Up until fairly recently, the lease of business buildings and business premises (offices, warehouses, pertaining parking spaces, etc.) in Slovenia was governed by the Business Buildings and Business Premises Act (“Act”). Since the Act was adopted back in 1974, it was not shaped for the modern business environment in which it is both in the interest of the lessee and the lessor to be able to act quickly and have at least a certain degree of flexibility when it comes to adopting business decisions. The obligatory 12-month notice period for termination of lease agreements, concluded for an indefinite period, and the obligation to terminate the lease agreement through court proceedings, for example, all but served those interests.

Radovanovic Stojanovic & Partners and Cerha Hempel have advised AIK Banka, Gorenjska Banka, and Agri Europe Cyprus on their acquisition of Sberbank Europe’s shares in six CEE banks. Noerr advised the buyers on Hungarian law, while Maric & Co, Zuric and Partners, Tos & Partners, and Egorov Puginsky Afanasiev & Partners reportedly advised the buyers on Bosnian, Croatian, Slovenian, and Russian matters, respectively.

JPM Jankovic, Popovic, Mitic, working with Rojs, Peljhan, Prelesnik & Partners and Prebanic & Jusufbasic-Goloman, has advised DuluxGroup on its EUR 194.5 million acquisition of Jub. Jadek & Pensa advised the shareholders of Jub on the deal. Kinstellar and Bogdanovic, Dolicki & Partners have, reportedly, also advised the buyer.

Selih & Partners has advised ADM on investing in precision fermentation company Acies Bio. Solo practitioner Klemen Ticar advised Acies Bio on the deal.

Based on changes of the Decree on bodies within ministries, the competence to perform administrative tasks in the field of environmental protection and professional and administrative tasks in the field of nature conservation, except for administrative and professional tasks related to responsibility for prevention or remediation of environmental damage, have been transferred from the Environmental Agency of the Republic of Slovenia to the Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning.

Selih & Partners, working with Clifford Chance and Savoric & Partners, has advised Allegro on its acquisition of Mall Group and WeDo from the PPF Group, EC Investments, and Rockaway Capital. White & Case advised the sellers on the deal.

Contributed by Kavcic, Bracun & Partners.

Zivkovic Samardzic and Fatur Menard have advised Trigal on its investment in five urban lighting regeneration public-private partnership projects in Serbia.

Following the record-long period, since May 25, 2018, during which Slovenia failed to adopt a relevant GDPR-implementing act, the Slovenian Government has sent a new draft of the Slovenian Data Protection Act for public discussion. If the parliamentary process runs uninterruptedly, the adoption of the new Act can be expected by the fall of this year.

AP Legal has advised the founder and sole shareholder of YU PD Express doo Belgrade Ljiljana Zivkovic Karaklajic on the sale of the company to Slovenia Broadbank S.a.r.l. Schonherr reportedly advised Slovenia Broadbank on the deal.

On May 26, 2021, the EU’s new Medical Device Regulation came into force, significantly changing the applicable regime, including – of particular interest to the dynamic Slovenian MedTech start-up community – by providing a new definition of software applications that need to be certified as medical devices.

In “The Corner Office” we ask Managing Partners at law firms across Central and Eastern Europe about their backgrounds, strategies, and responsibilities. The question this time: “What did you most want to be when you were little?”

CMS' Malgorzata Surdek-Janicka has been appointed as Vice-President of the International Court of Arbitration at the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris. Aside from Surdek-Janicka, 33 lawyers from CEE were appointed as members and alternate members of the court.

Karmen Rebesco law firm, working with Allen & Overy, has advised mandated lead arranger Nova Ljubljanska Banka d.d. on the provision of a EUR 148 million syndicated loan to members of the SIJ Group. Dentons and Jadek & Pensa advised the SIJ Group on the deal.

Selih & Partners has advised OTP on the acquisition of Nova KBM bank in Slovenia from Apollo and EBRD. Paul Weiss and Wolf Theiss advised the sellers on the deal.

Baker McKenzie has advised MOL Group on the acquisition of a 92.25% stake in OMV Slovenija d.o.o. for EUR 301 million. Rojs, Peljhan, Prelesnik & Partners advised MOL on Slovenian law.

CMS offices in Slovenia and Serbia have jointly advised the Sportina Group on the implementation of a new online sales channel in cooperation with Shoppster.

Krehic & Partners in cooperation with Deloitte Legal has advised Slovenia's Iskra on its acquisition of Croatia's Elka Cables from Cotra d.o.o and Miljenko Hacek.