On April 4, 2024, Clifford Chance announced that the formation of Arcelik's new standalone home appliance business JV with Whirlpool (reported by CEE Legal Matters on January 24, 2023) had been completed, resulting in the formation of Beko Europe.

Eversheds Sutherland has represented Brink's Cash Solutions before the Court of Justice of the European Union in a request for a preliminary decision addressed to the court by Bucharest's Court of Appeal in a collective dismissal procedure case.

Dentons has advised CTP on a EUR 200 million financing obtained from Alpha Bank, ING, and BRD Groupe Societe Generale for the development of a Romanian logistics park.

RoPower Nuclear In-House Counsel Andrei Nicolae has been appointed as the General Counsel of the company.

Former CEE Attorneys Managing Associate Madalina Ivan has recently announced the launch of her new law firm in Bucharest: Madalina Ivan Business Attorneys at Law.

Tuca Zbarcea & Asociatii has advised Belgian developer WDP on the full acquisition of the Expo Market Doraly wholesale, cash & carry, and retail shopping complex in Romania. Deloitte Legal reportedly advised sellers ARA Europe and Gheorghe Iaciu.

The Court of Justice of the European Union (the “Court of Justice of the EU” or the “Court”) delivered a judgment, on 20 February 2024, in Case C-715/20 (K.L. v X sp. z o.o.), in which it ruled as follows:

Noerr has announced it is taking "a new direction in its business in the markets of Central and Eastern Europe," with its Czech, Hungarian, Romanian, and Slovak offices to be transferred to Kinstellar.

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 keep our readers apprised of the latest developments impacting their respective practice areas.

CMS has advised automotive manufacturing company Ford Otosan Romania on a EUR 435 million financing from a syndicate of banks, arranged by coordinating mandated lead arrangers and bookrunners Societe Generale and BRD Groupe Societe Generale.

Suciu Popa has advised Meta Estate Trust on its acquisition of the Poiana SPV 6814 company and its real estate asset rights in Romanian winter resort Poiana Brasov.

On 6 March 2024, the Ministry of Energy received approval from the European Commission (the “Decision“) for the contract-for-difference financing scheme in support of onshore wind and solar PV installations to promote the transition to a zero net-zero economy. On 27 March 2024, a non-confidential version of the Decision was published in the State Aid Register on the Commission’s competition website.

In March the European Commission approved a EUR 3bln (RON 15.22bln) Romanian scheme to support installations producing electricity from onshore wind and solar photovoltaic. The approval relates to an initiative launched for consultations by the Ministry of Energy in August 2023, aimed at implementing a Contracts for Difference (CfD) support mechanism for low-carbon technologies (the "CfD Scheme").

As everybody knows, grid connection is a big challenge, perhaps the biggest challenge, the renewables encounter nowadays in Romania and elsewhere. According to the data available on the Romanian TSO website, over 20 GW of wind and solar projects seem to have obtained grid connection endorsement (Romanian: aviz tehnic de racordare – “ATR”) to the extent the total installed capacity in the country is about 18.5 GW and the consumption does not expect a serious take-off in the foreseeable future. An even bigger capacity might be in the queue to obtain ATR.

Clifford Chance has advised Nofar Energy on the engineering, procurement, and construction agreement and the operation and maintenance agreement with CJR Renewables for two photovoltaic projects in Romania with a capacity of 315 megawatts.

Stratulat Albulescu has advised ELI Parks on leasing 4,500 square meters of logistics and office space in ELI Park 4 to Sika.

While the business landscape is well-acquainted with the established Merger Control regime (MC), characterized by extensive practice and ongoing efforts by the Competition Council to streamline processes, attention must also be directed towards two additional control regimes that have been implemented: the investment control regime and the subsidy control regime.

Former Managing Associate Ramona Birlog has been appointed to a Partner position with Firon Bar-Nir during the latest promotion round in the firm's Litigation and Insolvency department.