RTPR Allen & Overy has advised the private equity fund South Eastern European Fund on the sale of Total Soft S.A. to Turkish company Logo Yazilim, which is owned by the private equity fund Mediterra Capital Partners. Logo Yazilin was advised by Kolcuoglu Demirkan Kocakli in Turkey and Lina & Guia Eversheds in Romania on the deal.

Tuca Zbarcea & Asociatii has advised Direct One on its acquisition of the underground telecom infrastructure of Bucharest, called Netcity, from UTI Netcity Investment BV and UTI Grup SA for an undisclosed sum. Leaua & Asociatii advised UTI on the deal.

Romania’s Boanta, Gidei si Asociatii (BG&A) has officially joined CEE Attorneys, the Central and Eastern European law firm with existing offices in the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovak Republic, and Lithuania.

The Buzz is a short summary of the major and relevant topics of interest in Central and Eastern Europe, provided by those best positioned to know: law firm partners and legal journalists/commentators on the ground in each CEE country.

BPV Grigorescu Stefanica is reporting that it advised the Latvian financial group 4Finance on its acquisition of the financial group TBIF Financial Services from Kardan Financial Services NV. The deal was coordinated globally for 4 Finance by the Moscow office of Akin Gump, with Ickovics Neustadter Clark Sabag & Co. (INCS) advising Kardan NV on the transaction, which closed on August 11, 2016, with various post-closing steps and procedures still pending.

Hengeler Mueller was lead counsel to the Chicago-based Filtration Group on its acquisition of the industrial filtration business of the MAHLE Group with Wolf Theiss advising on Polish, Romanian, Hungarian, Austrian, and Czech law aspects of the transaction. Slaughter & May advised in the UK, Paul Hastings in United States, Fangda in China, Bredin Prat in France, and Mori Hamada in Japan.

Schoenherr’s Bucharest office has advised Austrian insurer Vienna Insurance Group (VIG) on its acquisition of the Romanian operations of the French group AXA.

Bondoc si Asociatii has advised Mid Europa Partners on Romanian law aspects of its acquisition of full control over Waberer, one of the largest road freight transport operators in Europe.

Dentons structured the transaction and Tuca Zbarcea & Asociatii provided legal advice to APS Holdings on the acquisition of the first of two Romanian portfolios of non-performing loans (NPL) with a nominal value of EUR 1.33 billion, while Dentons, Dinulescu & Maxim, and Savin & Asociatii advised APS Holdings on the acquisition of the second.

Suciu Popa has successfully represented Enel Investment Holding in an ICC dispute involving claims amounting to over USD 1.2 billion brought by the Romanian government that the firm describes as "the largest arbitration case ever on the Romanian market.” According to Suciu Popa, “this is a clear and strong result for Enel, all of the claims having been fully dismissed.”

Zamfirescu Racoti & Partners (ZRP) has advised Complexul Energetic Hunedoara, a company fully owned by the Romanian State, on its absorption of Societatea Nationala a Huilei Petrosani, a state company active in the mining field. The formalities of registration with the Trade Registry Office of the merger operation were completed on July 8, 2013.

Buzescu Ca has announced that it assisted Danfoss on its acquisition of the two Romanian subsidiaries of Sondex. The Danish Bech-Bruun law firm was global counsel to Danfoss.

Kinstellar has worked alongside global counsel Ropes & Gray in advising Baring Private Equity Asia on Bulgarian and Romanian elements of Baring’s acquisition of a 35 percent stake in TELUS International.

Cerha Hempel Spiegelfeld Hlawati, working in association with Gowling WLG, has advised the Convergys consumer management company on its EUR 123 million acquisition of buw, Germany’s largest service provider in the customer care industry in private ownership. Taylor Wessing advised sellers Karsten Wulf and Jens Bormannon on the deal, which remains contingent on certain adjustments and regulatory approvals.

Buzescu Ca has announced that it obtained a victory for client Statkraft Markets, member of the Statkraft Group, the leading European renewable energy producer, in an appeal filed by the Romanian electricity system and transmission operator, Transelectrica, of the lower court's dismissal of its claim of re charges for cross-border electricity trading.

Franklin Templeton Investment Management Ltd. United Kingdom Bucharest Branch, acting in its capacity as the Investment Manager of Romanian Fondul Proprietatea, has announced that Fondul Proprietatea has sold its full shareholding in E.ON Distributie Romania S.A. and E.ON Energie Romania S.A. Bondoc & Asociatii advised the seller.

Musat & Asociatii has announced that the Administrative and Fiscal Litigation Division of the Romanian High Court of Cassation and Justice (HCCJ) has ruled for client Electrolux Romania on its appeal of a decision of the Competition Council to sanction the company by civil fine of over RON 9.8 million.

Four firms in Central and Eastern European — Pepa & Dobre from Romania, JebwabnyLegal from Poland, Krutak & Partners from Czech Republic, and DKKR Partners from Hungary – have joined forces to create Arcliffe, which they describe as "a premiere legal practice in CEE.” Together, the firm claims 40 lawyers, including 18 partners.