CEE Legal Matters
In-depth coverage of the news and newsmakers that shape Europe's emerging markets
The time is gone forever when our lawyers would sit down in a physical data room to dig through tons of documents provided by the target’s head of legal or corporate secretary. We will miss the personal contact, but it’s fair to say that the due diligence process has become more streamlined and efficient in Moldova, making it possible to shrink the timing of M&As and close deals in weeks rather than months.
A Fortunate or Unfortunate Positioning
I was born in Moldova and obtained my first degree in law from a Moldovan university 20 years ago. Since its independence in 1991, Moldova – a small landlocked country located between Ukraine in the East and Romania in the West – has struggled to survive, being torn apart by various geopolitical interests, political havoc, corruption, and economic fluidity. The legal industry has struggled as well. Although a lot has changed in my time as a lawyer, I cannot confidently say that the legal industry in Moldova has witnessed tremendous growth.
Over the past few years CMS advised the OTP Bank Group on an extensive series of acquisitions across Bulgaria, Moldova, and former Yugoslavia. This series of separate deals was shortlisted for CEE Legal Matters’ CEE Deal of the Year in each of the countries involved, actually winning the 2018 Deal of the Year for Bulgaria and the 2019 Deal of the Year Award for Montenegro. We reached out to Eva Talmacsi, who led CMS’s multi-jurisdictional team, to learn more about the firm’s impressive work on OTP’s behalf.
The Spring of 2020 brought the pandemic to CEE, with its “perfect storm” of ingredients – including significant legal ramifications. Whether you are an individual, a business, or a governmental official, the storm made you ask at least one of these questions: “What are my rights in pre-existing contract?”, “Am I still bound to pay?”, “Can I get my money back?”, “Will I be liable for this?”, and “What legislation is needed to help ease the impact on the public?”
ACI Partners’ Igor Odobescu Interviews Duet Private Equity Limited Operating Partner Boris Salas, about the Deal of the Year in Moldova
Following its exit from the Soviet Union, the Republic of Moldova started its independent life with a poorly-regulated medical system that lacked the proper means of ensuring patient safety.
Contributed by ACI Partners.
Major developments in 2018 and 2019 have affected the growth of the agricultural industry and agribusiness in Moldova. Key among these developments was the March 1, 2019 adoption of the restated Moldovan Civil Code, which significantly affected the parts of the Moldovan legal framework relevant to businesses.
Igor Andries is the Head of Legal & Regulatory at Orange Moldova.
The landlocked former Soviet republic struggles to move beyond political division and geopolitical pressures to find a steady and reliable path to prosperity.
Generally, foreigners in Moldova have the same rights and freedoms as Moldovan citizens. This general rule applies, inter alia, to acquisitions by foreigners of immovable assets. In other words, Moldovan legislation does not require that foreign individuals or legal entities obtain any permits to acquire land plots in the country beyond those required for Moldovan citizens. However, certain exceptions and requirements apply when it comes to land acquisition.
The winners of the 2017 CEE Deal of the Year Awards were announced at the first ever CEE Legal Matters Deal of the Year Awards Banquet last night in Prague. The biggest smiles in the joyous and music-filled celebration of CEE lawyering, perhaps, were on the faces of Partners from Avellum and Sayenko Kharenko, which, along with White & Case and Latham & Watkins, won the award both for Ukrainian Deal of the Year and CEE Deal of the Year for their work on the 2017 Ukraine Eurobond Issue (a story initially reported by CEE Legal Matters on October 2, 2017).
The Republic of Moldova is a small Eastern European country with a market economy in development. Since its independence, Moldova has been keen to open its borders to foreign investment to vitalize its economy. To this end, Moldova has passed numerous legislative reforms to protect investments and encourage cross-border transactions.
The 2017 CEE Legal Matters General Summit took place at the Intercontinental Hotel in Warsaw on June 1-2, 2017, once again bringing together well over a hundred General Counsel and Heads of Legal from across Central and Eastern Europe for two full days (and one entertaining evening) of seminars, panel discussions, best practices review, and networking. This year’s event — the third annual, following the 2015 GC Summit in Budapest and the 2016 GC Summit in Istanbul — was the biggest and most successful yet.
On May 31 and June 1, 2017, CEE Legal Matters was proud to host a rare event: A gathering of those senior lawyers from each Central and Eastern European country identified by peers as being most influential, most important, most uniquely responsible for having created the country’s modern commercial legal market.
ACI Partners is a leading law firm in Moldova with an expanding network of partners throughout Europe. ACI Partners was established in 2006 and since then has managed to build a very strong and competitive legal practice. Our business strategy strives to deliver a solid and reliable service, going beyond merely grasping the law, which the clients may turn to whenever they need. In reaching this goal, ACI Partners employs a personalized approach to each client, showing a genuine respect for their values and unqualified commitment to their interests and needs, steadily investing in knowledge and data management and ensuring a working environment consistent with our clients’ quality demands and high expectations.
ACI Partners is a one-stop shop law firm proficient in all possible legal matters a business might come across in Moldova, starting with incorporation of a business, and obtaining of all the necessary regulatory permits, continuing with various daily matters, such as contracts, labor, and migration, and finishing with dispute settlement, insolvencies, and criminal investigations. But we pride ourselves especially for our unmatched expertise in most innovative and complex areas for Moldova, as Modern Financial Products, Data Protection, Renewable Energy, Competition, Clinical Studies, Public Procurement, and Regulatory. In our work, we always involve a team of professionals with the relevant skill-mix, which enables us to provide our clients with an integrated and comprehensive advice, superior to our competitors.
ACI Partners has advised the Government of the Republic of Moldova, businesses, international organizations, and other institutions on most challenging transactions, assignments and projects.
ACI Partners is not just another law firm. Over the course of our existence and working in Moldova, and on the international stage for our non-Moldovan clients, we have developed a strong set of core values which, we believe, guide us in everything that we do and, moreover, gives us a competitive advantage – differentiating us from other firms on the market.
