevic & Krka Law Firm (Croatia)
• KYRIAKIDES GEORGOPOULOS Law Firm (Greece)
• Polenak Law Firm (North Macedonia)
• Nestor Nestor Diculescu Kingston Peterson (Romania)
• BDK Advokati (Montenegro and Serbia)
• SELIH & PARTNERJI Law Firm (Slovenia)
• Kolcuoglu Demirkan Kocakli Attorneys at Law (Turkey)

Firm Overview

Founded in 2003, SEE Legal is a highly integrated group of leading law firms advising in 12 jurisdictions of Southeast Europe. SEE Legal has its own organisational structure (management, administration, practice groups), supporting framework (intranet, website/social network, knowledge management and clients’ database), and client-friendly policies (single point of contact, engagement letter and invoicing). It also regularly hosts joint events and issues legal publications covering relevant regional topics. In addition, each member firm maintains highest reputation, expertise and service levels, and has been ranked as a top-tier law firm in the main legal directories (Chambers & Partners, Legal 500, IFLR1000).

Currently, SEE Legal has seven active practice groups, each consisted of experts in their respective practice area. The practice groups enable sharing legal and industry sector knowledge, practice management know-how, and client service capacities at a level of professional quality and efficiency that is not matched by any ordinary law firm network or by many of the international law firms practicing in the region.

Main Areas of Practice

• Banking and Finance (active practice group)

• Bankruptcy and Restructuring

• Capital Markets

• Competition and Antitrust (active practice group)

• Consumer Protection

• Corporate and M&A (active practice group)

• Data Protection

• Dispute Resolution (active practice group)

• Employment and Immigration (active practice group)

• Energy & Renewables, Utilities & Natural Resources (active practice group)

• Insurance

• Intellectual Property (active practice group)

• Public Procurement and PPP

• Real Estate

• Tax

• Telecommunications and Media

International Work

Banking & Finance Practice Group

Selected Credentials:

■ NLB Bank's acquisition of 83% of share capital of Komercijalna Banka a.d. (Serbia and Slovenia).

■ Restructuring of the loan indebtedness of Sofia's Hotel Balkan and Belgrade's Hotel Metropol to the Eurobank Group (Bulgaria and Serbia).

■ Banca Comerciala Romana S.A.'s financing of an office project in Cluj-Napoca (Bulgaria and Romania).

■ Mediterra Capital's sale of Mobiliz Tracking Systems to Fleet Services OOD (Bulgaria and Turkey).

■ Albania Telecom Invest AD acquisition of 99.75% of the shares in Telecom Albania Sh.a. from Cosmote Mobile Telecommunications S.A. (Albania and Bulgaria).

■ Societe Generale's EUR 3.05 billion credit facility provided to the PPF Group for the acquisition of 100% interests in Telenor Bulgaria, Telenor Beograd and Telenor Podgorica (Bulgaria, Montenegro and Serbia).

■ Erste Bank's cross-border legal matters (Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia and Romania).

■ The Banking & Finance Practice Group regularly participates on the panels of several multinational companies and international financial institutions.

Contact: Alina Radu, Head

Email: [email protected]

Competition & Antitrust Practice Group

Selected Credentials:

■ Merger clearances concerning BC Partners' acquisition of a majority stake in United Group B.V. from KKR (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia).

■ Advised Panasonic on competition law aspects of a JV agreement (Serbia and Slovenia)

■ Represented and advised Link Mobility in the merger control proceedings in relation to its acquisition of the regional rival Teracomm (Bulgaria and North Macedonia).

■ Merger clearances concerning the restructuring of a conglomerate company headquartered in Croatia (Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia).

■ Merger notification concerning KJK Fund's acquisition of Elan d.o.o. (Serbia and Slovenia).

■ Represented Porsche Bank concerning merger filings (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Slovenia).

■ Merger notification concerning a mobility software company's acquisition of a Slovenian software provider (five SEE jurisdictions).

■ Other clients include: Estee Lauder, Coca Cola HBC, Austrian Telecom, Rompetrol, etc.

Contact: Peter Petrov, Head

Email: [email protected]

Corporate and M&A Practice Group

Selected Credentials:

■ Nomad Foods Limited'sacquisitionofFortenova Group’s Frozen Food Business (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Slovenia).

■ MBO of a leading HR consulting and recruiting firm’s operations (four SEE jurisdictions).

■ BC Partners' acquisition of a majority stake in United Group B.V. from KKR (Albania, North Macedonia, Serbia and Slovenia).

■ TNT's and FedEx's various legal matters (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia).

■ LeasePlan Corporation N.V.'s corporate and licensing matters in relation to its envisaged cooperation project with Erste Bank (six SEE jurisdictions).

■ EasyPark AB's business set up (Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia)

■ Other multinational clients, including Turkish Airlines, Dogus Group, Coca Cola HBC, Net Holding, and major PE funds on various corporate matters in the SEE region.

Contact: Vladimir Dasic, Head

Email: [email protected]

Dispute Resolution Practice Group

Selected Credentials:

■ Extensive dispute resolution capabilities, from mitigation and mediation to full-scale litigation and arbitration practices.

■ Continuously top-ranked by the leading international legal directories.

Contact: Branko Maric, Head

Email: [email protected]

Employment & Immigration Practice Group

Selected Credentials:

■ Advised one of the world’s largest fashion retailers with regard to (i) ongoing employment measures and subsidies introduced as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic (Albania, Kosovo and North Macedonia); (ii) employee secondment (North Macedonia and Slovenia), including the extension of the work and residence permit; and (iii) other employment-related matters (SEE region).

Contact: Maral Minasyan, Head

Email: [email protected]

Energy & Renewables, Utilities & Natural Resources Practice Group

Selected Credentials:

■ Preparion of a Natural Gas Master Plan and Project Identification Plan between Western Balkans Investment Framework and the Government of Albania (Albania).

■ Establishment of USAID's Coordinated Auction Office in SEE for cross-border electricity congestion management (SEE region).

■ Represented EVN AG's subsidiaries in multimillion disputes with the National Electricity Company and the Electricity System Operator (Bulgaria).

■ Acciona's development of three different wind farm projects (Croatia).

■ State Grid Corporation of China's acquisition of 24% and SNAM SpA's, GASUNIE's, FLYXUS's and Enagas' acquisition of 66% of the Greek electricity and gas transmission system operators’ share capital (Greece).

■ Transmission system operator's development of the undersea HVDC transmission cable connecting Italy and Montenegro (Montenegro).

■ Heinzel Group's acquisition of Energy Eastern Europe Hydro Power (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and North Macedonia).

Contact: Gus J. Papamichalopoulos, Head

Email: [email protected]

Intellectual Property Practice Group

Selected Credentials:

■ Slovenian insurance group's trademark portfolio and rights protection and enforcement (EU and SEE region).

■ Croatian start-up's IP, tax and finance-related matters concerning the establishment of a regional platform enabling creators to share musical works (former Yugoslavia region).

Contact: Natasa Pipan Nahtigal, Head

Email: [email protected]

Offices and Contact

South East Europe Legal Group

82, Patriarch Evtimii Blvd.

Sofia 1463, Bulgaria

Phone: +359 28 055 055

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.seelegal.org