In December 2019, B2R Law appointed Andrzej Krawczyk and Przemyslaw Barchan, both as Counsel, to considerably strengthen B2RLaw’s offering to the retail, FMCG, and food & drink industries.
Andrzej Krawczyk is widely considered one of the leading franchise, agency and distribution experts in the Polish market and is highly regarded by his international peers. Andrzej spent his first few years firstly at PWC, then as a corporate/M&A lawyer at Weil Gotshal Manges’ Polish office, focusing on corporate and M&A, and took part in a number of large privatisation transactions before moving in-house. At Weil he also advised on private equity and venture capital transactions. Over the last 20 years Andrzej has concentrated on franchising, advising both franchisors and franchisees and representing household names such as Algida, Burger King, Dr Irena Eris, LOTOS, Jean Louis David, Umbro, Next, Intersport, Costa Coffee, PKN Orlen and many more.
Andrzej spent his in-house years as a senior lawyer in the Elektrim Group, where he oversaw all legal matters concerning the internet and data transmission services company. Between 2001 and 2007, he headed the legal department of the Vivendi (telecommunications) Group in Poland. In this capacity, he was responsible for daily corporate and legal services in respect to the restructuring of the Elektrim Telekomunikacja capital group in Poland and in the US, including M&A transactions with a total value exceeding EUR 400 million, and actively participated in a dispute regarding 48% of shares in Polska Telefonia Cyfrowa Era, worth over EUR 2 billion (widely considered to be the most famous corporate dispute ever in the Polish market). Thereafter, Andrzej held the position of Franchise Director at Grene, where he developed a franchise chain of stores. After the merger between Grene with Kramp, he worked on introducing the franchise to Western and Central European markets.
Andrzej has been ever-present on the International Who’s Who of Franchise Lawyers list. He has written numerous publications and been a speaker at many events concerning the topic, including at the IBA/IFA Joint Conference. Andrzej is not only a leading authority on the subject of franchising in Poland, but also in Europe.
Przemyslaw Barchan specialises in the areas of commercial law (including franchise, and trade & distribution agreements) and intellectual property (particularly relating to IT and new digital technologies). He also has significant expertise in technology, media and telecommunications, including advising start-ups and companies undertaking research and development. He advises on commercial litigation with an emphasis on contractual liability, the protection of intellectual property rights and combating unfair competition. He has advised on numerous M&A and IPR transactions, including conducting due diligence proceedings. He has completed many IT projects (using both classic waterfall and agile methodologies), including implementation agreements, maintenance and development agreements, XaaS service provision agreements and cloud solution projects. Przemysław advises clients from the FMCG, retail, food & drink, ICT (IT/TMT), banking, insurance, fuel, energy, e-commerce, automotive, pharmaceutical and armaments industries.
Przemyslaw runs his dynamic and innovative private practice. Prior to cooperation with B2RLaw, Przemyslaw spent i.a. 2 years at Gessel Koziorowski, nearly 4 years at FKA Furtek Komosa Aleksandrowicz and over 2 years at Maruta Wachta.
B2RLaw has advised Echo Investment on the acquisition of a large property in the Bronowice district of Krakow, complicated by the fact that this involved acquiring numerous plots. B2R assisted at every stage of the transaction including post–closing activities and managed the real estate until its ultimate hand–over to Echo. In particular, B2R’s lawyers advised on legal, tax as well as intellectual property aspects of the transaction, negotiated the transaction documentation and supported in closing the transaction. Furthermore, B2R successfully represented Echo before administrative bodies in order to obtain a final building permit for the purposes of a huge residential investment on the acquired land.
The value of the entire investment amounts to PLN 200 million with the property covering a residential projected usable area of 20.000 m2.
“I would like to emphasize and appreciate the professionalism and commitment of the B2RLaw team at each stage of this complex process, from negotiations, through finalization of the purchase, to support in the course of administrative proceedings” comments Karol Dzięcioł, Land Acquisition Director, MRICS at Echo Investment.
B2R’s team was overseen and coordinated by Rafał Zięba, Senior Partner, and involved Tomasz Zaleski (Partner, Tax), Paweł Gunia (Partner, Construction), Marcin Huczkowski (Partner, IP), Agnieszka Wojciechowska (Senior Associate), Natalia Leszko (Associate) and Aleksandra Karteczka (Associate).
B2RLaw (legacy JS Legal) advised PKO BP (PKO VC – FIZAN) on a joint PLN 17 million follow-on financing round in Autenti Sp. z o.o., involving three banks – PKO BP, Alior Bank and BNP Paribas and two Venture Capital funds – Innovation Nest VC and Black Pearls VC.
Autenti is a Polish company established in 2014 that offers e-signature solutions enabling online signing of documents and designing internal document workflow. Since its market debut, Autenti has obtained over 250 business clients and sent documents to be e-signed by almost 95 thousand Poles.
Alior Bank was advised by Kondracki Celej and BNP Paribas by SPCG Studnicki Płeszka Ćwiąkalski Górski.
“This transaction is a unique project on the Polish Venture Capital scene, being the result of co-operation between three banks investing in an innovative company providing technology that facilitates signing documents via the Internet. We are extremely pleased to have advised on a transaction that may further the digitisation and execution of paperless contracts. This financing round is an opportunity for Autenti to become a European market leader in its field”, points out Rafał T. Stroiński, Senior Partner at B2RLaw.
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