WARSAW - 6 July 2020 - Lawyers from the competition law team of the Greenberg Traurig Warsaw office represented Telewizja Polsat in merger control proceedings before the Polish Competition Authority in connection with the acquisition of the Interia Group. The completion of the deal was subject to Telewizja Polsat obtaining clearance for the concentration from the President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection. The President of the OCCP approved the takeover of control.
As part of the deal, on April 30, 2020, Telewizja Polsat sp. z o.o. entered into a preliminary agreement with Bauer Media Invest GmbH and Bauer Polen Invest GmbH for the acquisition of 100% of the shares in Grupa Interia.pl sp. z o.o. and all the rights and obligations of the limited partner in Grupa Interia.pl Media sp. z o.o. sp. k. Other parties to the preliminary agreement are: Cyfrowy Polsat S.A, as a guarantor for obligations of Telewizja Polsat under the preliminary agreement and Heinrich Bauer Verlag Beteiligungs GmbH, as a guarantor for sellers’ obligations under the preliminary agreement.
In the antitrust proceedings the Polsat Group was represented by the Greenberg Traurig competition team led by Partner Robert Gago, supported by Senior Associate Radosław Pawluk and AssociatesFilip Drgas and Marta Kownacka. Greenberg Traurig has provided comprehensive legal advice with respect to the transaction.
Grupa Polsat is the largest media and telecommunication group in Poland. The Group provides its 5.7 million customers with access to 16.9 million services: mobile phone services, pay digital TV and the Internet. The Group includes the following companies and brands: Cyfrowy Polsat, Polkomtel, Telewizja Polsat, Netia and IPLA.
The Interia Group is a leading player on the Polish market of new generation media, reaching nearly 60% of Internet users in Poland. Its services are used by over 16 million real users every month, and the number of page views of the Interia Group's websites exceeds 1.3 billion per month.
Attorneys from the Warsaw office of Greenberg Traurig have recently represented the Polsat Group, among others, with respect to Poland’s first issuance of corporate green bonds, the acquisition of approximately 22% of shares in Asseco Poland, a majority stake in Netia, negotiation and execution of a joint venture agreement with Discovery Communications Europe Limited and TVN for a joint project involving the launch of an OTT streaming platform, as well as in soliciting innovative financing in the form of an additional credit facility of PLN 1 billion.
Greenberg Traurig LLP
Greenberg Traurig, LLP is an international, multi-practice law firm with approximately 2200 attorneys serving clients from 41 offices in the United States, Latin America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.
Greenberg Traurig Grzesiak sp.k. was named the 2019 and 2018 Most Innovative Law Firm of the Year Award for Poland by International Financial Law Review (IFLR) and the 2017 Law Firm of the Year in Poland by Chambers and Partners. The Warsaw office of Greenberg Traurig, LLP provides legal services to clients in Central Europe and beyond and consists of approximately 100 lawyers. Team members are regularly recognized as leaders in numerous practice areas. Chambers Global, Chambers Europe, IFLR1000 and EMEA Legal 500 consistently rank them among the top tiers the areas of Corporate/M&A, Capital Markets, Real Estate, Private Equity, Tax, Banking and Finance, Project Finance, Energy, Dispute Resolution and TMT.
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