Wolf Theiss and Baker & McKenzie have advised British American Tobacco on their acquisition of the entire tobacco and retail business of TDR from Adris Group for an enterprise value of EUR 550 million.

British American Tobacco ("BAT") has acquired TDR d.o.o. and other tobacco and retail assets ("TDR") from Adris Group d.d. ("Adris") for an enterprise value of EUR 550 million in what is certain to be the largest M&A deal in Croatia this year. The deal remains subject to conditions including various anti-trust approvals and Adris shareholder consent and is expected to complete in October 2015.

BAT was advised by Baker & McKenzie (English law) and Wolf Theiss. In addition to Croatia, the Wolf Theiss offices in Bosnia, Bulgaria (covering also Macedonia), the Czech Republic, Serbia (covering also Montenegro) and Slovenia were involved. Adris was advised by Dentons (English law) and Cacic i partneri (Croatian law).

The Wolf Theiss team was led by Luka Tadic-Colic and Dora Gazi Kovacevic (both Zagreb), and included Sasa Jovicic, Ira Peric Ostojic, Luka Colic, Ivan Zornada, Josip Martinic, Katarina Kezic (all Zagreb), Naida Custovic, Jasmin Saric, Samra Hadzovic (all Sarajevo), Milos Andjelkovic, Igor Nikolic (both Belgrade), Hristina Dzhevlekova, Iva Georgieva, Atanas Mihaylov (all Sofia), David Simek, Katerina Kulhankova (both Prague) and Petra Jermol, Petra Zupancic (both Ljubljana).

Lead partner, Luka Tadic-Colic "We are proud to have been able to support BAT on this important and strategic transaction. With five local offices successfully working together, Wolf Theiss has once again shown that it is capable of providing clients with uniform, high quality advice on major regional M&A transactions."

Craig Harris, M&A Counsel at BAT commented: “This is an important acquisition for BAT’s Central Europe business giving us the benefit of a fully integrated company with significant scale in the markets concerned. Wolf Theiss’ knowledge of the relevant Balkan markets and their practical focused advice was a key factor in ensuring the success of this transaction.”

Founded in 1902, BAT is a global tobacco company with more than 200 brands sold in over 200 markets. With such well-known brands as Dunhill, Kent, Lucky Strike, Pall Mall and Rothmans, it is the market leader in over 60 markets. TDR is the leading independent cigarette manufacturer in Central Europe with a market leading position in Croatia and a position of scale in Bosnia and Serbia which will provide BAT with the opportunity to significantly grow its business in the region.