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In the latest issue of the report, Rymarz Zdort topped the rankings for Poland. The law firm has been ranked in first place in both league tables, both in terms of deal value and number of deals. In comparison to the previous year, Rymarz Zdort improved its position in both rankings from second to first place. According to the report, last year Rymarz Zdort advised on 16 transactions with a total value of of USD 3.8 billion.

“Being ranked atop both tables serves as proof of our strong position on the market and the trust our clients have in us. At the same time, it confirms that we have a talented team of professionals who know how to advise our clients and business partners on the largest and most complex transactions – commented Pawel Rymarz, managing partner.

Last year Rymarz Zdort advised, among others, PSA International, IFM Investors and the Polish Development Fund on the acquisition of DCT Gdańsk; Accor on the sale of 85.84% of the shares in Orbis to AccorInvest Group; Capital Park on the acquisition of a controlling stake of 65.99% of the shares therein by Madison International Realty; PIMCO and Griffin Real Estate on their investment in Polcom Group; as well as Aberdeen Standard Investments on the acquisition of three different solar parks in Poland.

Rymarz Zdort advised Echo Partners B.V. on the sale of 100% of the shares in Lisala sp. z o.o, a majority shareholder of Echo Investment S.A., to an SPV owned by the Hungarian developer WING. The preliminary agreement for the purchase of the shares in Lisala was signed on 16 October 2019. The closing of the transaction is conditional on receiving clearance from the President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection.

The transaction team was led by Jakub Zagrajek and included Monika Kierepa, Jacek Zawadzki, Piotr Fedorowicz, Aleksandra Kabac, Tomasz Bakowski and Leszek Cyganiewicz.

“We are honoured to have been able to work with Echo Partners throughout the entire life of this magnificent investment project, from the initial acquisition in 2015 to the final sale. The transaction confirms the role of Rymarz Zdort as an unquestionable leader on the Polish M&A transaction market, and further evidences the steadily rising position of Rymarz Zdort as transactional counsel in property market transactions”, said Pawel Zdort, managing partner of Rymarz Zdort, who oversaw the work of the transaction team.

Rymarz Zdort advised Santander Bank Polska S.A. in connection with the integration of the brokerage business of Santander Securities S.A. with the operations of the Santander Biuro Maklerskie brokerage house – a separate organisational unit of Santander Bank Polska.

The demerger of Santander Securities took place on 8 November 2019, the day the company was struck off the National Court Register. The demerger involved the transfer of Santander Securities’ entire brokerage business to Santander Bank Polska, and the remaining operations of Santander Securities were transferred to Santander Finanse sp. z o.o., another member of the Santander Group. The demerger of Santander Securities took place almost a year after the registration of the demerger of Deutsche Bank Polska S.A., which involved the acquisition of Deutsche Bank’s business by Santander Bank Polska. As a result of the demerger, Santander Bank Polska acquired 100% of the shares in the brokerage house DB Securities S.A., which was then integrated into the Santander Group and had its name changed to Santander Securities S.A. Up until the demerger, the Santander Group conducted brokerage activity in Poland through Santander Bank Polska and Santander Securities. The purpose of the demerger of Santander Securities is to integrate and unify investment activity within a single entity, i.e. Santander Bank Polska, and thus streamline and improve the efficiency of these operations within the Santander Group.

“We are very happy to have been able to cooperate with Santander Bank Polska again and we would like to thank them for inviting us to work on another successful project. This was another in a series of transactions handled by Rymarz Zdort where brokerage operations were integrated into the structures of a bank. We carried out the first such process, together with Lukasz Gasinski, and Jacek Zawadzki, in 2014 for Bank Zachodni WBK, and the transaction then set a precedent in the Polish market. Since then we have advised on similar projects for mBank and Bank Pekao, and now for Santander Bank Polska”– commented Katarzyna Lukaszewicz, advocate.

Rymarz Zdort’s advice included corporate, regulatory, and tax issues. The work of Rymarz Zdort was supervised by Dr Lukasz Gasinski a corporate department partner and head of the regulatory practice. Day-to-day work was handled by advocate Katarzyna Lukaszewicz and advocate trainee Anna Aranowska. Advice on tax issues was provided by Robert Krasnodebski, attorney-at-law, partner, and head of the tax department, with the support of Marek Kanczew, attorney-at-law and tax advisor, and advocate trainee Franciszek Dewille.

European Investment Bank to fund the company’s development activity. The project is the first in Poland to benefit from the European Growth Finance Facility (EGFF) backed by the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) (the financial pillar of the Investment Plan for Europe – the Juncker Plan), which specialises in venture debt. The procured funds will be used to finance investment and R&D projects, including those related to the development of biosimilars and innovative biological medicines (used in cancer treatment), as well as to increase the company’s production capacities through the use of state-of-the-art research and development infrastructure.

“We are very pleased to have been able to support our client in procuring financing for the development of important research projects. The transaction was an innovative one – Poland’s first EGFF loan and one of the first venture debt financings. We would like to thank Mabion for our successful cooperation on the project” – commented Marcin Iwaniszyn, a partner and co-head of the banking and finance practice of Rymarz Zdort.

From the side of the Warsaw office, the transaction was supervised by Marcin Iwaniszyn, partner, and the team members included advocates Jerzy Bombczynski and Jakub Krzemien.

Mabion is a Polish biotech research company focused on the development and manufacture of medicines to treat certain types of blood cancer and rheumatoid arthritis.

The European Investment Bank is a lending institution of the European Union, whose shareholders are the member states of the EU. The Bank provides financing and guarantees to both public and private entities based in EU member states.