Ivo Bárta has obtained extensive experience mainly in the areas of mergers and acquisitions, financing, privatization, and foreign direct investment projects under Slovak and Czech law. He has represented various multinational and domestic clients in a broad variety of transactions, including energy, M&A and regulatory , as well as commercial, corporate and financial law.

Mr. Bárta is the Head of the Central & Eastern European Energy & Utilities practice group of White & Case.

Mr. Bárta was named in Chambers Global and Chambers Europe 2011 among the leading lawyers in the CEE region in several areas - Corporate / M&A, Projects, Banking and Finance, Restructuring / Insolvency. He is also listed in the latest editions of PLC Which Lawyer? and IFLR 1000 as the recommended individual in the Czech and Slovak Republics in the areas of Mergers & Acquisitions and Banking. Mr. Bárta has been repeatedly listed in the International Who is Who of Business Lawyers in past few years.

Mergers & Acquisitions - Energy

Mr. Bárta has participated in a large number of acquisitions carried out in the Slovak and Czech Republics, representing both domestic and international companies. He has represented:

• ENERGO PRO a.s., a Czech energy company operating in the CEE region, in connection with the acquisition of shares of several hydro power plants located in Poland and owned by ZESPOL ELEKTROWNI WODNYCH NIEDZICA SA, an energy company owned by the State Treasury of Poland;
• ČEZ, a.s., in connection with its bid to acquire Slovenské elektrárne, a.s., a major Slovak energy company, including its nuclear power division, from the Slovak government;
• Electricité de France International in connection with its acquisition of Stredoslovenská energetika, a.s and an attempted acquisition of Východoslovenská energetika, a.s.;
• ČEZ, a.s. in connection with its participation in a tender for the acquisition of a majority interest in the Czech-based United Energy, a.s. from Horizon Energy B.V.;
• Williams, a leading American gas company, in connection with its bid to acquire Slovenský plynarenský priemysel, a.s., a Slovak gas transit and distribution company;
• The Slovak Ministry of Economy in connection with the disposal of a 49% shareholding of Transpetrol, a. s. – the key operator of the transit oil pipeline;
• MOL plc., the largest Hungarian energy company, as special counsel in connection with its acquisition of a majority in Slovnaft, a.s., a major downstream oil and petrochemical company in the Slovak Republic;
• Česká exportní banka, a.s. in connection with financing provided to Energo-Pro a.s. for the purpose of the privatization of hydro power plants and energy distribution companies;
• Paroplynový cyklus, a.s. Bratislava, a project company that owns a combined cycle power plant in Bratislava, in connection with its privatization;

Mergers & Acquisitions - Other

• Slovak National Property Fund in the privatization of its 60% interest in Banka Slovakia, a.s.;
• The Slovak Ministry of Transport, Post and Telecommunications, in the privatization of Slovak Telecom;
• The Slovak Ministry of Finance in its highly successful bank privatizations of the two largest Slovak banks, Slovenská sporiteľňa and Všeobecná úverová banka;
• Allianz AG, a German insurance company, in the acquisition of a majority stake in Slovenská poisťovňa, the largest Slovak insurer, from the National Property Fund;
• Matador Púchov in connection with the establishment of a joint venture with Continental AG, manufacturing truck tires, one of the largest joint-venture companies in the country; and

Project Development

Project development experience
Mr. Bárta was involved in many transactions where he has advised clients in all aspects of energy projects, among other:

• NET4GAS s.r.o. (a subsidiary of RWE Transgas) acting as TSO in the Czech Republic in connection with the construction of a new 180 km long gas pipeline (Gazelle) in the Czech Republic, which represents a continuation of Nord Stream and Opal transmission lines.
• Provision of legal advisory services to RWE Power AG and Swiss Alpiq Group in connection with the development of a 1000 MW combined cycle power plant located in the Czech Republic;
• PSG–International a.s., a Czech based corporation focusing on the construction and development of energy projects, in respect of the revision of the EPC contracts to be concluded with an energy company operating in North Russia for the purpose of the construction of a gas fired power plant in Russia;
• ALTA, a.s. in connection with the construction of a 600,000 t/y methanol plant and associated works in Nizhny Tagil (Russian Federation);
• Johnson Controls, a global diversified technology and industrial leader serving customers in more than 150 countries, in connection with the development and construction of two new production facilities in the Czech Republic and two facilities in Slovakia;
• Advanced Power AG and Siemens Project Venture in connection with the development of a combined cycle gas fired 380MW project in Malženice, Slovakia;
• ČEZ, a.s., in connection with its investment program in Russia.

Project Financing

Mr. Bárta has also participated in a variety of significant project financing transactions in the Slovak and Czech Republics, including the representation of the consortium of Siemens Project Ventures and Advanced Power in connection with the preparation of the construction and the financing of a power-plant in Malženice, Slovakia, and real estate project financing. He also represented Globtel GSM, a.s., one of the main providers of cellular phone services in the Slovak Republic, with respect to obtaining project financing for the construction and operation of the GSM network in the Slovak Republic.

Banking and Finance

Mr. Bárta has also worked on numerous banking and financial projects, including the structuring of syndicated and club loans, export and acquisition finance loans, and real estate financings, representing leading Slovak, Czech and other international financial institutions such as BAWAG Bank CZ, Citibank, ČSOB, Czech Export Bank, EBRD, Eximbanka Slovakia, Istrobanka, Schroder Salomon Smith Barney, Slovenská sporiteľňa, UniBanka, UniCredit, Všeobecná úverová banka, West LB, and Živnostenská banka.

Mr. Bárta joined White & Case in January 1997. Prior to this move, Mr. Bárta had worked for four years for one of the top law firms in Chicago and its branches in Prague and Bratislava. He helped to establish the Bratislava office of White & Case and was made partner as of 2001.

Bars and Courts
Czech Bar Association
Slovak Bar Association

Education
PhD, "CSc", Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovak Republic, 1996
LLM, University of Michigan, USA, 1993
LLM, University of Leuven, Belgium, 1992
JD, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovak Republic, 1989

Publications
Mr. Bárta is the author of a chapter on the Czech Republic in the book "A Practitioner's Guide to Takeovers and Mergers in the Emerging EU: Accession and Candidate States," City and Financial Publishing, 2002.

Languages
Slovak
Czech
English
Russian

Citizenship
Slovak Republic