On 12 April 2024, the Council of the European Union adopted the revised text of Directive 2010/31/EU on the energy performance of buildings (the “Revised Directive”). The Revised Directive was published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 8 May 2024 and Member States will have to transpose it into national legislation within 2 years of its entry into force (i.e. 28 May 2024).

Filip & Company has advised Banca Transilvania on its synthetic securitization deal with the European Investment Bank and the European Investment Fund. White & Case advised EIB and EIF.

Filip & Company has advised BayWa on its acquisition of the White Gate Photovoltaic Park.

Kinstellar, working with Linklaters, has advised ING Bank on a EUR 150 million senior facility agreement granted to Digi Romania. Filip & Company advised the borrower.

Filip & Company has advised Romania's Banca Transilvania Group on its acquisition of BRD Pensions from BRD Groupe Societe Generale and Societe Generale Assurances. PNSA reportedly advised Societe Generale.

Filip & Company has advised Romania's RCS & RDS on signing two export credit facility agreements totaling EUR 117.16 million for the acquisition of goods and services to develop its telecom networks in Romania and Portugal and advised its Digi Spain Telecom subsidiary on a EUR 50 million uncommitted and unsecured credit facility agreement.

The recent modifications to Law 17/2014 regarding on the regulation of sale of extramuros agricultural land („Law 17”) came into force through the modifications brought by Law 116/2024, adopted on 29 April 2024 and published a day later.

Filip & Company has advised the Centrokinetic orthopedics and medical rehabilitation network together with its shareholder, the Agista investment fund, on their acquisition of a 70% stake in the Socrates clinic in Timisoara, Romania. Timisoara-based sole practitioner Diana Pavel Cios reportedly advised the sellers.

In The Corner Office, we ask Managing Partners at law firms across Central and Eastern Europe about their backgrounds, strategies, and responsibilities. Given the dynamic and ever-evolving nature of the legal profession, we asked: What is the one critical skill that you’re investing time and energy in to develop within your team, and why?

Filip & Company has advised the significant shareholders of One United Properties on their sale of 234.2 million company shares to local and international institutional investors.

In The Corner Office, we ask Managing Partners at law firms across Central and Eastern Europe about their backgrounds, strategies, and responsibilities. As we bid farewell to 2023, this time around we turn our attention forward: What is your one main wish for 2024 and what do you see as the biggest potential risk?

MJH Moskwa, Jarmul, Haladyj has advised a consortium of investors including Smyk Management Board President Michal Grom, Maciej Zuzalek, and an Accession Capital Partners-managed private equity fund on the management buyout of Smyk from the Bridgepoint private equity fund.

Radu Taracila Padurari Retevoescu has advised Arobs Transilvania Software on the acquisition of Infobest Romania from founders Yvonne Abstoss-Becker and Christian Becker. Filip & Company, working with PPR & Partner Pape Rauh, advised the sellers.

Clifford Chance has advised the arranging banks – Citi, Erste, HSBC, JP Morgan, and Societe Generale – on Romania's first issuance of green bonds, to the tune of EUR 2 billion, and simultaneous EUR 2 billion issuance of conventional bonds. Filip & Company, working with Linklaters, advised Romania's Ministry of Finance.

CMS has advised the OTP Group on the binding agreement to sell its stake in OTP Bank Romania and all subsidiaries to Banca Transilvania for a combined purchase price is EUR 347.5 million. Filip & Company advised Banca Transilvania on the acquisition.

For us, 2023 was a stable year, with constant and varied activity in the real estate field, despite the less favorable context, characterized by high inflation, geopolitical instability and the impact on the economy. Our team has successfully completed several transactions, “pure” real-estate and especially transactions with a predominant M&A component. We were happy to notice a series of projects with 100% Romanian capital, initiated in 2023 and completed in the same year, targeting especially companies that have expanded and diversified their portfolio.

Did you know that, according to the Activity Rankings function of the CEELMDirect website, a total of twenty law firms and seventeen individual lawyers worked on five or more reported Romanian client matters in 2023? 

On January 16, 2024, Filip & Company announced that the transfer of the Orange Money Romania retail business to Alpha Bank (reported by CEE Legal Matters on August 29, 2023) had closed.