Month: December 2024

Professor Michał Romanowski gave an interview entitled “Will Hindenburg be held accountable for the attack?”, which was published on 19 December 2024 in the newspapers “Rzeczpospolita” and “Parkiet” (the Stock Exchange and Investors’ Gazette). The interview is also available online [link below].

The professor discussed the controversy surrounding the Hindenburg Research report, which led to a 36% drop in the share price of one of Poland’s largest companies – LPP S.A. – in a single trading session, resulting in a loss of PLN 12 billion in market capitalisation.

In its report, Hindenburg put forward false allegations, accusing LPP that the sale of its business in Russia was a sham and that, as a result, banks would terminate LPP’s financing. Furthermore, Hindenburg did not allow LPP’s management to respond to the allegations prior to publication.

LPP has repeatedly and comprehensively demonstrated the falsity of Hindenburg’s allegations. Despite nine months having passed since the attack, Hindenburg has made no attempt to engage in a debate with LPP. Following a complaint filed by LPP, represented by Romanowski i Wspólnicy, the public prosecutor’s office launched an investigation into suspected manipulation of LPP’s share price.

Professor Romanowski explains that this was an unprecedented attack on a listed company in Poland and the European Union. He pointed out that this business model of profiting from short selling is contrary to the MAR Regulation. He emphasised that similar practices could destabilise financial markets and affect national security, particularly in light of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. This is therefore not merely an issue for LPP, but a systemic problem across the European Union, touching on matters of cybersecurity. He also proposes specific solutions to prevent such incidents in the future.

Romanowski & Partners is acting as legal counsel to LPP on all legal and communications matters relating to the Hindenburg attack. The firm is advising the company through a team comprising Michał Romanowski, Piotr Haiduk, Aleksandra Cyniak and Aleksander Orzeł.

Read more in the interview: Rzeczpospolita: Link | Parkiet: Link

Live interview [HERE – Polish version only]

We have achieved another success in the cases in which we are representing Judge Igor Tuleya.

The National Prosecutor’s Office has applied to the Supreme Court to lift the immunity of two disciplinary spokesmen for judges appointed by former Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro: Piotr Schab and Przemysław Radzik.
The Prosecutor’s Office accuses them, amongst other things, of failing to implement rulings of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), and consequently of preventing Judge Igor Tuleya from adjudicating. Furthermore, it accuses them of failing to implement decisions of the CJEU and Polish courts which undermined the legality of the Disciplinary Chamber, of preventing Judge Tuleya from adjudicating for 740 days, and of reducing his salary, despite court rulings recognising that the Disciplinary Chamber is not a court, and that the so-called ‘neo-judges’ sitting on it are not judges within the meaning of the Polish Constitution and European Union law.
These actions form part of a wide-ranging investigation into the repression of independent judges, which is being conducted by the National Prosecutor’s Office following the first complaints filed consistently since spring 2021 by Prof. Michał Romanowski together with a team from our law firm.

Professor Michał Romanowski comments on this news as follows:

“On 26 July 2021, I filed a report with the public prosecutor’s office on behalf of Judge Igor Tuleya regarding the suspected commission of a criminal offence by the disciplinary spokesmen for judges Piotr Schab and Przemysław Radzik for preventing Igor Tuleya from adjudicating, contrary to the CJEU rulings of April 2020 and on 14 and 15 July 2021. This is important because over 3.5 years ago I argued that CJEU case law is directly applicable, which for many today remains a matter of debate” and “At such moments, I am reminded of Zbigniew Herbert’s words from a 1981 conversation with Adam Michnik: ‘It seems to me that one takes up the fight […] in defence of values worth living for […]. There must be an element of struggle, and defeat must also be accepted in this struggle, but in the name of values that will live on.’ Without the Romanowski & Partners team, I wouldn’t have managed. Thank you all!”

Read more in the article: [HERE – Polish version only]

We are pleased to announce that the Romanowski & Partners team, comprising Michał Romanowski, Aleksander Orzeł, Weronika Stefaniuk and Maksymilian Jabłecki, advised the co-owner and founder of Graal Group on the sale of the company controlling Graal to Lisner, part of the UTM Group (Unternehmensgruppe Theo Müller).

Over the course of several months, we provided comprehensive advice, particularly in relation to the negotiation of the transaction documentation. This transaction is one of the largest in the Polish food market in recent years.

We would like to thank our clients and everyone involved in this process: Abris Capital Partners, Rothschild & Co, Clifford Chance Poland (which advised the Sellers), Lisner and WKB Lawyers (who advised the Buyer).

“I would like to extend my special thanks to Weronika Stefaniuk and Aleksander Orzeł for their outstanding professionalism and the contribution they made to ensuring the transaction was successfully completed. Our firm has been advising Graal’s founder, Mr Bogusław Kowalski, since 2020. It was a highly complex transaction due to numerous factors, which we have managed to resolve over the years. Our advice went well beyond standard transaction advisory services. We acted as a strategic and multidisciplinary advisor. I would like to thank Mr Bogusław Kowalski, Ms Justyna Frankowska and Mr Piotr Kowalski very much for the trust they have placed in us throughout this dilemma-filled process over all these years. There were many twists and turns. Transactions like this are very rare,” commented Prof. Michał Romanowski.