Category: Deals and projects

We are pleased to announce that we advised Pekao Investment Banking S.A., Trigon Dom Maklerski S.A., and Bank Polska Kasa Opieki S.A. – Pekao Brokerage House, acting as the managers, in an accelerated book-building (ABB) transaction concerning the issuance by Creotech Instruments S.A. (“Creotech Instruments”) of 396,557 new series J ordinary bearer shares. The value of the transaction was approximately PLN 60 million. The newly issued shares in Creotech Instruments were admitted to trading and listed on the regulated market of the Warsaw Stock Exchange in December 2023.

The day-to-day work and supervision of the transaction was handled by Ewa Bober, a partner co-heading the firm’s capital markets practice. The project team also included Karolina Kłos (senior associate), Bartłomiej Skwarliński (associate) and Piotr Sławek (associate).

In addition, we are pleased to announce that we advised Wood & Company Financial Services, A.S. Spółka Akcyjna Oddział w Polsce, and Ipopema Securities S.A., acting as the managers, in an accelerated book-building (ABB) transaction concerning the issuance by VIGO Photonics S.A. (“Vigo Photonics”) of 145,799 new series F ordinary bearer shares. The value of the transaction was approximately PLN 63 million. The newly issued shares in Vigo Photonics were admitted to trading and listed on the regulated market of the Warsaw Stock Exchange in January 2024.

The day-to-day work related to the transaction was handled by Aleksander Jakubisiak (associate), with the support of Ewa Bober and Jacek Zawadzki, partners in the firm’s corporate department. Advice on US law was provided by the law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP.

“We sincerely thank our clients for their trust and for allowing our law firm to participate in these interesting projects,” says Jacek Zawadzki, partner. “We congratulate the companies on raising funds to further their strategic goals and all those involved in the transaction,” adds Ewa Bober, partner.

We are pleased to announce that we advised the founders of Akademeia Educational Group (“AEG”), which is active in the education sector and operates Akademeia High School in Warsaw (“AHS”) on the sale of AEG to International Schools Partnership (“ISP”). This is another investment by ISP in the Polish market and another recent transaction in the education sector on which we have advised the sellers.

Akademeia High School is an international, academically selective school in Warsaw, being part of Akademeia Educational Group (AEG) and offering an individualised course of British iGCSEs and A Levels. Akademeia High School prepares its students to study at the best universities worldwide.

International Schools Partnership is an educational and commercial organisation that aims to bring together and develop privately funded educational units for children aged 2 to 18. ISP currently operates 80 schools in 22 countries located in many parts of the world.

“The private school sector in Poland, despite its rapid growth in recent years, has so far not been the subject of much interest from institutional investors. It seems that the situation may change in the coming years, and our participation in another large transaction and other projects in which we are currently involved in the education sector seem to confirm this trend. We would like to thank our clients for their trust in us and the opportunity to participate in this project.”, says Paweł Zdort, managing partner at Rymarz Zdort Maruta.

The transaction team consisted of: Paweł Zdort (partner), Paweł Mazur (senior associate) and Karol Wojtkowski (associate).

We are pleased to announce that lawyers of our law firm advised in the process of the delisting of Capital Park S.A. and the subsequent management buyout (MBO). In the MBO process, we had the pleasure of supporting the Managers, namely Jan Motz and Marcin Juszczyk. As a result of the transaction, Capital Park S.A. sold certain assets of the capital group to an entity controlled by the Managers and Europi Property Group. Madison International Realty will continue to control the companies that own Norblin Factory and Royal Wilanów in a joint venture with the Managers and Europi Property Group.

The Capital Park Group is an investor, developer and asset manager in the real estate market in Poland. During its 20 years of operation, the company has built a high-quality project portfolio consisting of modern office, mixed-use, retail and residential spaces, including assets such as Royal Wilanów and the revitalised Norblin Factory. Currently, the Group manages a portfolio of properties with a total area of 172,000 sq.m. and a market value of PLN 2.8 billion.    

“We congratulate all parties involved and the advisors. We thank our client for the opportunity to participate in the transaction, which was one of the more complicated deals and required plenty of commitment and creativity from our team”, says Jakub Zagrajek, a partner in the M&A team of Rymarz Zdort Maruta.

The transaction was supervised by Dr Jakub Zagrajek (partner). The team included: Dr Paweł Mazur (senior associate), Filip Golędzinowski (associate), Tymoteusz Matusiak (associate) and Patrycja Gliwka (associate). Antitrust aspects of the transaction were overseen by lawyers from the antitrust practice, including Iwona Her (partner), Irmina Wątły (counsel) and Karolina Chudy (associate). Advice on the financing of the transaction was provided by: Justyna Wigier (senior associate) and Engjell Sokoli (associate).

We are pleased to announce that our tax advisory team supported Ghelamco in the sale of a high-rise building in The Warsaw Hub complex to the French fund Corum XL. The Warsaw HUB is a multifunctional complex of skyscrapers built at Rondo Daszyńskiego. Last March, the developer sold the office towers of The Warsaw HUB to Google, a key tenant, for EUR 580 million, a record on the Polish office real estate market, and we had the opportunity to support Ghelamco in this transaction.

Ghelamco is a leading European real estate investor and developer operating in the office, residential, retail, logistics and leisure markets. Its high-quality projects on the Belgian, Polish, UK, French and Cypriot markets combine prime and strategic locations with aesthetically inspiring and efficient designs.

Corum XL is a French open-ended, income-oriented real estate investment company (Société Civile de Placement Immobilier, SCPI). It is owned by the French-English investment company Corum Butler, which was established in 2021 by the merger of the French investment company Corum Asset Management and the UK investment company Butler Investment Managers. It manages investments in real estate and corporate finance for individual and institutional clients.

“ We are delighted that we had the opportunity to participate in the one of the largest transactions that took place on the Polish real estate market this year, the sale of the third and final building in Ghelamco’s portfolio in The Warsaw HUB complex. We congratulate our client and the Corum XL fund on this excellent investment and thank all of the advisors involved in this project.” – said Leszek Tokarski, the partner heading the tax practice at Rymarz Zdort Maruta.

The tax advisory team was led by Leszek Tokarski (partner), supported by Krzysztof Rembierz (senior associate) and Tomasz Wieczorek (associate).

Rymarz Zdort Maruta provided legal advice on Polish law to Murapol S.A. (the “Company”), and its majority shareholder, AEREF V PL Investment S.à r.l., as the selling shareholder (the “Selling Shareholder”) in connection with the Company’s initial public offering (the “IPO”) addressed to domestic individual and institutional investors and selected foreign institutional investors under US Regulation S under the Securities Act of 1933, and the admission and introduction of the shares to trading on the regulated market operated by the Warsaw Stock Exchange (Giełda Papierów Wartościowych w Warszawie S.A.).

As part of the offering, the Selling Shareholder allotted 12,240,000 existing shares in the Company in the IPO (including 1,224,000 stabilisation shares), representing 30% of its share capital. The total value of the IPO was approximately PLN 404 million, and the capitalisation of the Company (based on the final price of the shares offered to institutional and retail investors) was approximately PLN 1.35 billion. On 15 December 2023, the Company’s shares debuted on the main market of the Warsaw Stock Exchange, which was the first stock exchange debut preceded by an IPO in the past two years.

The Company was advised by Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP, acting as legal co-counsel, on English and US law.

“We congratulate Murapol S.A. on joining the group of companies listed on the main market operated by the Warsaw Stock Exchange and all of the parties involved in this eagerly awaited debut. We are pleased that the public offering of the shares in the company met with great interest from investors, including a large number of individual investors. We are proud that our many years of experience in providing legal services in connection with IPOs and our knowledge of the Polish capital market are appreciated by clients and leading investment firms,” said Ewa Bober, a partner in the firm’s corporate department and a member of the equity capital markets team.

The Murapol Group, present on the market for over 20 years, is one of the largest and most experienced residential developers in Poland. It mainly offers apartments in the most popular market segments, but also in the premium segment with additional amenities such as anti-smog packages and smart home solutions.

AEREF V PL Investment S.à r.l. is an entity belonging to the funds managed by the Real Estate Group at Ares Management, a leading global alternative investment manager.

The transaction team was led by partner Ewa Bober in association with Paweł Zdort (managing partner) and included Karolina Kłos (senior associate), Bartłomiej Skwarliński (associate) and Piotr Sławek (associate). In real estate matters, the team was supported by Tomasz Bąkowski (senior associate) and Alicja Szymańska (associate). Support in the transaction was also provided by Jacek Zawadzki (partner), Michał Chyła (senior associate), Tomasz Kordala (senior associate), Maksymilian Kaszubowski (associate), Szymon Marciniak (associate), Justyna Niezgoda (associate), Marta Szczepkowska (associate) and Tomasz Wieczorek (associate).

We are pleased to announce that we advised Mavie on the acquisition of a majority stake in Telemedi.

Mavie will provide future strategic support to the leading Polish HealthTech provider. The two companies plan to work together to achieve sustainable growth. Mavie intends to focus on expanding their portfolio and exploring new markets.

Mavie Next develops, establishes, and drives new business models and solutions in the healthcare sector. The company has been active since 2020. Its goal is to become a holistic, modern health care provider that supports and assists people throughout their lives with maintaining and improving their health. Mavie focuses on prevention (staying healthy) and rehabilitation (becoming healthy again).

Founded in 2014, Telemedi provides a digital healthcare platform combined with in-house doctors and a network of physical clinics. The company’s client base ranges from private individuals who need remote or on-site medical care to large corporations and insurance companies.

“We are pleased to have been able to once again leverage our experience in the healthcare sector by supporting Mavie in their first investment in this sector in Poland. The attractiveness of the healthcare sector will certainly encourage more investments of this type in the coming years. We congratulate the founder and Telemedi’s team for building such an impressive business, and will keep our fingers crossed for their further dynamic development” – says Jacek Zawadzki, a partner in the M&A team of Rymarz Zdort Maruta.

The transactional team consisted of Jacek Zawadzki (partner), Małgorzata Deruś (senior associate), and Patrycja Gliwka (associate). The transactional team was assisted by the due diligence team: Monika Gierałtowska-Karpowicz (counsel), Weronika Papucewicz (senior associate), Agnieszka Jabłońska-Zachwieja (associate), Justyna Niezgoda (associate) and Alicja Mikos (associate).

We are pleased to announce that Rymarz Zdort Maruta advised Citylink (CL Property), a nationwide developer specialising in modern, multi-functional facilities, on the entire negotiation process regarding a lease agreement and other documents related to the Technological Research and Development Centre to be located in Wrocław.

The centre is planned to exceed 13,000 m² of usable area. Along with the main building where the centre is to be located, Citylink will carry out and secure the critical infrastructure servicing the centre, including the infrastructure supplying electrical power, on a scale unprecedented in the Polish real estate market, in order to ensure the unimpeded and top-notch development and operation of the centre.

The work of the transaction team was led and supervised by Piotr Fedorowicz (partner), and included Tomasz Karkowski (senior associate) and Marcin Banak (associate).

We are pleased to announce that we advised a fund of MCI Capital on a transaction involving the acquisition of a majority stake in Webcon sp. z o.o. (“Webcon”), a leading Polish low-code software developer. As a result of the transaction, MCI Capital will be able to contribute to the foreign expansion and further development of Webcon to support it in becoming a market leader at least on a European scale, while expanding its portfolio of B2B companies offering proprietary software.

MCI Capital is a leading Digital & ClimaTech private equity fund in Central and Eastern Europe. It specialises in digital transformation services involving investments in pure play internet models (pure players), companies transferring their business model from a traditional model to a digital economy model and companies operating in the internet infrastructure development market. It has over EUR 500 million in assets under management.

Webcon is the largest Polish producer of Enterprise Low-Code Application Platform software and a leader among electronic document workflow system providers in Poland, focusing on the digitisation of internal processes in organisations.

“We are pleased to have been able to support our client in this interesting transaction in the Polish technology market. MCI’s investment will certainly constitute important support for the further scaling of Webcon’s business both in Poland and abroad. We would like to thank Michał, Filip and the entire MCI team for their trust and congratulate all of the parties involved”, says Paweł Zdort, managing partner of Rymarz Zdort Maruta.

The transaction team consisted of Paweł Zdort (managing partner) and Szymon Rutecki (associate).

We are pleased to announce that we advised Stokado on the acquisition of the self-storage rental company Top Box. Stokado’s current leasable space stands at over 20,000 square metres. The acquisition of Top Box, including a building in a prime Warsaw location, allowed Stokado to enter the Warsaw market by contributing an additional 4,500 square metres to its portfolio. Griffin Capital Partners functions as a co-owner and the asset manager of the Top Box platform.

Griffin Capital Partners is the largest, as well as the most dynamic and innovative private investor and asset management firm in the private equity and real estate markets in Central and Eastern Europe.

Stokado is one of the leaders in the fast-growing self-storage industry in Poland, and is owned by Redefine Properties (Johannesburg Stock Exchange: RDF) and Griffin Capital Partners. The company currently stores the belongings of approximately 3,000 private and business customers and manages more than 25,000 square metres of NLA across 16 locations.

Top Box is a rapidly growing self-storage rental company in Poland.

The project team consisted of: Piotr Fedorowicz (partner), Marcin Maruta (managing partner), Patrick Koźliczak(associate), Engjell Sokoli (associate), Kamila Banaś (associate), Eryk Ryciak (associate) and Michał Żyłka (associate).   

“We would like to congratulate our client on closing another successful transaction this year. We are delighted to support Stokado and the innovative concepts and formats they are bringing to the market. This time we assisted them with their expansion into the emerging and very promising self-storage industry.” – says Piotr Fedorowicz, partner and head of the real estate practice at Rymarz Zdort Maruta. 

We are pleased to announce that we advised the brokerage house Biuro Maklerskie PKO BP, which acted as the global coordinator in an accelerated book-building (ABB) process concerning the issuance by Archicom S.A. of 10 million new series D and E shares and the sale, by DKR Echo Investment, of approximately 6.1 million existing shares in Archicom S.A. The proceeds from the sale of the existing shares were reinvested in non-floating new issue shares. The value of the transaction amounted to PLN 220 million.

Archicom S.A. will primarily use the proceeds to intensify its activities in the area of land acquisition for further investments.  

The Archicom Group is a nationwide property developer which is a subsidiary of Echo Investment. Both companies are listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. DKR Echo Investment is a direct shareholder of Archicom S.A. and a 100% subsidiary of Echo Investment.

The day-to-day work and supervision of the transaction was handled by Filip Leśniak, a partner co-heading the capital markets practice. The transaction team also consisted of Karolina Kłos (senior associate) and Piotr Sławek (associate).

“We thank our client for their trust – Krisztina Bende, Tomasz Krześniak, Katarzyna Matyjasek-Kowalczyk, Agata Dymel, Jacek Frączyk and Maksymilian Piotrowski. We are pleased to be among the legal advisors supporting transactions carried out by Biuro Maklerskie PKO BP brokerage house. We congratulate Archicom and all those involved in the transaction”, says Filip Leśniak.