• Home
• About us
• Our People
  • Legal Team
    • Mark Harrison
    • Goran Martinovic
    • Aleksandar Preradovic
    • Ines Matijevic-Papulin
    • Ivana Ajdanic
    • Jelena Asanin
    • Jovan Cirkovic
    • Lana Vukmirovic-Misic
    • Svetlana Curic
    • Ljubica Stamenkovic
    • Ana Banicevic
    • Veljko Veljasevic
  • Support Staff
    • Danijela Surucic
    • Jelena Sandic
  • The Social Side
• Expertise
  • Legal Areas
    • Banking, Finance & Capital Markets
    • Corporate / M&A
    • Energy / Natural Resources and Utilities
    • Real Estate / Development
    • Other Practice Areas
  • Clients
  • Experience Statement
    • Serbia
    • Montenegro
    • Macedonia
    • Republika Srpska
  • Office news
• References
  • Quotes
    • The Firm
    • Individuals
  • Editorial
    • Chambers Global
    • Chambers Europe
    • IFLR1000
    • Legal500
    • PLC Which Lawyer?
• Offices
  • London
  • Belgrade
  • Podgorica
• News
  • News
  • Financial Newsletter
• CSR
• Links
• Contact

IFLR1000 - 2009

Harrisons is an English law firm specialising in the Balkans, and is busy acting on the larger, complex international transactions it was set up to target. The Serbian market may not quite be ready for the likes of Linklaters- founding partner Mark Harrison's old firm - to show an interest just yet, but the move has so far proved fruitful; and with potential EU membership on the cards, it is looking increasingly shrewd.

The firm has managed to capture a list of corporate and institutional clients who are pleased with what the firm offers. "They're very good on the corporate and banking side of things, which is pretty big at the moment," says one client. Harrison is an essential part of the firm's success. A client says: "The guy's got 20 plus years in the Balkans - he can work all over."

Harrisons has acted on several notable financing transactions, and its clients include KPMG, the German Development Bank and the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), which the firm is advising on various aspects of a €50 million investment into Komercijalna Banka, Serbia's leading state-owned bank.

The firm additionally acts for the largest domestic clients. For example, it is advising one of Serbia's largest companies, Delta Holding, on its acquisition financing for the real-estate portfolio of state-owned company Genex. The deal was led by Aleksandar Preradovic.

The firm has had its fair share of the big-ticket privatisation projects. In a good indication of the position the firm has achieved in the market, it is advising Fiat on its joint venture with the state-owned Serbian car producer Zastava. The €700 million investment was described by one Serbian minister as "the deal of the decade".

The firm also advised Heineken on its acquisition of a Serbian brewery and provided subsequent advice on joint ventures with Efes Breweries International. Harrison's has also been involved in private-equity work, advising Texas Pacific Global on the proposed acquisitions in Serbia of a petrochemicals company and a fertiliser company.

IFLR1000 - 2008

“Mark Harrison is a pioneer. After nine years at Linklaters, he decided to venture into essentially untested waters and set up shop in Serbia. He was the first foreign lawyer to make such a move and he has reaped the benefits of his daring as he had the opportunity to develop a very good relationship with the political establishment and work on the privatizations in a favourable climate with few serious competitors.

These days there are certainly significant rivals to contend with, but his team of 10 additional lawyers is more than a match for them. Aleksandar Preradovic is described by competitors as "a very good lawyer who knows the law well and is oriented to finding a solution", while Goran Martinovic is also widely respected by the market.

The firm has also strengthened its capacity to handle international transactions over the last year. In November 2006 Harrisons became the first Serbia-based firm to open an office in London, and in March 2007 the firm also opened an office in Podgorica, Montenegro.

And the practice has had a busy year. It continues to prosper from its good relations with the government, advising on the €500 million privatization process of industrial metal producer RTB Bor. The firm has also been cashing in on a healthy M&A market, notably advising Hungary's OTP Bank on its €102 million purchase of Montenegro's largest bank, CKB, in January 2007. At the time of writing a team was advising Delta Group on the proposed merger of its retail business with Agrokor's related subsidiary.

The practice is experienced in handling large financings as well. In May 2007 the team provided counsel to Citigroup on a €750 million syndicated loan to Telekom Srbija for the purchase of Telekom Srpske.”

IFLR1000 - 2007

"Harrisons is something peculiar," said one market observer, and indeed it is. Set up by an English lawyer in 1997, the practice is a success story for foreign enterprise, and now advises clients from across the world and Serbia itself, including the country's own government.

R Polimeri instructed the firm on one of the jurisdiction's few remaining privatization deals. Led by Goran Martinovic, the corporate and commercial team advised the Italian petrochemical group in relation to its purchase of a majority stake in Hipol, the state-owned polymer producer. The deal was worth €1.5 million.

Harrisons has also had a busy year for banking sector M&A. Since his surprise return to the fold last year, Aleksandar Preradovic has been leading teams representing the Agricultural Bank of Greece in its potential €35 million purchase of Zepter Bank and acting for PKO BP, a Polish bank, on its proposed acquisition of Panonska Bank.

Preradovic's main responsibility is heading up the firm's banking and capital markets group, which acts for a wealth of foreign financial clients including the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, ING, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the International Finance Corporation. In March 2006, Ines Matijevic advised Raiffeisen Leasing on its €10 million financing from the EIB. She encountered Raiffeisen again in April as she acted for DEG in a subordinated loan to the leasing group's parent company, Raiffeisen Bank. "Everything I need, I receive on time – they have very good coordination," said a client.

IFLR1000 - 2006

“Harrisons Solicitors has been active in Belgrade since 1997 and is highly regarded by peers and clients for consistently providing "expert advice." Undoubtedly one of the leading firms in Serbia and Montenegro, its lawyers in Belgrade are able to conduct business in French, Serbian, German and English and, through its office in Podgorica, it is well placed in the market to secure a solid amount of local work.

Founding partner Mark Harrison has traditionally been the most visible lawyer at Harrisons, and this year he played a pivotal role in a one of the most significant investments in the country, assisting US Steel on the purchase of Sartid, a Serbian steel producer. Although (for the time being at least) less visible in high-value deals, Goran Martinovic has been recommended by the market as an "excellent, and up-and-coming legal practitioner," as has his colleague, Ines Matijevic, who is singled out by her peers for her legal competency.

Recently, one of the firm's associates, Alexander Preradovic, left the firm to join Prica & Spasic, but in a surprise and pleasing move for Harrisons, he returned to his former firm shortly afterwards. He rejoins an extremely strong corporate and commercial team that this year acted for the Serbian government as exclusive legal advisor on the restructuring and privatization sale of Livnica Kikinda and Sever Subotica. The firm's stellar reputation for corporate advice was further strengthened by its involvement in Telekom Gore's €110 million ($133 million) privatization.

Harrison's well-developed and extensive regional links certainly helped the firm to secure the role of exclusive legal advisor to the government of Serbia on the recent restructurings and privatizations of Livnica Kikinda and Sever Subotica. These two high-profile transactions were worth €87 million and €65 million respectively.

Over the past year the firm also advised on a number of high-end mergers and acquisitions, most notably, in October 2004, advising Banca Intesa on the tender sale of Eksimbanka. More recently, the firm acted as exclusive legal advisor to Unicredito Italiano on the tender sale of Serbia's Novosadska banka.”

IFLR1000 - 2005 

English law firm Harrisons has had an office in Belgrade since 1997. The fact that the firm remains a force in Serbia and Montenegro, and that it continues to lead many of its domestic rivals on corporate finance work, is largely due to founding partner Mark Harrison. A man omnipresent on deals in Belgrade, he was formerly the head of the central and eastern European group at Eversheds and a Balkan consultant at Denton Wilde Sapte.

The firm is particularly recommended for its corporate advice, and in the past few years has worked on several privatizations and takeover deals, including the $100 million privatization of Beopetrol, the Soros Fund's investment in cable TV in Montenegro, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development's secured convertible loan to pharmaceuticals company Hemofarm and the privatization of two Serbian tobacco producers.

In the mergers and acquisitions arena, last year the firm advised steel producer Sartid on its takeover, Duvanska Industrija Vranje on its privatization, the resale of Beopetrol and the sale of chemical company Zupa.

The firm has one partner and 11 associates in Belgrade.