VILAU | ASSOCIATES

Address: 30A Ermil Pangratti, Floors 6-7, 011884, 1st District, Bucharest
Tel: +40 37 620 3772; +40 31 101 6000; +40 31 101 6001
Fax: +40 37 620 3773
E-mail: [email protected]
Web: www.vilau.ro
Most senior representative: Dragos M. Vilau
No. of local partners: 3
No. of lawyers: 26
Offices in Romania: Bucharest

Partners and heads of practice

Dragos M. Vilau, Partner

Dragos M. Vilau contributed to the development of business legal services in Romania through his active involvement in numerous privatizations, mergers and acquisitions over the last 20 years, representing the interests of foreign investors in Romania and in the region, investment funds, renowned banking groups and local entrepreneurs.

Andrei Stefanovici, Partner

Andrei Stefanovici specializes in Public Procurement & Concessions, Energy & Natural Resources, Infrastructure and in the structuring and implementation of EU—funded projects, being involved in various successful projects of foreign investors in Romania over the last 12 years.

Marius Barladeanu, Counsel

Throughout his 18-year legal practice, Marius Barladeanu specialized in real estate and constructions, providing legal assistance to a wide range of clients – owners, tenants, lenders, developers, fund managers, investors, engineers or architects, assisting throughout all stages of the projects developed for the retail, office, hotels & leisure or residential market.

Catalina Ana, Managing Associate

Catalina Ana is a competition law expert and coordinates the Competition law practice of VILAU | ASSOCIATES. Catalina has an extensive experience in representing clients in various complex competition and State aid cases, including investigations, down-raids and related litigation before the national competition authority and courts and the European Commission.

Mircea Dobrita, Managing Associate

With 18 years of professional experience, Mircea Dobriță specializes in civil and commercial disputes and insolvency matters, particularly related to civil, tax, insurance, admiralty law, disputes between professionals, debt recovery and enforcement. He also dealt with over 2,000 contractual and tort liability claims under insurance policies, representing internationally reputable insurers.

Irina Mitrofan, Managing Associate

Over the last 11 years, Irina Mitrofan has focused on litigations and arbitration. Her relevant experience includes civil, criminal and commercial causes, including corporate litigations and insolvency procedures. Irina is also an experienced litigator in family law and, throughout the last 10 years, has also established a solid and extensive experience in construction claims, with a comprehensive knowledge of FIDIC and public procurement in construction works.

Eliana Blag, Senior Associate

Eliana has over 5 years of legal experience, during which she has advised on numerous projects in fields such as Public Procurement & Concessions, Energy & Natural Resources, Infrastructure and the implementation of EU-funded projects.

Siranus Hahamian, Senior Associate

With more than 5 years of legal experience, Siranuș provides legal assistance to institutional and strategic investors, foreign and local companies, in connection with mergers & acquisitions transactions. Her expertise comprises a broad range of corporate & commercial, as well as real estate and construction matters, including FIDIC contracts. Siranus’s practice also comprises banking & financial matters such as securities and guarantees, leasing operations, etc.

Anca Nicolae, Senior Associate

Anca benefits from an experience of over 14 years, specializing in Corporate & Commercial disputes and providing representation in court for renowned multinational corporations. Her practice focuses on Dispute Resolution & Litigation, International Arbitration, Corporate & Commercial disputes, Criminal disputes, Employment matters, Insolvency proceedings, Tax related disputes, Pharmaceuticals.

Julieta Sfecla, Senior Associate

With over 12 years of practice, Julieta Sfeclă acquired vast professional expertise specializing in intellectual property rights. Julieta successfully completed mandates particularly entrusted by proprietors of the rights related to trademarks, industrial designs or patents, representing top international corporations on various markets (pharmaceutical, automotive, telephony and telecommunications, perfumes and luxury cosmetics, consumer goods, spirits).

Iuliana Dejescu, Partener

Iuliana Dejescu benefits from an experience of over 16 years in Corporate, Commercial and M&A projects (including privatizations), Regulatory Services, Insurance, Real Estates & Constructions and Oil & Gas. She has been involved in cross—border transactions and major privatizations, representing a large number of Romanian and foreign investors in projects in Romania.

List of the most representative projects

Corporate and M&A

Providing legal assistance to a leading Romanian company, in connection with a ”business angel” investment by a leading Austrian investor to support creation, development and promotion of a technological solution.

Providing legal assistance to a leading independent oil distributor, in connection with a proposed sale of business. Our lawyers were involved in all aspects of the transaction, including in connection with an extensive and detailed vendor due diligence review.

Assisting a top European group in connection with the acquisition of a participation in the most representative 5-star hotel in Bucharest, a transaction valued at over EUR 100 million.

Providing legal assistance to a leading Romanian electricity distribution company, in relation to the competitive process, with reference to the potential acquisition of a competitor. 

Assisting a leading independent oil distributor in relation to the acquisition of a competitor.



Banking

Assisting a top European bank in a restructuring of its Romanian entities.

Advising a Romanian manufacturer of ERW and construction-related pipes in the process of debt restructuring and capital raising to consolidate and expand existing business. Legal work included assessment of the financial commitments and guarantees, advise on debt restructuring and assistance during negotiations with the lenders and business partners for capital injection and commercial credit extension.

Assisting an international investor in relation to the proposed financing of several power generation facilities by an international bank, in a transaction valued at EUR 65 million.



Energy and Natural Resources

Providing legal assistance and representation to a top player on the electricity distribution market in connection with drafting and filing all legal documents necessary in order to obtain the cancellation of Orders issued by the National Regulatory Authority for Energy (NRAE) setting the values of distribution tariffs for two of our client’s subsidiaries.

Providing legal assistance to an electricity supplier and trader for Romania of an international market leader in the solar energy field, in connection with all aspects related to the start-up of its business, including trading electricity and green certificates on the relevant markets, internal procedures and regulations relevant for the electricity supply agreement, as well as drafting and reviewing electricity supply agreements, ESCO agreements and other services agreements, in accordance with the specific applicable legislation.

Providing legal assistance to an important local player in the renewable energy field in connection with the proposed sale of two operational solar parks to an American investment fund, including a review of various legal documents, such as LoI and share sale and purchase agreement, fulfilment of the conditions precedent, as well as correspondence with the investor.

Providing legal assistance to a Romanian subsidiary of an Israeli company activating in the renewable energy field, with respect to all energy-related issues, including for the relevant permits/approvals, negotiating and communicating with the grid operators, drafting agreements and letters in connection with the development and operation of a wind project with an installed capacity of 100 MW: access to the grid, development and permitting (building permits, technical or connection permits) as well as restructuring of the ready-to-build project consisting of the division of the wind park into 3 smaller projects and, consequently, the transfer of the existing superficies agreements and building permits among the project companies.

Providing legal assistance to a major European group active in the solar energy field, consisting of drafting an update to the legal due diligence reports in connection with the project companies developing the 50MW solar power plants.



Competition

Providing legal assistance and representation in front of the Romanian competition authority for the biggest regional Romanian airport in relation with an investigation of an alleged abuse of dominant position.

Providing legal assistance and representation in front of the European Commission and national courts for two different Romanian regional airports in connection with State aid investigations / allegations related to public financing received by the airports from the State and airport fees policies / marketing agreements concluded with various airlines.

Providing legal assistance and representation in front of the Romanian competition authority and national courts for two important distributors of paints and varnishes products in connection with an investigation related to alleged pricing and market sharing vertical agreements and in connection with the annulment of the Competition Council decision.

Providing legal assistance and representation in front of the Romanian competition authority for a major Romanian group of companies in connection with an investigation of an alleged price fixing cartel.

Providing legal assistance and representation in front of the European Commission and national public authorities, including the Romanian competition authority and national courts for a top independent oil distributor in Romania in connection with the incorrect and incomplete transposition of an EC directive in breach of the Community competition rules.



Real Estate

Assisting a multinational delivery and shipping company in the process of extending an existing logistics centre in Bucharest. Legal work consists of legal assistance during the project development related contracts.

Assisting an Italian manufacturer of prefabricated structures and turn-key projects contractor in relation to the sale of an over 12,000 sq.m. warehouse facility located in Bucharest, as well as during negotiations, execution and enforcement of construction contracts entered into with various beneficiaries of industrial and logistics facilities.

Advising a local investor for the proposed transaction of an integrating farm, operating over 1,500 ha of an agriculture land.

Advising an international investment fund in relation with the proposed acquisition of a portfolio of office buildings, with an estimated value of EUR 25 million.

Assisting a Romanian Top 5 construction company with negotiations regarding the development of a sewage and waste water project involving two major Romanian counties.



Litigation and Dispute Resolution

Advising and representing a company engaged in the innovation and development of mobile technologies and intellectual property in a complex dispute regarding the enforcement of its intellectual property rights over a standard essential patent, including preliminary injunction proceedings against manufacturers and retailers of 4G LTE devices.

Providing legal assistance and successfully representing in courts a top 10 Spanish hotel company in a dispute for trademark and trade name infringement, against two Romanian companies active in the restaurant industry.

Providing legal assistance to a major company, active on the design and construction market, in connection with recovery of debt resulting from a public procurement agreement with Sibiu Water Public Company.

Assisting and representing an individual in a litigation within the insolvency procedure against a reputable bank, for a 6 million Euro liability.

Assisting and representing an individual in a litigation regarding the division of assets with a total estimated worth of 2.3 billion Euro.



PPP Public Procurement

Providing legal assistance to a major Romanian company in relation to the public procurement agreement concluded with a local public authority for the execution of a major local infrastructure project. The legal assistance consisted of drafting a legal due diligence report and analyzing all aspects of the public procurement process (including legality of the public procurement procedure, public procurement agreement and joint-venture agreement), as well as of other agreements related to the execution of the project, compliance with the company’s internal procedures, risk assessment and measures recommended to be implemented in the future.

Providing legal assistance and representation to a major Romanian company activating in IT&C, security, installation and construction in a litigation against a local public authority, in relation to the execution of a public procurement agreement between a local public authority and the contracting joint-venture that our client was part of.

Providing legal assistance to a major Romanian producer of electrical equipment in relation to the public procurement agreement concluded with a local public authority for the execution of a major infrastructure project; the legal assistance consisted of drafting a legal due diligence report for the purpose of analyzing all aspects of the public procurement process (including legality of the public procurement procedure, public procurement agreement and joint-venture agreement), as well as of other agreements related to the execution of the project, compliance with the company’s internal procedure, risk assessment and measures recommended to be implemented in the future.

Providing legal assistance and representation for a major producer of concrete structures, in its complaint before the National Council for Settling Complaints of a public procurement procedure organized by CNADNR.

Providing legal assistance and representation for an important publishing company in a litigation before the National Council for Settling Complaints in connection with a public procurement procedure organized by a central public authority in the national education system.



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