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Venture capital, private equity and M&A

We are legal, tax and accounting advisors in the field of M&A, Venture capital and private equity. We advise on venture capital investments in high-growth companies (startups). We provide transactional advisory services on the legal, tax and accounting side for both sellers and buyers.
As part of our VC and PE advisory services, we also provide comprehensive legal, tax and accounting advice on the setup of employee and contractor compensation plans (ESOPs). We design and structure ESOP schemes for clients, prepare ESOP contractual documentation, and also provide tax and tax assessments of specific ESOP structures.

Slovak ESOPs in Practice: What Works and Where Are the Risks?

How can you motivate key people in a company to think like co-owners rather than “ordinary employees”? Peter Varga and Tomáš Demo from the Highgate ...

ESOPs in Slovakia? More creativity than clear rules

Employee Stock Ownership Plans and Company Shares. Today, Slovak companies often have to improvise when motivating employees, caught between unclear tax legislation and inflexible commercial ...

ESOP in Slovakia: how to motivate people in a company?

ESOPs, employee stock options or phantom shares. Topics that are also addressed by many Slovak business owners. In this episode of Highgate Talks, Tomáš Demo ...

What is the process and how to best prepare for financial, tax and legal due diligence of a company?

Financial, tax and legal due diligence from a practical, legal and transactional perspective Introduction: due diligence as one of the most important moments of a ...
Ako sa určuje hodnota firmy

How the value of a company is determined and how the purchase price works when selling a company

Determining the value of a company and setting the purchase price are among the most sensitive and negotiated points of any M&A transaction. It is ...
Ako prebieha predaj firmy

How to sell a company: process, buyer selection, time and costs

For many entrepreneurs, selling a business is one of the most important decisions in their professional life. It is not just a legal transfer of ...

ESOPs in Slovak companies 2026: Setup, taxes and real experience of owners

Why does it make sense to issue shares of the company to management, employees or contractors? What is the best compensation model? Crisp shares, options ...

M&A advice Highgate in 2025 🚀

The year 2025 was a record year for Highgate Law & Tax not only in terms of revenue and profit, but also in terms of ...

Selling a business in Slovakia: when is the right time and why transactions most often fail

The right time to sell a business does not exist as a one-size-fits-all dictum. In practice, it is triggered either by a specific offer from ...

Revolution in wage payment: a world unique that is emerging in Slovakia (and eliminates transaction tax)

Two-thirds of Slovaks are struggling to make ends meet and companies are struggling with tied-up capital, lack of access to financing and low flexibility. And ...
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ESOP in Slovakia: how to motivate people in a company?

ESOPs, employee stock options or phantom shares. Topics that are also addressed by many Slovak business owners. In this episode of Highgate Talks, Tomáš Demo ...

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Peter Varga lectured for the Slovak Chamber of Tax Advisors: company card and private expenses – where are the boundaries?

What are the tax, commercial and criminal risks associated with the use of company funds for private purposes? This question was also dealt with in ...
ako hodnotu firmu môže ovplyvniť zamestnávanie živnostníkov

Tomáš Demo for TREND: Employing freelancers can also reduce the value of a company

Tomáš Demo, attorney and partner of Highgate Group, gave an interview for TREND weekly, where he presented the most common pitfalls when selling a company. ...
financovanie firiem

Peter Varga at SLOVCA: Alternative Financing for Growing Companies 2025 conference on bond and fund options for raising capital for venture capital/private equity companies

On 12 March 2025, entrepreneurs and investment experts met at The SPOT in Bratislava for a conference on financing opportunities for growing companies. Experts from ...
Najčastejšie chyby pri predaji firmy

The most common mistakes when selling a company – Tomáš Demo for TA3

Selling a business is a complex process where entrepreneurs can make a number of mistakes that will negatively affect the final course of the transaction. ...
Individuálne riešenia namiesto plošných benefitov: Ako si firmy môžu udržať zamestnancov

Individual solutions instead of across-the-board benefits: how companies can retain employees

Today, employers face challenges in retaining quality workers, as many employees prefer trends such as sabbatical or job hopping. Conventional across-the-board benefits are often no ...
Kúpna cena pri predaji firmy

Purchase price on sale of the company. How much and when will I actually get paid?

In addition to the valuation, the second key condition of the sale is the amount of the purchase price and its payment. The amount of ...

Peter Varga became the new Chairman of the Legal & Tax Committee of SLOVCA, the Slovak venture capital/private equity association

Legal & Tax Committee SLOVCA has a new leader. Following approval by the Board of Directors, Peter Varga, co-founder and partner of Highgate Group, was ...

Highgate Law & Tax and its double triumph in the prestigious Law Firm of the Year competition

Highgate Law & Tax has once again scored an outstanding success in the prestigious Law Firm of the Year competition, where it has maintained its ...

Real Estate – Taxes and Financing Conference (Unique conference on fund and tax structures, crowdfunding, bonds, bank financing, etc.)

We welcomed more than 200 attendees to our largest conference to date, which focused on real estate financing through various regulatory and tax structures. We ...

Employee Stock Ownership Conference (ESOPe)

We like to do things differently, we even enjoy doing things differently. And obviously this approach proved to be successful when we organized a conference ...
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Sale and purchase of companies

The sale of a company or the entry of an investor is often a key milestone in the lives of business owners and founders. Despite ...

Real Estate – Taxes and Financing

Both small and larger Slovak or foreign investment funds investing in real estate enjoy constant high attention among Slovaks. However, in addition to setting up ...

Employee Stock and Option Plan (ESOP) in Slovak companies

Employee stock option plans (ESOPs) have become standard in Slovak companies in recent years. And not only in start-ups, but also in larger and profitable ...

Tax and legal optimization for digital / IT companies (28.11. and 29.11.2022)

We advise a large number of Slovak start-ups and existing digital and IT companies in the areas of law, tax and accounting. We have a ...

Employee share and option plans – conference

In the era of the digital economy, skilled and experienced employees are often a company’s most valuable asset. Technology and high-growth companies in particular are ...

Video | Conference Selling and buying companies: BLOCK 4 | 14:35 – 16:30

Video recording from the largest Slovak conference on M&A private equity and venture capital on 13 March 2025: 4 . conference block | 14:35 - ...

Video | Conference Selling and buying companies: BLOCK 3 | 13:00 – 14:15

Video recording from the largest Slovak conference on M&A private equity and venture capital on 13 March 2025: 3 . conference block | 13:00 - ...

Video | Conference Selling and buying companies: BLOCK 2 | 10:25 – 12:00

Video recording from the largest Slovak conference on M&A private equity and venture capital on 13 March 2025: 2 . conference block | 10:25 - ...

Video | Conference Selling and buying companies: BLOCK 1 | 9:00 – 10:05

Video recording from the largest Slovak conference on M&A private equity and venture capital on 13 March 2025: 1 . conference block | 9:00 - ...

Video | Conference Selling and buying companies: the whole conference

Video recording from the largest Slovak conference on M&A private equity and venture capital on 13 March 2025: Full conference | 9:00 - 16:30 Topics: ...

Real Estate Finance – a recording of a breakout session from our big conference on regulatory and tax structures in real estate 2023

Video recording from the Real Estate - Taxes and Financing Conference. Panel: Financovanie nehnuteľností Presented by Tomáš Demo (Highgate Group) Panelists Miroslav Hilčík (Wood & ...

Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) from a legal, tax and practical perspective – a recording of our 2023 conference

The aim of the conference specifically dedicated to ESOPs was to show best practices ofdifferent types of such structures in a comprehensible way. This is ...

ESOP – best practice – legal and tax perspective – recording from the session of our big conference on tax optimization for IT and marketing companies – 2022

This is a recording of a 55-minute lecture from our conference on legal and tax optimization for technology companies (more info here), which we organized ...

M&A advice Highgate in 2025 🚀

The year 2025 was a record year for Highgate Law & Tax not only in terms of revenue and profit, but also in terms of ...

🔍 Selling the company in 2025? The market plays into the hands of buyers.

If you are a business owner considering a sale or an investor looking to acquire a business – prepare yourself for a new market situation. ...

How to sell a business well. A (re)sell conference on selling companies.

  Last Thursday we managed to do something extraordinary. ✨ At our conference, we provided business owners with know-how from owners of “exited” companies, transaction ...

💡 WHAT IS THE INTERSECTION BETWEEN M&A AND FINANCIAL REGULATION?

  Although bank financing is the standard for M&A transactions, it is not the only option, with various regulated structures providing an alternative. Examples include ...

EBITDA OUR DAILY, GIVE US TODAY.

EBITDA OUR DAILY, GIVE US TODAY. When a company is sold, the purchase price is in most cases calculated through a transaction multiple of EBITDA ...

WE’VE GOT A BIT OF A PROBLEM HERE. IN THE VALUATION OF SHARES IN THE COMPANY.

WE’VE GOT A BIT OF A PROBLEM HERE. IN THE VALUATION OF SHARES IN THE COMPANY. Recently, another case has come to us, which in ...

PART OF THE SALES AND INVESTMENTS IN SLOVAK COMPANIES FAIL IN THE PROCESS.

A PART OF SALES AND INVESTMENT IN SLOVAK COMPANIES FAILS IN PROCESS. I have been doing my internal statistics. We at Highgate Law & Tax ...

TRANSACTIONAL ADVISORY SERVICES TO GENESIS GROWTH EQUITY FUND

TRANSACTION ADVISORY FOR GENESIS GROWTH EQUITY FUND We provided comprehensive transaction advisory services to Genesis Growth Equity Fund on the acquisition of an 80% stake ...

HOW DO YOU PROTECT THE ASSETS AND BUSINESS BUILT UP OVER YEARS IN AN UNREFORMED COUNTRY ?

HOW DO YOU PROTECT THE ASSETS AND BUSINESS BUILT UP OVER YEARS IN AN UNREFORMED COUNTRY ? We recently published our next podcast(https://bitly.cx/GPTln), where my ...

I HAVE A PARTNER IN MY COMPANY WHO IS JUST “DRIVING”

I HAVE A PARTNER IN MY COMPANY WHO ONLY “KNOWS” (dead equity). CAN I FIRE HIM? The situation when after years some partners at best ...
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  • Comprehensive tax and legal transaction advisory services to the seller on the sale of a 90% stake in DETOX s.r.o., one of the most important companies operating in the field of industrial waste processing on the Slovak market;
  • Tax and legal advisory services to the investment group Ethernum Capital on the creation of an acquisition JV structure with the private equity fund ETERUS Capital a.s., whose investment intention is consolidation acquisitions of pharmacies in the Slovak Republic;
  • Complete legal advisory services to the acquirer of a 100% stake in EQUUS a.s., the largest producer of frozen vegetables on the Slovak market;
  • Tax and legal advisory services to the globally operating Atlas Copco group in connection with the acquisition of 100% of the business share in the Slovak company ACJ;
  • Legal advisory services to SEC Technologies, a major Slovak company developing a unique gas detector for the defence industry, on the preparation and negotiation of transaction documentation regulating the provision of venture capital investment by a company from the Crowdberry group;
  • Transactional advisory services to the innovative company FUERGY on EUR 16 million investment from the investment group Pro Partners Holding;
  • We provided comprehensive tax and legal transactional advice to StudentMarketing s.r.o., doing business as BONARD, (a leader in collecting, editing and making available unique data from the construction, sale and lease of commercial and residential real estate) and its founder (and partner) on the sale of a minority stake in a private equity fund company – Spire Capital. Our advice included assisting in the investor due diligence phase, tax and legal analysis, designing and implementing a transaction structure involving carve-out of a portion of the company’s assets not to be included in the sale, and advising on the preparation and negotiation of the transaction documentation for the sale (SPA, SHA);
  • We advised VALLOS s.r.o. (specialising in the development and production of complex packaging solutions) and its founders (and shareholders) on the sale of 100% of the shares of NEFAB, a global provider of packaging and logistics services, on a tax and legal transaction. Our advice included assisting with the investor due diligence phase, tax and legal analysis, designing and implementing a transaction structure involving the spin-off of a portion of the company’s assets not to be included in the sale, and advising on the preparation and negotiation of the transaction documentation for the sale;
  • We advised Photoneo s.r.o. and its founders on a tax and legal transaction involving the sale of part of the company’s business to Zebra Technologies, one of the leading real-time sensing and analytics companies. This was a complex, multi-step transaction involving an auction process. Our advice included assisting with the due diligence phase, tax and legal analysis and design of a potential transaction structure, advising on the settlement of an existing key employee remuneration scheme and advising the company founders on the drafting of the company’s sale agreement (being prepared by Dentons’ lead adviser);
  • As a sub-supplier of legal services for the Slovak Republic, we advised České dráhy, a.s. and ČD Cargo, a.s. in connection with the acquisition of a controlling stake in a group of companies controlled by Českomoravská železniční opravna, s.r.o. Our advisory services consisted in conducting a robust legal due diligence of the Slovak company ČMŽO – Slovakia s.r.o., which as one of the subsidiaries falls within the perimeter of the transaction;
  • We advised Genesis Growth Equity Fund on the acquisition of an 80% stake in TechPlasty (a major Slovak producer of technical plastics). Our advisory services included: (i) legal and tax due diligence of the target company, (ii) advising on the negotiation of the acquisition financing documentation (loan agreement, pledge agreements, escrow agreement), (iii) establishing and setting up the structure using the acquisition SPV, (iv) drafting and negotiating the transaction documentation (SPA, SHA), (v) drafting and negotiating the accompanying corporate documentation (general meetings, waivers of claims, performance agreements);
  • We provided comprehensive tax and legal advice to VOSEM Group, a company operating several shopping centres and operations in the Slovak Republic, on the acquisition of 100% of shares in ARCOLA, a.s., a company operating the OC Cassovia shopping centre in Košice. Our advisory services consisted in conducting an in-depth legal and tax due diligence of the target company and the real estate owned by it and partial advisory services regarding the preparation of the transaction documentation.
  • For an innovative Slovak company developing advanced AI automated systems using 3D cameras, we provided (i) legal advice to the founders in conducting comprehensive legal due diligence of the investors, and (ii) tax audit services to the target company for the investor IPM Group;
  • We represented Dedoles s.r.o. in connection with a restructuring investment provided in the form of a convertible loan by the Crowdberry investment platform. Our comprehensive transactional advice included advising on investor due diligence, commenting on loan documentation, founder and investor call option documentation, future shareholder agreement documentation and documentation on corporate governance arrangements at the target company level.
  • We represented Crowdberry, the leading Slovak investment platform, in its co-investment with Slovak Investment Holding in GymBeam, a leading Central European e-commerce company selling sports nutrition products. For Crowdberry as an investor, we commented on the complete transaction documentation for the conversion of the investment into additional shares in the target company, advised on certain additional legal and tax due diligence issues and represented the company in negotiations with the founders and co-investors.
  • We represented Isadore Apparel and its founders, the Velits brothers, in another investment round, in which a group of investors provided a EUR 2.1 million investment in the form of a convertible loan through the Crowdberry platform. We represented the target company and the founders in the negotiations and commenting on the transaction documentation, the preparation of a new version of the shareholders’ agreement and the tax set-up of the entire structure. The intention of the investment was to strengthen the brand’s position, particularly in Western European markets, and to prepare the company for the entry of a foreign investor from the industry.
  • We advised the founder and the company altFINS – a company among the top 10 growing Slovak startups in 2021(https://www.eu-startups.com/2021/01/10-rising-star-startups-from-slovakia-to-watch-in-2021/ ) on its next investment round, in which the company raised co-investment from the Crowdberry investment platform and one of its existing shareholders. We represented the founder and the company in investor due diligence and in the negotiation of the investment agreement and the new shareholder agreement in the company.
  • We provided additional complex legal advice to Crowdberry’s investment platform on its seed A investment in NetCore, a company that develops innovative software solutions for network management. For Crowdberry, we provided full legal due-diligence of the target company, prepared investment documentation and represented it in negotiations with the founders of the target company. For the target company, this was the first round of external financing providing funds to expand the team and develop new software solutions.
  • We represented a major Slovak angel investor in its investment in the first external investment round in Footshop, one of the largest online retailers of streetwear and lifestyle footwear and apparel in Central and Eastern Europe with an annual turnover of EUR 30 million. EUR. Footshop intends to use the investment for acquisitions or opening new flagship (brick-and-mortar) stores and digital innovations. As part of the investment round, we advised the investor on the transaction documentation.
  • We provided additional complex legal advice to the Crowdberry investment platform on its Seed A investment in REFRESHER Media s.r.o., which operates a unique digital media portal for the younger generation. We provided Crowdberry with a complete legal due-diligence of the target company, prepared investment documentation, shareholders’ agreement and represented it in negotiations with the founders of the target company.

Your key contacts

Tomas Demo tomas.demo@highgate.sk

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