Arbitration expert Sofia Cozac has left Zamfirescu Racoti Vasile & Partners to join Stratulat Albulescu as Head of the firm's Arbitration Group.

The following Q&A is an extract of the May 2021 edition of the Private Equity Trends Monitor, which provides you with an up-to-date overview of the latest and anticipated trends across the European private equity sector. This extract covers private equity deal activity in Central and Eastern Europe.

On September 10, 2020, Advocate General Maciej Szpunar delivered his Opinion in Case C‑392/19 VG Bild-Kunst v Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz, where a request for a preliminary ruling was lodged with the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU” / “Court”) on May 21, 2019. In one of our previous articles, we have analysed the opinion of the Advocate General Maciej Szpunar, mentioning that it will be interesting to see whether the CJEU will follow the reasoning of the Advocate General or whether it will stay faithful to the principles already established in its previous jurisprudence.

Schoenherr has advised Risen Energy Solar Project GmbH on the sale of a photovoltaic project with an installed capacity of 20 MW, located in Giurgiu county, Romania, to Alternus Energy Group plc.

Imagine that an investor wants to get hold of agricultural land for its project, and therefore needs the land to be rezoned as a buildable area so as to enable the envisaged project to go forward.

In the context of the current labor shortage that Romania is facing, caused by the continuous flow of emigration, more and more Romanian employers find as a viable solution the employment of foreign citizens for the current development of their activity. 

Increasing the share of renewable energy use is an essential pillar for Romania to meet its commitments under the European Green Deal. The country must scale up the deployment of renewable projects to achieve its 30.7 % target for 2030: some 6 GW of new wind power and solar PV capacities need to be installed over the next 10 years.

Law no. 83/2021 amending and supplementing Government Ordinance no. 51/1997 on the leasing operations and the leasing companies (“GO no. 51/1997”) was published on April 16, 2021 in the Official Gazette no. 401, Part I (“Law no. 83/2021”). Importantly, the provisions of Law no. 83/2021 may only be applied for leasing agreements concluded after its entry into force.

The Albota law firm has assisted Belgium-based real estate developer Atenor on its sale of the Hermes Business Campus to Adventum International. Peli Partners reportedly advised the buyer on the deal.

Bondoc si Asociatii has advised Restart Energy on its issuance of 163,612 green bonds convertible into shares and their admission to trading on the Bucharest Stock Exchange’s Multilateral Trading System. Romania-based brokerage company Goldring acted as an intermediary on the transaction.

Nestor Nestor Diculescu Kingston Petersen has advised Globalworth on its approximately EUR 18 million acquisition of Romania's Industrial Park West Arad and the IPW Oradea Industrial Park West Oradea from an unidentified seller.

The Romanian Government has recently adopted Government Decision no. 298/2021 („GD 298/2021”) for the approval of the initial proposals for a territorial planning, urban planning and constructions code (hereinafter referred to as the “Construction Code” or the “Code”).

RTPR, acting on behalf of the Electrica Group’s electricity distribution company, and ACT Legal Romania, acting on behalf of the Delgaz Grid, have persuaded Romania's High Court of Cassation and Justice to rule on behalf of their clients ad several other distribution companies in a long-running dispute involving claims of anti-competitive behavior brought by Digi Communications, a member of the RCS-RDS group.

Buzescu Ca has advised Danfoss on the sale of a plant in Cluj, Romania and land around it to NKS Logistic Business. Korcsog & Carunta Notaries advised the buyers. 

Tuca Zbarcea & Asociatii has advised Brazilian food company BRF, acting through Nutrinvestment BV and Banvit Bandirma Vitaminli Yem Sanayii AS, on the EUR 20.3 million sale of Banvit Foods to Aaylex System Group S.A. Nestor Nestor Diculescu Kingston & Petersen advised Aaylex Group on the deal.

Former Dentons Managing Counsel Magdalena Raducanu has joined Kinstellar’s Bucharest office as Special Counsel and Head of the Romanian Banking & Finance practice, and Partner Zsuzsa Csiki is take over leadership of Kinstellar's Romanian Corporate and M&A practice.

Leading international arbitral institutions have announced record numbers in terms of the volume of new cases registered in 2020.

Romanian MPR Partners has announced it is opening an office in London, to be headed by Co-Founder and Co-Managing Partner Alina Popescu.