Deals & Cases

Representing board member in landmark Supreme Court business prohibition case 3 March

Senior associates Martin Tamme and Vaido Põldoja represented a management board member in a landmark business prohibition case where the Supreme Court annulled the prohibition on business applied by lower courts.

Datakom wins two procurement disputes 3 March

As a result of complaints filed by Datakom SIA, the Latvian Procurement Monitoring Office has prohibited the Latvian Ministry of Education and Science from entering into two public contracts for the provision of IT system development and operation services. The Procurement Monitoring Office found that Datakom SIA was right in claiming that the purchaser had illegally applied the negotiated procedure in awarding the contracts instead of adopting more open proceedings, as well as establishing a number of other material breaches of the public procurement rules.

Varul Vilgerts Smaliukas represents the interests of “Stolichnaya vodka” in Estonia 25 Jan

Partner Paul Varul and Senior Associate Vadim Filimonov are representing the owner of the exclusive rights to the use of the “Stolichnaya vodka” trademark in a notable intellectual property case in the Estonian legal practice. The claim has been raised against alcohol producer, AS Liviko, who produced “Stolichnaya vodka” in Estonia without obtaining a licence. The appeal in cassation has been fully approved by the Supreme Court.

Advising Energate on aquiring gas operators 12 Jan

Advising Energate, one of the biggest and fastest growing private equity based gas distributors in Estonia in aquiring two gas operators.

Representing Möbius Turundusinvesteeringud against Tax and Customs Board in the Supreme Court 21 Dec

The landmark case concerns taxation of fringe benefits based on values used in a real estate sales transaction between the company and its member of the board. The case resulted in abolishing all tax claims against the client.

Advising LHZB on the formation of the Latvian development bank jointly with KPMG 4 Dec

Along with KPMG Baltics, analyzing the legal aspects of the formation of the Latvian development bank based on LHZB (Latvian Mortgage and Land Bank).

Advising Lietuvos Energija AB on implementing 2nd EU energy package 3 Dec

Advising AB Lietuvos Energija, the Lithuanian transmission system operator, on various issues of the implementation of 2nd EU energy package concerning the unbundling of electricity activities.

Advising Baltcap on acquiring wind parks 30 Nov

Advising Baltcap Private Equity Fund L.P. and fund manager Baltcap, a leading dedicated private equity and venture capital investor in the Baltics (formerly owned by CapMan and Evli) in acquiring two wind parks.

Advising Vilnius International Airport 20 Nov

Providing  consultative services to Vilnius International Airport on legal issues in connection to the expansion and development of the Airport.

Advising on development of a major recreational and commercial object on whole region 15 Oct

Providing legal advice and representation to UK capital investment company, D&T Global, in connection with the development of a 100 hectare recreational and commercial site.

Representing the Estonian Ministry of Defence 20 Oct

Successfully representing the Estonian Ministry of Defence in public procurement disputes in relation to renovating the Naval Base piers.

Representing a client in a major arbitration case 1 Oct

The firm successfully represented a client in a major arbitration case under UNCITRAL rules. In value terms (over 500 million LTL), the dispute was the biggest ever in the history of Lithuanian commercial arbitration.

Advising on the reorganization of AS Bermet Management, one of the few reorganization plans confirmed in Estonia 28 Sept

Acting as the adviser in the reorganization proceedings of Estonian steel wholesaler, AS Bermet Management.

Representing Premia in several IP disputes 17 Sept

Advising the Estonian ice cream and frozen food producer, Premia Tallinna Külmhoone AS, and its Latvian subsidiary Premia FFL AS on two disputes concerning trademark protection.

Advising the Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Lithuania 1 Sept

Assisting the Ministry of Energy with various legal issues in connection with the restructuring of the Lithuanian electricity market, the liquidation of LEO LT AB (the Lithuanian Energy Organization).

Advising an Association of Lithuanian Communication Agencies 1 Sept

Advising the Association of Lithuanian Communication Agencies on a possible breach of competition law in the field of antitrust, and the preparation of the legal position.

Acting as an arbitrator at the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce in Alta Foods v. Luterma 17 Aug

Serving as an arbitrator at the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce in the matter of AS Alta Foods versus AS Luterma (formerly AS Kalev) in their dispute over the sale of the biggest foodstuff producer in Estonia, Tere AS (value of the deal EUR 42 million, value of the claim EUR 6 million).

Advising one the major telecommunications companies in Lithuania and Latvia 15 Aug

Advising one the major telecommunications companies in Lithuania and Latvia trade mark protection and other related issues.

Advising the Fakto Group on issues of financing 5 Aug

The firm formed a close relationship with the importer and distributor of Nissan and Infiniti vehicles in the Baltic countries, the Fakto Group, and advised on the legal issues related to financing a new Infiniti centre in Vilnius.

Advising Henkell Group in merger control proceedings in acquiring shares of Budampex 3 Aug

Representing Henkell Group, a leading European wines and spirits supplier, in Estonian merger control proceedings in acquiring the shares of AS Budampex.

Advising an international cleaning technologies retailer 1 Aug

Advising an international cleaning technologies retailer on various competition law issues.

Representing former shareholders of Stora Enso Timber (formerly AS Sylvester) in one of the largest tax disputes of the Baltics 17 July

Successfully representing a group of former shareholders of Stora Enso Timber (formerly AS Sylvester) in the largest tax dispute in the Baltic States.

Assisting the Ministry of Environment in a PPP project 16 June

The firm won the tender, organized by the Ministry of Environment, to provide legal assistance for the preparation of international concession tender documentation and to draft a concession agreement in accordance with the laws and regulations of the Republic of Latvia and the European Union.

Lobbying for an international retail chain 15 June

Assisting an international retail chain in lobbying for changes in the amendments to Latvian Competition Law that introduced the novel legal concept of dominance in retail.

Advising pharmaceutical companies 15 June

The firm advised the international pharmaceutical companies on trade mark protection issues.

Advising on preparation of extensive changes of the Law of Arbitration 10 June

The firm advised the Ministry of Justice, in connection with arbitration issues, including the preparation of extensive proposed changes to the Law of Arbitration of the Republic of Lithuania. 

Advising on implementing the reform of the Mortgage system of Lithuania 1 June

Advising the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Lithuania on various legal issues, including extensive changes proposed for the Civil Code of the Republic of Lithuania and related legal acts required prior to reform of the mortgage system.

Advising and representing one of the leading Scandinavian banks 1 June

The firm advised the one of the leading Scandinavian banks on various legal issues and disputes.

Advising one of the Scandinavian embassies in Lithuania 15 May

Providing legal advice to one of the Scandinavian embassies on territory planning and construction of a new embassy building in Vilnius.

Advising leading publishers in Lithuania 1 May

Advising leading Lithuanian publishers on copyright, trade mark protection and other related legal issues.

Advising Kodukolde Kinnisvara on selling a meat-processing company to Atria 31 Mar

Advising Kodukolde Kinnisvara OÜ, sole shareholder of AS Vastse-Kuuste Lihatööstus, one of the largest meat-processing companies in Estonia, on selling the shares of AS Vastse-Kuuste Lihatööstus to Atria Oy.

Advising Manutent on the sale of shares in a hotel project in St. Petersburg to SOK group 2 Feb

Advising Estonian real estate developer, Manutent OÜ, on the sale of its majority shareholding in a St. Petersburg hotel project to SOK Real Estate Int Oy and on the refinancing of loans for the hotel project with Swedbank.

Advising Manutent OÜ in negotiating the repurchase of bonds with bond holders 30 Jan

Advising real estate developer, Manutent OÜ, in negotiating the repurchase of bonds issued and listed earlier on the NASDAQ OMX Tallinn Stock Exchange with maximum volume of the issue (nominal value) being approximately EUR 64 million.

Advising Energate in acquiring gas infrastructure operators 15 Jan

Advising Energate OÜ in acquiring several gas infrastructure operators.

Advising the Estonian Development Fund 6 Jan

Advising risk capital investments provider, the Estonian Development Fund, in establishing effective management tools to implement venture capital mechanisms.

Representing the Estonian Ministry of Defence 3 Jan

Successfully representing the Estonian Ministry of Defence in public procurement disputes regarding building runways and related systems on Ämari Air Base (a NATO infrastructure investment)

Representing RealWAY in privatisation proceedings connected to one of the largest recent transactions 2 Jan

The firm successfully represented a private real estate developer, OÜ RealWAY, in court proceedings against the State in a case concerning one of the largest recent privatization transactions.