We’ve been assisting our clients for many years in countries across Southeast Europe including in Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia and Turkey. Our instructions have spanned a wide variety of industries such as aviation, energy, telecoms, banking and manufacturing. Mandates we have received in the region have ranged from high-profile disputes worth several millions of euros, to advising on finance facilities for oil and gas plants, to advising on reposession of aircraft actions across several countries.
We also have long-standing relationships with a number of well-established local specialist and full-service firms across the region to ensure our advice is fully compliant with local laws. This enables us to help protect the interests of our clients who are active in this key region, whether they are looking to expand their reach in the region, (particularly given its position as a gateway to the Middle East and Asia), or merely looking to protect their assets in the face of the turbulent market conditions locally.
For more information about our capabilities in Southeast Europe, please contact partners Andrew Hallgarth or Ludovic de Walden or Central European Operations Manager Boris Doza.
Recent highlights of our work in the region
Examples of the recent mandates we have been engaged on in the region include helping:
> a major development bank on the provision of various debt facilities, including a facility for financing an extension and upgrade of the wastewater collection networks of three City regions in Croatia, a facility for financing the refurbishment of a generic pharmaceuticals plant in Macedonia and a facility for financing the refurbishment, extension and operation of a hotel in Montenegro
> lead arrangers on €400 million project financing facilities provided to Bulgarian Telecommunications Company AD and its parent company for both a GSM network build-out and the refinancing of existing project debt
> a regional development bank on the provision of facilities for the construction of a Turkish Hydro Electric Power Plant
> Turkish Bank, TSKB, on the spin out of a real estate portfolio into a real estate investment trust and the subsequent IPO of that company on the Istanbul stock exchange
> a large international hedge fund on a range of complex international litigation cases in multiple jurisdictions (including, in particular, Cyprus, Greece and Monaco) in respect of claims valued at in excess of £2 billion
> a Turkish power company in relation to major fire loss and insurance claim on a powership located in Iraq amounting to US$100m and on an international trade dispute arising out of a rental services agreement with the Government of Pakistan
> a major financial services client in relation to proceedings brought in both Cyprus and England regarding the wrongful downloading of proprietary software critical to the claimant's business and the obtaining of injunctions in both jurisdictions
> leading Swiss antiques dealer on claims against a Greek consignor of stolen antiquity and threatened criminal charges in Greece
> a number of Dutch, German and Swedish clients in a variety of ICC and LCIA arbitration proceedings in Bosnia-Herzegovinian, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus and Serbia
> several aviation clients active in the region on various commercial matters and disputes, including in connection with the repossession of aircraft in Slovenia, a dispute with the national airline of Romania and a dispute between a Turkish airline and a North African flag carrier.