In the context of the ever-changing labor market general framework, in 2018 Romania took decisive steps to align its legislation with the country’s economic landscape.

This year marks Maravela | Asociatii’s fifth anniversary. To mark the occasion, we sat down with Maravela | Asociatii Partner Alina Popescu to learn more about the challenges the firm has overcome in its first five years, its successes, and its plans for the future.

Recent practice in the Romanian dispute resolution landscape has shown a rise in (i) litigation involving wrongful decisions concerning unpaid tax, lack of liquidities, and consequent lack of debt settlement, and (ii) cases of fraudulent acts linked to insolvent companies, mostly committed prior to the commencement of the insolvency proceedings.

Maravela|Asociatii has assisted CEE chemicals producer Chimcomplex in the Romanian Competition Council's merger review procedure related to the company's takeover of Oltchim’s assets.

Over the past years, Romania has excelled in antitrust law enforcement as the Romanian Competition Council boasts stellar appraisals both inside the country and at the EU level.

Maravela | Asociatii has assisted Precision for Medicine in connection with Romanian law aspects of its multi-jurisdictional acquisition of contract research organization Argint International. Bird & Bird was lead counsel to Precision for Medicine on the deal. Kinstellar's advised the sellers on Romanian, Czech, and Hungarian aspects of the deal, working with lead counsel Osborne Clarke.

In The Corner Office we ask Managing Partners across Central and Eastern Europe about their unique roles and responsibilities. The question this time around: Who was your mentor, and what was the most important lesson you learned from him or her?

Maravela & Asociatii has assisted a majority shareholder of Romanian petfood producer Nordic Petfood, on the sale of the entire business to United Petfood. Schoenherr advised United Petfood on the acquisition.

To a large extent, the ability of law firm marketing and business development experts to successfully promote the firms they work within depends on the support they get from their firms’ partners. So we asked them: What partner at your firm would you single out for her/his recognition of the value of what you do and ability to get you what you need efficiently and quickly?

Without going into too much detail, having seen the recent turmoil regarding the implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation and the fact that the subject has been more than widely debated, we wish to point out that, from our point of view, record keeping of data processing activities is a key aspect in a proper GDPR implementation scheme.

According to Dana Radulescu, Corporate/M&A and Restructuring Partner at Maravela & Associates, “Romania is flourishing compared to past years, in terms of transactions in the banking, retail, real estate, and agriculture sectors, so M&A lawyers are quite busy and quite happy.” And things look good for the future as well, she says. “It’s not over yet. From this point of view things are going in the right direction, and it should continue for the rest of this year."

The European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation is, according to the EU-hosted GDPR website, “the most important change in data privacy regulation in the past 20 years.” The Act, which was approved by the EU Parliament on April 14, 2016 and will become fully effective on May 25, 2018, was designed “to harmonize data privacy laws across Europe, to protect and empower all EU citizens’ data privacy, and to reshape the way organizations across the region approach data privacy.”

In The Corner Office we ask Managing Partners at law firms across the region important questions about their unique roles and responsibilities. The question this time around: What was your favorite course in law school, and why?

Maravela & Asociatii has advised Belgian company Interparking on its almost EUR 4 million acquisition of P700 Parking, in Timisoara, from S.C. Constructim S.A.

One of the most controversial parts of corporate reorganization operations planning in Romania involves the use of share capital contributions or share swaps as a means to transfer company control – operations that fall into a legislative and administrative grey area. 

Maravela & Asociatii has advised Betty Ice, a Romanian ice cream producer, on the sale of the company to Unilever South Central Europe. The buyer was advised by Eversheds on the January 2018 deal, which remains subject to regulatory approval by the Romanian competition authorities.

Romanian Government Ordinance no. 23/2017 regarding split VAT payment entered into force on October 1, with its provisions being optional until the end of 2017. On January 1, 2018, the Ordinance becomes mandatory. 

Law firm marketing and business development experts apply skills honed over many years and often in other industries. To explore their backgrounds, we asked them: What was the last job you had before joining a law firm, and why did you make the change?