News

Allen & Overy receives "Legal Adviser of the Year in Central & Eastern Europe 2010" award from The Financial Times and The Mergermarket Group

Allen & Overy received the "Legal Adviser of the Year in Central & Eastern Europe 2010" award at The Financial Times and The Mergermarket Group fourth annual European M&A Awards 2010 held in London's Sheraton Park Lane Hotel last week.

The awards recognise excellence in corporate, private equity, banking and legal M&A expertise and the winners are chosen through a unique selection process which utilises both empirical data and independent expert opinion to form a reasoned and substantiated selection. 

Prague-based Managing Partner for Central Europe Jane Townsend commented: "We are honoured to receive this endorsement from The Financial Times and The Mergermarket Group. To receive an award of this stature is a tremendous achievement and reflects our involvement in most of the major deals being done across the region during the past year. Our lawyers and staff have worked hard on those deals and on a multitude of other less well known transactions and claims being handled  throughout our regional practice. Everyone has contributed to the high level of client service that this award recognises."

Allen & Overy has a track record of advising on high profile deals in the CEE regional market. Our M&A activity has been driven by a combination of both our domestic/regional profile and our global relationships. We have recently advised the issuer, Warsaw Stock Exchange, on its own IPO, EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg on a swap of shares in Prague Heating for shares in Prague Energy, and on numerous renewables acquisitions, notably EBRD on its EUR125 million multi-jurisdictional equity investment in the CEE wind farms of Iberdrola.

During the past 12 months, A&O Prague has also advised  J&T Group in connection with the acquisition of a 100% shareholding in the Atlantik group (which consists of Atlantik Financial Markets and Atlantik Asset Management) from KKCG Finance, GTS Central Europe's Slovak subsidiary on its acquisition of Dial Telecom Slovakia, a Slovak telecommunications operator, and UniCredit Bank Czech Republic in relation to the CZK4.8 billion refinancing of the acquisition of 98.68% of Severomoravské vodovody a kanalizace Ostrava by Aqualia Gestión Integral del Agua, S.A..

Since opening in 1992 Allen & Overy's Prague office has established itself as one of the leading providers of legal services in the Czech Republic. Our great strength is our lawyers’ combined international experience and in-depth knowledge of the Czech legal and regulatory environment. Virtually all of our 30 lawyers are Czech qualified.

Allen & Overy had a double success at The Financial Times and The Mergermarket Group fourth annual European M&A Awards, as we also received the 2010 " Legal Adviser of the Year in Benelux" award.

For further information, please contact Jana Kloudova, jana.kloudova@allenovery.com, on +420 222 107 117.