CMS Poland expands its infrastructure projects practice

On 5 March 2018, Marcin Bejm joined CMS as partner in charge of the infrastructure projects practice at CMS Warsaw. The new team leader has 17 years’ professional experience and specialises in providing legal advice on transactions and investment projects regarding infrastructure assets in Poland and Central and Eastern Europe. Marcin brings with him the team of lawyers who previously worked with him.

Marcin’s professional experience includes legal consultancy on transactions and investment projects in all major infrastructure sectors, including airports, sea ports, highways, railways, healthcare, oil and gas, waste management, renewable energy, public transport, IT, heating and water supply and sewage projects, and urban regeneration. His particular focus is on project finance and public-private partnerships.

In recent years, Marcin Bejm has advised clients on the largest PPP investments in Poland: a construction and maintenance project for waste incineration plants in Gdańsk and Poznań (advising the private partner); a construction and maintenance project for a heat and power plant in Olsztyn (advising the financiers); a construction and maintenance project for public roads in Lower Silesia (advising the private partner); a revitalisation project in Gdańsk (advising the private partner); a city car park construction project in Wrocław carried out in the concession model (advice for the financier).

Marcin has also worked on some of the largest investments in Poland that have used project finance or similar formula: exploitation of the Baltic B8 oil and gas field (advising the financiers); expansion of the container terminal at the Gdańsk sea port (advising the investor); extension of the Gdańsk refinery (advice to the financiers); the design and fit-out of hospitals and radiotherapy centres. He has also advised local government or investors on the financing of some of the largest infrastructure projects in the areas of water supply and sewage, tramlines, airports and railways, as well as on privatisations of public utilities.

In all these projects, Marcin Bejm advised on the preparation or negotiation of contracts such as PPP contracts, concession agreements, EPC contracts, EPCM contracts, O&M contracts, delivery contracts, off-take contracts, tolling contracts, licence agreements, direct contracts, contracts investment and support agreements.

Marcin’s clients include sector investors, investment funds, financial institutions, local government companies, public infrastructure operators and territorial government units. Thanks to his broad experience, Marcin is able to see issues from the perspective of all participants of an investment process, which allows him to solve legal problems that arise at all stages of a project. Martin also specialises in the fields of public procurement law and state aid.
According to Chambers & Partners, Marcin Bejm is the leading Polish lawyer for infrastructure projects (Band 1). He is also listed among the best or most highly recommended lawyers in the field of public procurement (Band 3, Chambers & Partners), public law (Tier 1, Legal 500) and investment funds (Tier 1, Legal 500).

Since 2007 Marcin Bejm has been associated with Clifford Chance; between 2012 and 2013 he was working for the firm’s German office. Prior to joining Clifford Chance he worked with Norton Rose and Baker McKenzie.

Marcin graduated from the Faculty of Law and Administration at the University of Warsaw, he also holds a diploma from Cambridge University in English and EU law. He is a co-founder of Centrum PPP, a member of the Public Procurement Association and the author of commentaries and numerous publications on public-private partnerships and concession contracts.

“We are expanding our infrastructure practice, which is an element of CMS’s long-term strategy of strengthening its position on the Polish market. Great things are expected of Poland and Central and Eastern Europe in the area of road, rail, air and energy projects and financial outlays for infrastructure are planned in the coming years, so we may anticipate a number of interesting investments,” says Tomasz Minkiewicz, partner managing the energy and infrastructure projects team.

The infrastructure projects team headed by Marcin Bejm is part of CMS’s energy and infrastructure projects practice, which is made up of 25 lawyers. For many years, this practice has been recognised as the leader in Poland in the international rankings Chambers & Partners and Legal 500. CMS is also recognised by Chambers & Partners as a Band 1 company in Central and Eastern Europe in the Projects and Power category. The CMS team provides legal advisory services to such companies as KGHM, PGNiG, PGE, ENEA, PKN Orlen, Lotos, Ciech, companies from Grupa Azoty, Tauron, PSE, OGP Gaz -System, Cemex, Warbud and Gdańsk Transport Company.

Last year, CMS significantly expanded six of its teams, gaining valuable lawyers with extensive consulting experience. In July 2017, Agnieszka Skorupińska joined CMS as a counsel and head of the environmental law practice and Katarzyna Dębińska-Pietrzyk joined as a counsel in the real estate team. The following month Ilona Fedurek joined as a counsel in the banking and finance team. In September 2017, Anna Cudna Wagner joined as a litigation partner, and in February 2018 Rafał Zwierz joined as a partner responsible for the development of the capital markets and M&A practice. In addition, in the summer of 2017, CMS almost doubled the size of the new technologies team, which includes the personal data protection practice.