The First Venture Capital Conference Opened Up a Dialogue between Venture Capital Funds and Lithuanian Companies
The conference “Venture Capital: Unexploited Potential for Business”, held on 23 November, which was hosted by Law Offices Raidla Lejins & Norcous jointly with the magazine IQ Economist, was devoted to financing opportunities afforded by venture capital of which the country’s entrepreneurs are only slightly aware. The participants in the conference stated that the conference represented the first step towards creating the environment capable of bringing venture capital funds and the country’s undertakings closer together.

The conference was opened by Dainius Kreivys, the Minister of Economy of the Republic of Lithuania; global trends and those prevailing in Lithuania were presented by representatives of venture capital associations, funds managers, chief executives of companies, and law professionals. The conference attracted one hundred fifty participants who were updated on the most recent trends and were actively involved in the discussion “Selling an Idea to a Business Angel, or EU Funds for Lithuanian Venture Capital”.

Globally, small and not well-known companies often grow with the assistance of venture capital, provided that they can offer innovative ideas. This type of financing is still only making its way in Lithuania: venture capital funds’ representatives are looking for business ideas with a high growth potential, but entrepreneurs often do not have a clue about the availability of such financing opportunities.

When making a presentation on the findings of the survey that involved small and medium-sized enterprises, Dr. Irmantas Norkus, Managing Partner of Law Offices Raidla, Lejins & Norcous, noted that the majority of entrepreneurs have never heard of venture capital, and only one in ten of such entrepreneurs would attempt to seek financing from venture capital funds in order to turn his idea into a reality.

You may find more information here >>

RLN Hosts the First Venture Capital Conference in Lithuania
With a view to encouraging a closer dialogue between businesses and venture capital funds, Law Offices Raidla Lejins & Norcous, together with the IQ magazine, will host a conference entitled “Venture Capital: Unexploited Potential for Business” on 23 November at the National Art Gallery in Vilnius. Dainius Kreivys, Minister of Economy of the Republic of Lithuania, funds managers from Lithuania and foreign countries, company managers having successful experience of cooperation with venture capital funds, and law professionals will take part in the conference. For more information about the conference please visit the website www.iqlab.lt  

Survey Findings: Lithuanian Entrepreneurs have not yet Discovered Venture Capital Opportunities
Private venture capital funds have been long recognised on the international market as important business development, financing and investment resources; however, Lithuanian entrepreneurs have not heard much of them and are careful in evaluating the opportunities they provide. A survey of company managers carried out by the Market and Opinion Research Centre Vilmorus Ltd. revealed that as much as 92% of companies in the country have never dealt with venture capital funds, 55.5% of managers do not see funds as a possible source of financing, and 78% of the respondents do not put venture capital funds on the list of potential business development tools. Experts say that up to now there was simply no dialogue between entrepreneurs and funds managers.

Two hundred managers representing small and medium-sized companies based in different Lithuanian regions participated in a survey carried out by Vilmorus in the period from 18 October till 3 November.

“Lithuanian business is quite conservative and closed, the majority tend to assume long-term obligations to banks or use traditional investment tools, rather than provide funds with access to equity in the company. I believe that for small and medium-sized businesses venture capital funds have been and remain unknown and they are not familiar with the principles on which their operations are based. It is only an open and consistent dialogue between entrepreneurs and funds managers, which up to now simply was not there, could change the situation,” said Dr. Irmantas Norkus, Managing Partner of Law Offices Raidla Lejins & Norcous.

You may find more information here >>

Public Procurement in the Construction Sector – New Challenges for the Settled Practice
On 21 October 2010, law office Raidla Lejins & Norcous and the faculty of law of Mykolas Romeris university organised a seminar “Public procurement in the construction sector – new challenges for settled practice“. During the seminar experts from various fields discussed topical problems of public procurement that construction sector participants currently face. Participants of the seminar had an opportunity to discuss how to obtain the smoothness in public procurement procedures and how to avoid litigation.

The public procurement and construction dispute issues were discussed by Karolis Šimanskis, a consultant of the Supreme Court of Lithuania and a lector of EU Law department in the faculty of law of Mykolas Romeris university, as well as by Dr. Olegas Fedosiukas – a judge of the Supreme Court of Lithuania and a docent of criminal law and criminology department in the faculty of law of Mykolas Romeris university, who talked about the reasons why the public procurement procedures sometimes end up in custody. The presentations of legal issues were also delivered by law office Raidla Lejins & Norcous partner Aušra Mudėnaitė, managing associate Jolita Rima Puškorienė and senior associate Gediminas Sagatys.

The RoschierRaidla Network Sharpens its Brand to RR Alliance
Roschier (Finland and Sweden) and Raidla Lejins & Norcous (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) announce the re-branding of the RoschierRaidla Nordic-Baltic network as a step in sharpening its brand. As of 1 October 2010, the combine will operate under the name RR Alliance (‘Double R Alliance’).

“Much of the success of our joint cooperation stems from a shared in-depth understanding of the clients’ needs as well as highly integrated practice know-how and joint competence development, enabling us to render a seamless service in all five jurisdictions covered by the alliance,” explains Irmantas Norkus, Managing Partner of Raidla Lejins & Norcous’ Vilnius office.

The RR Alliance, founded as the RoschierRaidla network in the spring of 2004, offers high quality integrated legal services in the Nordic-Baltic region specializing in demanding international business law assignments and large-scale transactions. During the past six years, the member firms have constantly developed their cooperation to be able to better serve their clients operating in the Baltic Sea region.

Axel Calissendorff, Senior Partner of Roschier says: “The concept of our Nordic-Baltic cooperation has proven a success from the start and the member firms have continued to grow and strengthen their positions locally. The strong client demand for ‘one-stop-shop’ access to legal services in this particular geographical area has encouraged us to strengthen our network and its branding further by taking the RR Alliance name into use. The alliance has a unique Northern European coverage and we are proud to be able to offer our clients premier cross-border legal services in five jurisdictions.”

Today, the RR Alliance firms employ altogether approximately 420 professionals, of whom some 250 are lawyers.

RLN Assisted Consolis Oy AB in Indirectly Acquiring Sole Control of Swetrak AS
Raidla Lejins & Norcous Vilnius office acted as a legal counsel to Consolis Oy AB, a Finnish company engaged in design, manufacturing and transporting of precast concrete elements, in acquisition of shares of the manufacturer of precast concrete sleepers Swetrak AS that is active in Lithuania through a controlled local company.

The rationale behind this acquisition is full integration of the Swetrak Group into the Consolis Group and have better control over its development and strategy.

In cooperation with the Estonian colleagues Raidla Lejins & Norcous in Tallinn, Raidla Lejins & Norcous’ responsibilities included drafting of the notification of the intended concentration, negotiations with the officials of the Competition Council of the Republic of Lithuania as well as advice on Lithuanian corporate law matters, including drafting of corporate documents.

In Lithuania the transaction was led by law offices’ managing partner, attorney at law Dr. Irmantas Norkus.

RLN participated in IQ.The Economist Forum Discussion
Dr Irmantas Norkus, managing partner of law firm Raidla Lejins & Norcous, participated in the IQ forum organized by the magazine IQ. The Economist on September 15th. The discussion was held on topic entitled as Xeno - /homo - phobic economy.

Managing partner Dr I. Norkus shared his thoughts during the forum discussions alongside with Dainius Kreivys, Minister of the Economy of Lithuanian Republic and Alfonsas Eidintas, Ambassador of The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). The discussion was led by professor Egidijus Aleksandravičius.

IQ forum is a series of events initiated by the magazine IQ. The Economist. The aim of these events is to discuss current issues in public policy, economic and cultural affairs. New ideas and insights are being born during the forum, which are expected to bring forth and help resolve the most relevant issues in the society.

The organizers of the forum hope to establish an intellectual circle similar to that of The Economist’s Intelligence Unit.

RLN Sponsors the Unique Electronic Opera Project XYZ
Raidla Lejins & Norcous Vilnius office became the main sponsor of theatrical musical project XYZ, which will be performed in industrial spaces of Vilnius and Klaipeda on 9 and 11 September. The project is a result of Bohemieciai – young and talented Lithuanian opera singers’ troupe and internationally recognized performers of electronic music - Silence.

XYZ is a show which will integrate elements of opera, electronics, theatre, video art and performance. High-profile soloists of Bohemieciai will sing opera arias arranged and performed live by Silence composers and instrumentalists. Costumes are created by internationally acknowledged Lithuanian designer Juozas Statkevicius.

Creators of the project seek to surprise its regular audience as well as to engage more young people into genre of opera. According to project director Dalia Ibelhauptaite working both in the United Kingdom and Lithuania, Bohemieciai creative ambitions and desire to experiment has never properly fit within conventional boundaries of music genres and traditional theatre spaces >>

RLN introduced Law Students to the Profession of Attorneys-at-law
Lawyers and law students working in the law offices Raidla Lejins & Norcous have visited first year law students’ camps organized by students’ representative bodies of Vilnius University and Mykolas Romeris University where the project Norcous Academia was presented to the future law students. The students were also introduced to the profession of Attorney-at-law as well as practice opportunities in the law offices.

Future law students were interested in the possibilities to work as an attorney-at-law in Lithuania and abroad, perspectives to join law offices. RLN associates revealed the specifics of their profession and the differences of practice areas. Norcous Academia is a long-standing legal education project with its aim to help students to improve their skills, deepen their legal knowledge and encourage them to excel. One of the main project activities is constantly updated Norcous Academia website where law students and young lawyers may find relevant information for their career and studies, practical advice from Raidla Lejins & Norcous experts.

You may visit the gallery of the first year law students’ camps here >> 

RLN assisted Deutsche Bahn Aktiengesellschaft (DB) with Reorganisation Process
Raidla Lejins & Norcous Vilnius office assisted Deutsche Bahn Aktiengesellschaft (DB), one of the largest carriers in Europe, with reorganization of the DB Group structure in the Baltics, which encompassed the regrouping of certain companies, inter allia the change of control in the local Lithuanian subsidiary – UAB Schenker.

Raidla Lejins & Norcous’ responsibilities included drafting and commenting transaction documents, advice on Lithuanian corporate aspects of the reorganization and implementation of the transaction.

In Lithuania the transaction was led by senior associate Eva Suduiko. Raidla Lejins & Norcous Riga and Tallinn offices acted as Estonian and Latvian local counsels to DB, respectively.