On May 10, 2023, Leroy si Asociatii announced that Tereos’ sale of its sugar factory in Ludus, Romania, to private investors Mihaela Neagu and Mihail-Daniel Matache (reported by CEE Legal Matters on February 14, 2023) had closed.

Vasil Kisil & Partners and Stratulat Albulescu have advised the Avrora Group on entering the Romanian market. 

Gavrila & Asociatii Lawyer Ion Alexandru has been promoted to Partner position within the firm.

Former Counsel Oana Dutu-Buzura has been promoted to Partner at DLA Piper in Romania as of May 1, 2023.

Clifford Chance, working with Hannes Snellman, has advised ING on a Finnvera-covered export credit facility agreement and an EKN-covered export credit facility agreement with Digi Communications.

Stratulat Albulescu has advised the Bucharest Stock Exchange on leasing 2,235 square meters of office space in the America House building – for relocation purposes – from Complexul Multifunctional Victoria.

Baker McKenzie and Musat & Asociatii have announced that Sika’s EUR 5.3 billion acquisition of Master Builder Construction Chemicals from Lone Star Funds (reported by CEE Legal Matters on February 23, 2022) had closed.

Dorda and Nestor Nestor Diculescu Kingston Petersen, working with Heuking Kuhn Luer Wojtek’s Munich office, have advised Cancom on the acquisition of K-Businesscom and all its subsidiaries from shareholders Aluk Privatstiftung, Invest Unternehmensbeteiligungs Aktiengesellschaft, Raiffeisen, Franz Semmernegg, and Jochen Borenich. SCWP Schindhelm reportedly advised the sellers. 

Dentons has advised a consortium of banks including Raiffeisen Bank Romania, BCR, and BRD on a new RON 555 million bond issuance by the City of Bucharest.

Romania's markets faced a bit of a slow start to the year but have since overcome it and are back on the right track, according to MPR Partners Partner Daniel Alexie.

Former Huawei Legal Director Alina Antonie has joined the Bucharest office of DLA Piper as a Counsel.

Kinstellar, working with Linklaters, has advised a syndicate of banks on a EUR 500 million senior facility agreement with Romanian telecommunications service provider RCS & RDS. Filip & Company advised RCS & RDS.

Romanian legal services marketplace QuickLegal has secured EUR 236,000 in funding from the EEA & Norway Grants and private investors.

Radu Taracila Padurari Retevoescu has advised Arobs Transilvania Software on its acquisition of the Cluj-Napoca-based Future WorkForce Global group.

In The Debrief, our Practice Leaders across CEE share updates on recent and upcoming legislation, consider the impact of recent court decisions, showcase landmark projects, and stay up to date with the latest developments impacting their respective practice areas. 

In the pursuit of promoting renewable energy sources and achieving goals like decarbonization, as well as more ambitious ones such as energy independence, the European Union constantly both encourages and imposes achieving these objectives on the member states. As the whole world was recently shaken by pandemics and war, we are now facing an energy crisis worsened by these tragedies. In this context, in the second half of last year, Romanian legislators adopted several pieces of legislation aimed at mending various blockages encountered in practice by RES developers.

Looking ahead to 2023, white-collar crime is likely to be a subject of close scrutiny by local and EU authorities across CEE. CMS CEE Partner Nedeljko Velisavljevic, from Serbia, and CMS Head of the Criminal Defense Practice in Romania Mihai Jiganie-Serban explore the current context, latest developments, and outlook of white-collar crime practices in CEE.

I’ve been incredibly fortunate to be a part of the CEE legal community for the better part of 30 years. I arrived in Prague as a young associate in July 1991 and, after a small hiatus in New York in the mid-90s, have been based in Budapest for the last 26 years, initially with White & Case and for the last eight years with Dentons. While I’ve had the privilege of working with other, more qualified lawyers than I in a variety of commercial situations, my heart and soul has been in the mergers and acquisitions world.