CEE Legal Matters, has identified AP Legal as among the winners of the 2020 Deal of the Year for Serbia for its work Nova Ljubljanska Banka’s Acquisition of Komercijalna Banka

Central and Eastern Europe’s premiere legal publication, CEE Legal Matters, has identified AP Legal as among the winners of the 2020 Deal of the Year for Serbia for its work Nova Ljubljanska Banka’s Acquisition of Komercijalna Banka.

Winners of this year’s CEE Deals of the Year Awards were announced in the June 2021 issue of the monthly CEE Legal Matters magazine and published on the Deals of the Year Award website, here. The trophies will be handed out in person at the 2021 Deals of the Year Banquet in London on September 16, 2021.

AP Legal in consortium with Prica & Partners advised the Government of the Republic of Serbia in connection with the tendered sale of 83.23% of ordinary shares of Komercijalna Banka, the largest Serbian state-owned bank to NLB. This is largest ever bank privatisation transaction in Serbia. Through an 83.23% acquisition of ordinary shareholding in Komercijalna Banka a.d. Beograd, NLB became the third largest bank in Serbia. AP Legal, together with Prica & Partners, acted as lead legal advisors to the Government of the Republic of Serbia, in cooperation with financial advisors Lazard and KPMG .

Sharing the award for their work on the deal were Kalo & Associates; Kinstellar; ODI Law; Prica & Partners; Radonjic & Associates; Sajic; Selih & Partnerji

“This year’s award-winning deals are particularly significant for taking place against the backdrop of the (at the time rapidly expanding) Covid-19 pandemic, and many of them were arranged, at least in part, remotely, and with newly-created facilitating technology. Especially in these circumstances, the firms that played such critical roles in helping usher these deals to completion – including, of course, AP Legal for its work on the Nova Ljubljanska Banka’s Acquisition of Komercijalna Banka. – deserve special recognition and credit,” said CEE Legal Matters Executive Editor David Stuckey. “The judges who chose Nova Ljubljanska Banka’s Acquisition of Komercijalna Banka, as the winner for Serbia were tremendously impressed by its domestic and regional significance, its size, and its complexity. Our heart-felt congratulations go out to AP Legal. Well done!”

Finalists for the peer-selected CEE Deal of the Year Awards were selected by a panel of legal experts in each country, with winners determined by a second group of experts with widely-recognized regional expertise and experience. Deals submitted for consideration were signed in the 2020 calendar year.

“It was a real pleasure and a challenge to be involved in one of the biggest transactions in the banking sector in the SEE! A significant effort was made by the AP Legal team to bring this deal to the successful end. We would like to thank our colleagues from Prica & Partners and entire team of Ministry of Finance on their contribution and seamless cooperation” said Aleksandar Preradović who led the sell side legal team .