Our TMT Legal Update provides insights from our law experts and aims to keep you regularly up to date with sector news, trends and legislation in the Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia regions. This issue covers key updates from our jurisdictions from the past few months. REGIONAL Implementation status of certain EU regulations Technology 01. New development regarding NIS 2 Directive implementation in various Kinstellar jurisdictions The EU's NIS2 Directive is a cybersecurity act aimed at improving overall cybersecurity in the EU. Member States must implement it by 17 October 2024. Below we provide
Kinstellar is proud to have acted as Ukrainian legal counsel to French tech entrepreneur Xavier Niel’s investment company, NJJ Capital, in the acquisition and merger of Datagroup-Volia, one of Ukraine’s largest fixed telecom and pay-TV providers, and Lifecell, Ukraine’s third-largest mobile operator. This landmark transaction is a significant consolidation of and investment in the Ukrainian telecoms market, that will bring many benefits to telecoms consumers, especially during wartime circumstances. Kinstellar’s legal team provided comprehensive Ukrainian law advice to NJJ Capital throughout the transaction. We hope that this investment serves as a signal to other foreign investors to not wait to the
Kinstellar’s team in Serbia, together with global law firm Paul Hastings, has successfully advised Deutsche Bank, Alpha Bank, UniCredit, and UniCredit Bank Serbia on a EUR 205 million financing for global investment firm Actis in relation to their acquisition of a carved-out tower portfolio from Telekom Srbija, a leading telecommunications operator in the Central and Eastern European (“CEE”) region. The carved-out portfolio is comprised of approximately 1,800 macro towers across Serbia, Bosnia & Hercegovina, and Montenegro. Kinstellar’s team, led by Petar Kojdić (Partner) and Mina Srećković (Managing Associate), played a pivotal role advising on the financing aspects of this transaction. Our
Kinstellar is delighted and proud to announce the promotions to Partner of Tomáš Melišek (Bratislava), Levente Hegedűs (Budapest), Bulut Girgin (Istanbul), Anastasiya Bolkhovitinova, Natalia Kirichenko, Oleg Matiusha, Illya Muchnyk (all in our Kyiv office), and to Counsel of Dominika Bajzáthová (Bratislava). PARTNERS Tomá š Melišek, Bratislava Tomáš is the Head of the local Banking & Finance service line. He has 15 years of experience in banking and finance, focusing on project and acquisition financing as well as on financial regulations. Tomáš has substantial experience advising clients on significant financing transactions in the areas of real estate, energy, infrastructure, automotive, media
Kinstellar, together with Linklaters LLP, has successfully advised a syndicate of leading banks—led by ING Bank N.V., London Branch and comprising ING Bank N.V., Citigroup Europe plc Dublin – Romania Branch, UniCredit Bank S.A., Raiffeisen Bank S.A., BRD – Groupe Société Générale S.A., and ING Bank N.V. Amsterdam, Bucharest Branch—on a EUR 500 million senior facility agreement granted to Romanian telecommunications service provider RCS & RDS. The loan consists of a term loan in the amount of EUR 150 million, a revolving loan in the total amount of EUR 100 million, and one or more additional facilities in an aggregate amount of up to EUR 250 million with a maturity of up to five years. The amount
Kinstellar, working with Morgan Lewis London, has advised TAWAL, the leading integrated ICT infrastructure provider in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, on the local law aspects of their successful bid to acquire the tower assets of United Group B.V., consisting of more than 4,800 towers across Bulgaria, Croatia and Slovenia, for EUR 1.2 billion. The closing of the transaction is subject to customary regulatory approvals. Kinstellar assisted with due diligence, regulatory advice and local law support on the transaction documents in Bulgaria and Croatia, and ODI Law in Slovenia provided assistance on all Slovenian law aspects of the transaction. The regional team was led by Diana Dimova, Partner in Sofia. The team in Bulgaria
As the process of 5G coverage expansion continues, we bring you a short status update on 5G auctions and 5G rollout in the Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia regions. Kazakhstan Frequency already allocated: 3.5 GHz. Announced / expected 5G auctions: Three lots each for 100 MHz around 3.5 GHz will be sold at auctions that are planned for the end of May 2022. One lot per city—Almaty, Nur-Sultan and Shymkent—will be offered. Stage of 5G auctions and auction method: The relevant law and regulations for holding auctions have been adopted. Auctions will be held in two stages. At the first stage the bidders' compliance with qualification requirements
Kinstellar is pleased to announce that Petr Bratský has joined the firm’s Prague office as Head of the local TMT sector and service line. His addition to the firm strengthens our expertise in the TMT area. Petr is an expert in IP/IT/Media and Telecommunications. Before joining Kinstellar, Petr worked more than five years at the leading Czech law firm Havel & Partners. In his practice, he focuses primarily on technology, intellectual property, media and film law and legislative advice. Petr also provides strategic and ad hoc compliance advice on the handling of personal data in various commercial sectors. His expertise includes advising major local and international clients from across different industries
On 13 February 2022, the Law of Ukraine № 6055—which envisages the establishment of a new telecommunications regulator, the National Commission for State Regulation of Electronic Communications, Radio Spectrum and Postal Services—came into force. In an article published in issue № 1-2 of "The Ukrainian Journal of Business Law" (January - February 2022), Natalia Kirichenko, Counsel and Head of firm-wide Intellectual Property & Technology services, explains the reason for the new law and the main amendments that are now in place. Please click on the image below to open the commentary. For more information, please contact Natalia Kirichenko, Counsel and Head of firm-wide IP & T
Kinstellar is delighted to announce the new Service Heads leading our TMT-related service lines: Lukáš Mrázik, Dániel Endre Nagy and Peter Kováč for Data & Cybersecurity; Natalia Kirichenko for IP&T; Anastasiya Bolkhovitinova and Radoslav Chemshirov for Telecommunications. In their new roles as Service Heads they will work with the firm-wide TMT sector team and other sectors to expand and bring a new dimension to our current capabilities across these areas. They will be the first points of contact for incoming client requests and will engage the right lawyers from our team best suited to work on transactions for our clients. Viliam Myšička, head of Kinstellar’s
The introduction of 5G networks has opened a wide range of new possibilities in a variety of sectors (including manufacturing, health, energy, automotive, media and entertainment). 5G implementation remains a hot topic. Please click here for an updated overview of 5G auctions in Kinstellar jurisdictions. Most notably, the following changes have occurred throughout 2021: Romania: The regulator ANCOM has initiated the procedure to award 5G frequencies with initial bids to be submitted by Monday 15 November 2021; Bulgaria: In April 2021, 5G frequencies in 3.5-3.8 GHz band were auctioned off; 5G auctions in Serbia, Ukraine and Turkey are expected to be held in the course of 2022; Commercial
Kinstellar has successfully advised GIC, a global investment company founded in 1981 in Singapore, on the acquisition of a 30% stake in CETIN Group. PPF continues to retain a 70% majority in the CETIN Group—a provider of telecommunications infrastructure in Central and Eastern Europe. Kinstellar advised in all countries of the CETIN Group's activity—the Czech Republic, Hungary, Bulgaria and Serbia—on due diligence, transaction and regulatory issues. The completion of the transaction is subject to customary regulatory approval. The parties have agreed not to disclose the transaction’s financial details. The Kinstellar team was led by Partner Kamil Blažek, working with Michal Kníž (Managing