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In this year’s edition of the Chambers Europe 2022 legal ranking, Rymarz Zdort has again been listed among the best law firms in Poland.

Distinctions were awarded in the following categories:

Corporate/M&A: High-end Capability – Band 1

Capital Markets: Equity – Band 1

Private Equity – Band 1

Banking & Finance – Band 3

Competition/Antitrust – Band 3

Energy & Natural Resources – Band 3

Restructuring/Insolvency – Band 3

Tax – Band 3

Dispute Resolution – Band 5

Individual recognitions were also given to the following Rymarz Zdort lawyers:

Paweł Rymarz

Capital Markets: Equity – Eminent Practitioners, Corporate/M&A: High-end Capability – Eminent Practitioners

Paweł Zdort

Capital Markets: Equity – Band 1, Corporate/M&A: High-end Capability – Band 1, Private Equity – Band 1

Marcin Chylinski

Capital Markets: Equity – Band 1

Robert Krasnodębski

Tax – Band 1

Marek Durski

Energy & Natural Resources – Band 2

Ewa Bober

Capital Markets: Equity – Band 3

Filip Uziębło

Corporate/M&A: High-end Capability – Band 3, Private Equity – Band 4

Iwona Her

Competition/Antitrust – Band 3

Karina Aust-Niewiadomska

White-Collar Crime – Band 3

Łukasz Gasiński

Corporate/M&A: High-end Capability – Band 4

Magdalena Pyzik-Walag

Restructuring/Insolvency – Band 4

Marcin Iwaniszyn

Banking & Finance – Band 5

Zofia Frydrychowicz

Banking & Finance – Band 5

“2021 presented a number of exciting challenges for our law firm. We had the pleasure of working on the largest M&A transactions in Poland and Europe, were involved in some spectacular IPOs and assisted clients in landmark arbitration cases. We owe our success to the clients we have advised for years and to our Rymarz Zdort teams, who have given their best. I would like to thank everyone involved” – summarised Paweł Rymarz, managing partner.

More information is available on the website of the organiser of the Chambers and Partners ranking at: Chambers Europe 2022.

Rymarz Zdort advised Ten Square Games S.A. (“Ten Square Games”) on its acquisition of a 24.8% stake in the Polish gaming business Gamesture sp. z o.o. (“Gamesture”).

The transaction is yet another investment by Ten Square Games on which our law firm has advised. Last June, Ten Square Games acquired a 100% stake in RORTOS S.r.l., an Italian developer of mobile flight simulator games.

The investment of Ten Square Games in Gamesture will enable both entities to exchange experience and know-how as well as strengthen the position of both brands in the mobile gaming market. The value of the transaction amounted to approximately USD 3.5 million.

Ten Square Games is a leading developer and publisher of mobile games specialising in free-to-play casual games. The company has been listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange since 2018.

Gamesture is a Polish developer specialising in role-playing games such as Questland, Fable Wars and Slash & Roll.

Advice on the transaction was provided by senior associate Aleksandra Kabać, with the support of senior associate Aleksandra Pustiowska. Partner Monika Kierepa led the due diligence team. The transaction team was supervised by managing partner Paweł Zdort.

The Rymarz Zdort tax team advised Ghelamco (“Ghelamco”) on the sale of office buildings with a retail and service passage in The Warsaw HUB complex to Google Poland (“Google Poland”), one of the main tenants in the building.

The Warsaw HUB is a multifunctional skyscraper complex developed and constructed by Ghelamco. Located at Rondo Daszyńskiego, in the most dynamically developing part of Warsaw, it is one of Europe’s most technologically advanced buildings.

The deal’s value is approx. EUR 583 million and is the largest single office transaction in the history of the Polish and CEE markets to date.

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 markets combine prime and strategic locations with aesthetically inspiring and efficient designs.

Google Poland, a subsidiary of Google LLC, is an American multinational technology company specialising in internet-related services and products.

The Rymarz Zdort transaction team was headed by Leszek Tokarski, a partner and co-head of the tax practice, with support from senior associate Krzysztof Rembierz. We would like to thank our co-counsel in this project, MDDP, in particular partner Paweł Mazurkiewicz and manager Katarzyna Kozakowska, who worked hand in hand with our team.

Rymarz Zdort aims to promote individuals who possess outstanding legal expertise and a strong work ethic, and who are committed to delivering value to clients.

We are very pleased to announce that, as of the beginning of March 2022, seventeen of our attorneys from the Dispute Resolution, Energy & Natural Resources, Banking & Finance, Real Estate, Competition & Antitrust, Mergers & Acquisitions and Corporate departments have been promoted within the firm.

Promoted to Partner

• Filip Leśniak

Promoted to Counsel

• Magdalena Krasińska
• Łukasz Lech
• Maria Szczepańska

Promoted to Senior Associate

• Adrian Augustyniak
• Szymon Cieniawski
• Jakub Czerka
• Małgorzata Deruś
• Marzena Iskierka
• Paweł Mazur
• Sebastian Mikina
• Aleksandra Pustiowska
• Diana Sofu

Promoted to Associate

• Tomasz Karkowski
• Kamil Kłopocki
• Patrick Koźliczak
• Karolina Stepaniuk

“Providing continuous support for professional development and building the appropriate experience and competencies of our team is particularly important to us and has always been a key element of our strategy. This approach brings benefits to everyone. We provide our lawyers with support and development opportunities and in return, we are rewarded with the pleasure of working with ambitious, motivated, committed and experienced people. Ultimately, our clients are the biggest winners, because the best lawyers on the market work for them. That is why we are more than happy when our wonderful colleagues receive promotions in recognition of their professional development” – said Paweł Zdort, managing partner of Rymarz Zdort.

Congratulations on your promotions and best wishes for your continued professional growth!

We are pleased to announce that the petition of PAO Gazprom and OOO Gazprom Export to set aside the award of 30 March 2020 concerning the reduction of the contractual price for gas supplied by Gazprom under the Yamal contract, issued by the Arbitral Tribunal in favour of Polskie Górnictwo Naftowe i Gazownictwo S.A. (“PGNiG”), was dismissed in its entirety as groundless.

The verdict is not yet final and binding as the Court of Appeal in Stockholm allowed Gazprom to file a cassation appeal against the verdict to the Supreme Court.

Rymarz Zdort had the pleasure of representing PGNiG in the arbitration proceedings against Gazprom and supported PGNiG’s Swedish law counsel in the proceedings before the Court of Appeal in Stockholm.

The Rymarz Zdort team advising PGNiG on its dispute with Gazprom included managing partner Paweł Rymarz, partner Krzysztof Sajchta and partner Marek Durski.

Rymarz Zdort advised Bank BPH S.A. (“Bank BPH”) on the preparation, negotiation and conclusion of a significant outsourcing agreement for servicing a portfolio of mortgage receivables and the provision of IT services with IBM Polska Business Services sp. z o.o. (“IBM”). The advisory services also included support for Bank BPH in negotiating a quadrilateral cooperation agreement for the outsourcing services previously provided to Bank BPH by Alior Bank S.A. (“Alior Bank”) to be transferred to IBM and Kyndryl Polska Business Services sp. z o.o. (“Kyndryl”).

Bank BPH, a nationwide bank headquartered in Gdańsk, is part of the international capital group of the General Electric Company.

IBM Polska is the Poland-based arm of US-based IBM Inc., which provides consulting and IT services as well as software and hardware.

Kyndryl is a new company which was spun off from IBM in November 2021. The company is specialized in design, construction, modernization and management of technological systems.

Alior Bank is a universal bank in Poland that launched in 2008. Alior Bank is listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange and is included in the WIG20 stock exchange index. The bank’s largest shareholder is the PZU Group, which holds approximately 32% of its shares.

Transactional supervision was carried out by Dr hab. Łukasz Gasiński, a partner in the corporate department at Rymarz Zdort, and the work was conducted by associate Szymon Cieniawski. The team also included partner Monika Kierepa, who was responsible for intellectual property law aspects and GDPR issues; partner Robert Krasnodębski and associate Filip Biegun, who were responsible for tax issues; and counsel Marek Kanczew, who coordinated the labour law aspects of the transaction.

Rymarz Zdort assisted Amos Luzon Development and Energy Group Ltd. (the “Luzon Group”) in connection with a squeeze-out of the minority shares in Ronson Development SE, a leading real estate developer in Poland. Bank Pekao S.A. – Biuro Maklerskie Pekao acted as an intermediary for the purpose of the squeeze-out process.

Ronson Development SE is a fast-growing real estate developer with residential investments in major Polish cities, mainly in Warsaw, but also in Poznan, Wroclaw and Szczecin.

The Ronson share squeeze-out process was initiated in May 2021. The Luzon Group, which at that time held 66.1% of the shares, announced an offer to purchase the shares from all of the other interested shareholders. Together with Bank Pekao, Rymarz Zdort supported Ronson in this process and in the buy-back of the shares from the market, aimed at the Luzon Group exceeding the threshold for announcing a squeeze-out procedure, which took place on 19 January 2022.

On 14 February 2022, the Luzon Group required the buy-back of 8,144,022 shares in Ronson Development held by the minority shareholders and representing 4.97% of the share capital. The squeeze-out date was set for 17 February 2022 and the price per share was PLN 2.51. As a result of the above-mentioned transactions, the Luzon Group now holds in aggregate (directly and indirectly) 100% of the share capital of Ronson Development SE.

The transaction team included Paweł Rymarz, managing partner, Dr Jakub Zagrajek, partner, and Małgorzata Deruś, associate.

The Chambers Global Guide has once again, in its 2022 edition, recognised Rymarz Zdort as one of the top law firms in 5 categories: Corporate/M&A (Band1), Equity Capital Markets (Band1), Banking & Finance (Band3), International & Cross Border (Band2) and Dispute Resolution (Band5).

Furthermore, 8 of our lawyers received individual recognitions:

Corporate/M&A (Band 1)

• Paweł Rymarz (Eminent Practitioners)
• Paweł Zdort (Band 1)
• Filip Uziębło (Band 3)
• Łukasz Gasiński (Band 4)

Equity Capital Markets (Band 1)

• Paweł Rymarz (Eminent Practitioners)
• Paweł Zdort (Band 1)
• Marcin Chyliński (Band 1)
• Ewa Bober (Band 3)

Banking & Finance (Band 3)

• Zofia Frydrychowicz (Band 5)
• Marcin Iwaniszyn (Band 5)

International & Cross Border (Band 2)

Dispute Resolution (Band 5)

Congratulations to all of our recognised lawyers for their outstanding achievements.

Rymarz Zdort advised Electrum sp. z o.o. (“Electrum”), a Polish consultancy, engineering and technology company, in connection with the negotiations of various agreements related to certain joint venture arrangements between Electrum and Nofar Europe B.V., a company controlled by Nofar Energy. Thanks to this partnership, both companies will co-manage the joint venture, identify and develop opportunities for renewable energy in Poland.

Electrum is a leading consulting, engineering, and technology company in the Polish market. As an independent power producer (IPP), it specialises in preparing, implementing, launching, operating, and maintaining investment projects in the Renewable Energy Sources (RES), IT and industry sectors. It is also engaged in the comprehensive management of energy assets, such as wind and photovoltaic farms, cogeneration systems, energy storage facilities, hydrogen facilities, SMRs, and WTE.

Nofar Energy is a public, global, and entrepreneurial company in the field of renewable energy. The company’s activities include ground-mounted solar projects, floating solar projects on water reservoirs, rooftop solar projects, and electricity storage projects.

The work of the Rymarz Zdort team was led by partner Marek Durski, the head of the energy & natural resources practice, who was assisted by Łukasz Lech, senior associate, Adrian Augustyniak, associate, and Andrzej Granat, associate.

Rymarz Zdort advised the Polcom Group (the “Polcom Group”) on concluding a partial scheme of arrangement with a consortium of lenders, and in its subsequent merger with Volumetric Building Companies (“VBC”).

The Polcom Group, with its operations centre based in Gdansk, is one of the leading international manufacturers of steel modular buildings. The Group has completed some of the most innovative hotel projects in North America and Europe, including world-class hotel buildings in New York, Seattle, London, Washington, and Amsterdam.

VBC is a US leader in modular construction, headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with offices in the United States and, through its merger with the Polcom Group, also in Europe. It focuses on constructing modular buildings based on timber modular technology for the multifamily residential market to provide affordable housing for American and European families.

The merger of two modular construction giants will make the newly formed entity the leading provider of optimised, efficient and sustainable modular construction solutions worldwide.

The transactional team of Rymarz Zdort was led by Magdalena Pyzik-Waląg, a partner in the corporate department and head of the Restructuring practice. She was supported by Małgorzata Deruś, an associate in the corporate department, a member of the M&A practice, and Hubert Derdowski, an associate in the corporate department and member of the Restructuring practice.

Advice on tax aspects of the transaction was provided by Leszek Tokarski, a partner in the Tax Department, and Krzysztof Rembierz, a senior associate in the Tax Department.

Real estate aspects of the transaction were handled by Piotr Drzazga, a senior associate in the Real Estate Department.