BNT Attorneys in CEE

Banking and Finance

Our team of Banking and Finance offers an expansive breadth of insight, helping our clients to structure and document transactions that help to provide financing to virtually every industry. Since we represent both finance providers and users, you benefit from counsel that understands the needs and wants of each party.

In Banking and Finance, our experts focus on Real Estate Finance (drafting and negotiating of loan agreements and security documents, monitoring of conditions precedent and conditions subsequent, drawing up legal due diligence reports and legal opinions).

We also provide advisory services for project refinancing, serving banks, developers, and funds across the CEE region. Our expertise spans diverse industries, ensuring strategic guidance for investment projects.

We provide advisory services for Mortgage Documentation and Retail Finance, including retail finance documentation and related legal advice, as well as Investment Project Finance (advising various stakeholders, including developers, sponsors, funds, lenders, and public sector bodies on the financing of investment projects across a wide range of industries).

Main legal advisory fields of Banking & Finance

• Real estate finance
• Acquisition finance
• Asset-based finance
• Mezzanine lending
• Project & infrastructure finance
• Cross-border finance
• Restructuring
• Structured finance & derivatives
• Investment grade lending
• Syndicated lending
• Lender-side representation
• Borrower-side representation

Competition and Antitrust

Knowledge of and compliance with competition law are becoming increasingly important, applying not only to large multinational corporations but also to medium and small companies.

Complicated laws, EU regulations, economic approach, threat of high penalties from competition authorities, liability for damages to customers and competitors, anti-competitive agreements, merger control, abuse of dominance, compliance programs, contracts with consumers, unfair competition – all the things that can trouble even the most experienced entrepreneur – are no problem for us. With our extensive presence across most CEE countries, we offer comprehensive advice in this entire domain, serving as your one-stop solution.

As a trusted business partner, we assist our clients in building their competitive advantage through the strategic application of instruments provided by competition law. For all matters related to competition law, you can turn to us with full confidence.

Main legal advisory fields of Competition and Antitrust

• Abuse of dominance
• Advertising
• Analysis of contracts and their projects
• Anticompetitive agreements
• Antimonopoly proceedings
• Cartels
• Compliance programs
• Consumer law
• Contacts with competitors
• Contacts with competition authorities
• Distribution systems
• Economic policy and market behavior assessment
• Exit strategies in case of competition law infringements
• Merger control
• Private enforcement
• State aid
• Unfair competition
• Unfair market practices

Corporate and M&A

Company mergers and acquisitions are complex tasks. Our in-depth knowledge and many years of experience enable us to devise sustainable solutions for all parties.

From SMEs to international conglomerates, our corporate law experts are every bit as home accompanying extensive projects as they are with day-to-day business affairs.

We provide support with the development of corporate structures and come up with solutions for M&A transactions. Where complex assignments and major investment portfolios are involved we offer results-oriented legal advisory services from a single source, both locally and across borders.

Main legal advisory fields of Corporate Law and M&A

• Corporate
• Mergers & Acquisitions
• Compliance
• Joint Ventures
• Privatisation
• Competition and anti-trust law
• Commercial contracts
• Single source governmental sales
• Grid connection agreements, distribution agreements and energy sale agreements (PPA, Virtual PPA)
• Corporate governance rules
• Tax advisory

Surveys on Corporate Law and M&A

In connection with our practice areas we provide free downloadable information on legal frameworks, as well as analyses and market information.

Agribusiness

Real estate transactions, regulatory compliance, and subsidy negotiations require precise expertise. Our focus is on providing actionable advice to secure land acquisitions, ensure regulatory adherence, and position our clients for sustainable growth and competitive advantage in the agribusiness sector.

From emerging agribusiness ventures to established agricultural powerhouses, our expertise in agribusiness law spans the full spectrum of the agriculture sector.

We provide legal assistance encompassing all aspects of acquiring farming land and fully operational farms, from negotiation strategies to conducting legal due diligence, completing pre-emption right formalities, and securing transactions. Our experts offer comprehensive support in procedures for consolidating large agricultural land areas, addressing specific topics related to withdrawing land from agricultural use, and facilitating the obtaining of subsidies. In the face of complex challenges and significant investment decisions, we provide focused, effective legal solutions from a comprehensive perspective, serving clients both locally and across borders.

Main legal advisory fields of Agribusiness

• Agricultural real estate
• Agricultural M&A
• Farming land transactions
• Land use and zoning
• Regulatory compliance and licensing
• Renewable energy and sustainability
• Labour and employment law
• Supply chain and logistics
• Agricultural finance and credit
• International trade and agribusiness
• Competition law
• Biotechnology and GMO regulation

Dispute Resolution

Every conflict requires an individual solution. We devise targeted strategies for the successful resolution of local and cross-border disputes.

Together with our clients our lawyers arrive at a precise understanding of the causes of disputes and the intentions underlying them. We assess the available options and most promising potential ways of resolving the dispute, whether they are legal, arbitrational or out of court. On this basis we then devise an individual strategy aimed at offering security and orientation during the case. bnt clients benefit here from the knowledge of our experts on the spot, who bring to bear their experience of the national legal and court systems as well as of international arbitration law.

Main legal advisory fields of Dispute Resolution

• International arbitration
• Domestic arbitration
• Litigation
• Mediation and other ADR
• Risk, claim and conflict management

Employment

In employment law commercial considerations are not all that matter. We also take into account soft factors when making our recommendations.

A company’s reputation depends strongly on how well it treats its employees. Our employment lawyers provide comprehensive advice in the field of human resources, from sample contract design documents to remuneration systems, termination provisions and wide-ranging collective bargaining.

We support our clients with redundancies as well as before the courts in the event of disputes with employees. We also devise clear recommendations on how to deal with international employment relationships such as secondments of employees abroad or the employment of foreign personnel. This also includes tax and social insurance arrangements when deploying personnel across borders.

During the course of international and domestic M&A transactions we ease the impact of employee transfers, in the process giving due consideration to psychological factors and data protection issues.

Main legal advisory fields of Employment Law

• Business activities and employee deployment abroad
• Employment contracts, remuneration and retirement benefits
• Collective bargaining
• Termination of employment, mass redundancies
• Labour disputes
• Transfer of employees during M&A transactions
• Compliance
• Immigration
• Outsourcing, temporary work agencies

IP, Technology and Data

We support businesses with 360-degree legal advice in new technology & IT, intellectual property, and data, including privacy & cybersecurity.

We come as an interdisciplinary, highly specialized team of attorneys-at-law and patent & trademark attorneys with technical know-how and industry experience, proficient at identifying and protecting clients’ business needs and goals. 

Our strong presence in the CEE, combined with an excellent understanding of local requirements resulting from local law and industry practice, allows us to provide tailored advice in almost any technological-related cross-border contract, projects & transactions, nearshoring, and scaling-up business operations across the region.  

We advise international and domestic entities at all business life cycle stages, including large corporates, SMEs, and start-ups. 

Main legal advisory fields of IP, Technology & Data: 

• Software and IT contracts 
• Software licensing, including open-source software 
• IT outsourcing 
• Cloud services 
• Data governance and privacy, including the GDPR 
• Cybersecurity 
• Digital transformation and business process automation 
• AI/Machine learning 
• Trademark and Design prosecution 
• Acquisition and licensing of intellectual property 
• Media & Entertainment 

Real Estate, Construction

As a rule the development and execution of real estate projects involve a high level of financial outlay and deployment of personnel. From the initial idea to successful completion, we bring our commercial expertise to bear along the entire value chain of a real estate development securely, efficiently and precisely on the basis of the applicable national law.

Our clients include international and local investors, project developers, construction companies, general contractors, subcontractors, manufacturers and suppliers of building materials and products, architects, engineers, planners, landlords and tenants of office and commercial premises and apartments.

We apply our holistic legal advisory approach to support our clients’ real estate projects, whether they involve land acquisition and development or the financing and execution of transactions. Drawing on a wealth of experience, our real estate attorneys devise precise recommendations for solutions to building disputes and out-of-court settlements, leaving our clients to concentrate on their projects. All of this is founded on our experts’ specialist knowledge of prevailing local real estate law.

Main legal advisory fields of Real Estate Law

• Commercial, manufacturing and service industry real estate users
• Private equity, institutional investors and funds
• Purchase & sale of individual properties and portfolios, including public tenders for sales of properties
• Design and Construction contracts
• Planning & zoning, land use and building regulations
• Environmental law
• Greenfield and brownfield investments
• Project development including advisory in permitting process
• Infrastructure (motorways, rails, pipelines, airports, stadiums etc.)
• Procurement of public contracts, including representation before the appeal authorities and common courts; PPP-proceedings;
• Real estate management & leasing, including sale-and-lease-back
• Asset and facility management agreements
• Conducting cases in public courts and before arbitration tribunals, dispute resolution
• Restructuring real estate projects
• Energy installations and utilities, in particular windfarms and PV plants projects
• Agribusiness
• Real Estate Finance
• Loan agreements and security documents, legal opinions and due diligence for banks