In 2021, an event under the sailing championship SailGP visited Aarhus, at which Olympic medal winners and other sailing athletes competed in F50 catamarans fast as lightning with a top speed of 100 km/hour.
The event is one of the most spectacular sailing events in the world, and it played a major part in pointing out Aarhus on the world map; hence, it was all the more crucial that all legal as-pects were in place in order to prevent any unpleasant surprises.
Partner at Holst, Jakob Schmidt assisted the Municipality of Aarhus in concluding the agreement with the American events organiser, F50 League LLC, including how to ensure a clear division of responsibilities and placing of operator liability.
During the races in August 2021, anyone interested in sailing had much to look forward to, and not only world-class sailing. They could also cheer on several Danish sailing athletes who formed part of Team Rockwool.
The establishment and management of a property fund is subject to an extensive set of rules under, among others, the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (the AIFMD).
When purchasing a turnkey housing project in Copenhagen, Holst provided advice to a professional pro-vider/manager of property funds; first with the establishment of a property fund, next with the fund’s purchase of about 60 youth residences placed in a property company. Legal services rendered about purchase comprised both due diligence, the conclusion of a transfer agreement, handling of legal issues during the construction phase and final transaction closing.
Thue Hagenau who has in-depth experience with both the special rules pertaining to property funds and transactions on turnkey projects headed the transaction.
A budget hotel. A luxury/apartment hotel. An office building. Owner-occupied flats on top of the office floors. Cafe/restaurant on the ground floor of the budget hotel. And a desire for quickly commencing the construction works.
As legal counsel to the employer, partner at Holst, Holger Schöer was (and is) in charge of drawing up all necessary agreements and simultaneously contributed to a fast process. This meant, among others, that he prepared contracts with the group behind the budget hotel, lease agreements for the apartment hotel, the contractual framework for businesses moving into the offices, lease agreement with the tenant of the cafe – and the construction contract which inherently was quite special.
Since the employer wanted the construction works to begin quickly, it was decided to involve the contractor a lot earlier than usual, meaning that the construction went on alongside with the plan-ning, instead of organising the whole contractual basis first and then commencing construction works.
Holger’s legal advice entailed the many contractual documents being finalised and that the con-struction works were commenced at the time required.
The owner of a significant portfolio of rental property wanted to transfer ownership of the properties to his children.
Naturally, the owner wished for the most beneficial way in terms of tax in order for as much value as possible to be transferred to the next generations, and Holst, became involved as legal advisor in the succession.
Due to the significant size of the property portfolio, the succession was carried out in steps and stretched over two years, where Holst, assisted with both the planning, completion of each individual property (review of contracts and obligations etc.) as well as the dialogues with SKAT in order to prevent any unforeseen issues.
Partners Steffen Ebdrup and Claus Hedegaard Eriksen headed the legal advice, planning and dialogue.
With its characteristic appearance, Hotel La Tour had been a striking part of northern Aarhus, but in future the site will accommodate an iconic building at least just as striking: Denmark’s tallest residential construction.
Aberdeen Standard is behind the construction, and in 2020 they took over the land from the owner of Hotel La Tour, who through several years had obtained legal advice from Holst, in preparing the sale.
Hence, Holst, assisted the sellers, among others, with the statement of assets and liabilities, contracts, dialogues with the bank, and negotiations with the buyers, before partner Claus Hedegaard Eriksen could carry out closing on the sale of the site.
It is expected that in 2023, the first residents will be able to move into the tallest residential construction in Denmark.
Day Birger et Mikkelsen, a fashion and clothing business founded in 1997, was taken over in 2019 by a buyer consortium following several years with declining financial results.
With partner Anders Hedetoft as facilitator, Holst, represented the buyer consortium during the entire process right from the beginning until the end; services included legal advice on agreements, financing, closing, etc.
Hence, the assistance from Holst, also comprised a legal due diligence and the drafting of various agreements and contracts, including all legal aspects pertaining to taking over staff, assignment of trademark rights domestically and abroad, entering into agency and franchise agreements, and more. A part of the agreement setup was also that the seller was to reinvest some of the money in the new setup, and a new structure was to be established in the holding company.
The agreement was concluded on the basis of a short and intense negotiation process.
At present, the buyer consortium is successfully realising a turnaround of the acquired activities.
When a market-leading Danish leasing company took the initiative to buy a competing company, it quickly became clear that both companies were equally interested in a successful deal.
In the liquidity-needing leasing industry, there was on the one side the acquiring company holding excess cash, and on the other side was a company full of opportunities which could not be realised because of lacking liquidity.
With partner Anders Hedetoft in charge, legal due diligence was carried out and all transaction documents drawn up. All negotiations were finalised within a short time span.
As is generally known, the delivery of the new IC4 trains to the Danish railways was that much delayed that DSB wanted to terminate the agreement with the supplier, Italian Ansaldo Breda.
This triggered Ansaldo Breda’s attorney to approach Holst, and partner Carsten Led-Jensen, who then assisted Ansaldo Breda in the intense negotiations about the terms for a termination, under which DSB had claimed damages amounting to several billions of Danish kroner.
The negotiations went on for over a year and contemplated a thorough knowledge of the very comprehensive delivery agreement and of any preceding settlement agreements and – especially – a noticeable sense for the tone of negotiations, negotiation tactics and positions.
To Ansaldo Breda, the result was a favourable agreement according to which they were still to deliver the train sets and were entitled to deliver spare parts; and the amount they ended up paying in damages was substantially smaller than the amount initially claimed by DSB.
When building the City Circle line (phase 4 of the Copenhagen Metro), the Italian turnkey con-tractor wanted to terminate the agreement with one of the sub-suppliers, MT Højgaard, on the grounds that the turnkey contractor could perform the works themselves, although it was ac-tually MT Højgaard who was responsible for the works.
Therefore, MT Højgaard approached partner Carsten Led-Jensen for assistance; first of all to negotiate a withdrawal from the project, and secondly – if needed – to represent the interests of MT Højgaard in an arbitration case.
Following 5 intensive months of negotiations, the parties reached a mutual agreement; an agreement with significant financial value to MT Højgaard.
The negotiations were made in English and contemplated a thorough knowledge of both the basis of contract, the underlying law, the technical, complicated project and – in particular – the capability of keeping a cool, strategic and tactical breadth of view during several months, although great values were at stake.