On an active merger and acquisitions market, as it has been in Romania in recent years, investors have always sought advantageous, innovative and "nonconformist" transaction structures in order to transpose as closely as possible the intended medium or long term investment plan.

Restitution of Land – the Never-ending Saga

It is well known that, after emerging as democracies in the 1990s, Central and Eastern European States passed restitution legislation that covered property abusively taken over by the communist regimes. Some states have been more successful than others and Romania is not exactly on the top of the list.

Romania's Leaua & Asociatii has expanded to 11 partners and changed its name to Leaua, Damcali, Deaconu, Paunescu (LDDP).

Biris Goran has advised CloudTreats Inc., on the sale of its food delivery platform, hipMenu.ro, to Delivery Hero, an online food-delivery group.

On July 9, 2018, CEE Legal Matters reported on the launch of Suciu | The Employment Law Firm ⎯ a new boutique law firm in Romania specializing in Employment law: . We sat down with the new firm’s Managing Partner, Andreea Suciu, to learn more about what her new boutique will bring to the legal market.

Until recently, Romanian companies could distribute dividends to shareholders only on an annual basis and on approval of their annual financial statements at the end of each financial year. This paradigm has changed and companies can now opt to distribute their dividends annually or quarterly.

It was in early 2009, within a London Business School program, when I was first faced with a clearly articulated and empirically supported argument about the advent of legal technology and the structural transformations in the legal services market that were likely to ensue.

Romanian authorities have been busy this year putting forward several pieces of legislation affecting the construction field, including, most importantly: (i) a draft of a new law on authorizing construction; (ii) a draft proposal for amending the current application norms for the existing Construction Law; and (iii) preliminary theses for a long-awaited Urban Planning and Construction Code. These proposals were all designed to further the ambitious aim of unifying all the regulations on town planning and construction.

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.

According to the latest statistics, Romanian tax authorities rank transfer pricing ("TP") high on their agenda. Companies are increasingly aware of the risks they face unless they have the TP documentation ready when asked by the tax inspectors, yet many fail to take action in due time.

Tuca Zbarcea & Asociatii has advised Erste Bank Group on its acquisition of an additional 6.29% shareholding in Banca Comerciala Romana from investment company SIF Oltenia, giving it a total, now, of 99.88%.

PNSA has advised private healthcare chain Medicover on its acquisition of the Phoenix Medical Center, which has a network of eight medical centers in Southwest Romania.

Popovici Nitu Stoica & Asociatii has advised Dedeman on the acquisition of The Bridge, a new office project in Bucharest with approximately 80,000 square meters of leasable area, from Forte Partners. The seller was counseled by PeliFilip.

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."

Clifford Chance Badea has advised Rockwool Romania during the negotiations of a construction contract with CON-A Sibiu for a stone wool factory in Ploiesti, Romania, which will represent the Danish group's first factory in Romania.

Reff & Associates has advised Damen, a shipbuilding group in the Netherlands, on taking over Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co Ltd.'s participation in Romania's Daewoo Mangalia shipyard. DSME was advised by CMS.

The High Court of Cassation and Justice has received a referral for a preliminary ruling in order to resolve the following matter of law: "The provisions of art. 1473of the Tax Code may be interpreted as meaning that, although it was established by a final decision that a tax receivable cannot be claimed in the insolvency procedure governed by Law no. 85/2006 as a result of its late submission, the same receivable can be claimed by the fiscal body in the procedure for solving the VAT return application made by the debtor undergoing insolvency proceedings?".