DENTONS EUROPE - ZIZZI-CARADJA SI ASOCIATII SPARL
Tel: +40 21 312 49 50
E-mail: [email protected]
Web: www.dentons.com
Most senior representative: Perry V. Zizzi, Romania Managing Partner
No. of local partners: 9
No. of lawyers: 25
Offices in Romania: Bucharest
Representative clients include: Erste Group Bank, Raiffeisen Bank, Groupe Societe Generale, AFI Europe, NEPI, CPI Property Group, Metro, Mindgeek, Autoliv, ENGIE Europe, Hilton, Netflix, Skanska.
Partners and heads of practice
Perry V. Zizzi, Romania Managing PartnerPractice Areas: Mergers & Acquisitions; Private Equity
Perry V. Zizzi is the Managing Partner of Dentons in Romania and also serves as coordinating partner of the Bucharest office M&A practice. He has over 25 years of experience practicing law in the emerging markets of Central and Eastern Europe, Western Europe, the U.S. and elsewhere.
Perry has advised on numerous M&A transactions in Romania, Ukraine, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Turkey and Hungary.
Loredana Chitu, PartnerPractice Area: Capital Markets
Loredana Chitu is Partner and head of the Capital Markets group in Bucharest. She has vast experience in both debt and equity capital markets work, having advised both issuers and investment banks. Loredana has also worked on high profile M&A transactions, especially transfers of bank loan portfolios.
A well-known lawyer for capital markets regulatory work, she advises on corporate governance, shareholders’ rights, derivatives, MIFID, market abuse and disclosure requirements. She also advises private equity funds on regulatory matters under AIFMD and EuVECA.
Tiberiu Csaki, PartnerPractice Areas: Dispute Resolution; Employment
Tiberiu Csaki has over 30 years of legal practice, with main focus is dispute resolution, including international arbitration. He also has longstanding and extensive expertise in insolvency and bankruptcy matters, including cross-border insolvency, business reorganization and sale of distressed assets.
Tiberiu is a member of INSOL, the leading European organization of professionals specializing in insolvency, business reconstruction and recovery. He has extensive experience in international arbitration, and has coordinated several successful local and international arbitration proceedings.
Cristina Daianu, PartnerPractice Areas: Venture Technologies; Corporate
Cristina is a partner in the Corporate practice and heads the VentureTech practice in Bucharest. As part of the firm’s Global Emerging Growth and Venture Technology Group, she has advised and worked closely over the years with business accelerators/incubators, start-up founders and venture capital investors. She is also a frequent speaker in various venture tech and start-up events.
Over the years, Cristina has advised German investor clients through the German Desk in Bucharest. She is currently the Vice President of the Arbitration Court of the Romanian-German Chamber of Commerce and an arbitrator of this Court.
Simon Dayes, PartnerPractice Areas: Banking & Finance; Restructuring
Partner in the Banking and Finance practice in Bucharest, Simon is a qualified UK solicitor, who has been advising banks, international financial institutions and project sponsors in cross-border credit transactions in Central Europe for over 15 years.
Simon specializes in project finance, and financial restructuring. With sector focuses including energy and renewables, concession-based infrastructure and hotels, Simon has worked widely across Central and Western Europe and Africa.
Simona Marin, PartnerPractice Area: Banking & Finance
Simona, the new coordinating partner of Bucharest Banking and Finance group, is an English and New York qualified partner in Dentons’ Banking and Finance team in Bucharest. She focuses on project finance, real estate finance and other financing structures, syndicated and bilateral, secured and unsecured.
She has over 15 years of experience advising on a broad range of high-profile financings and projects throughout the Central and South East Europe region. She has advised on transactions in the energy and utilities, hotels and leisure, financial services, infrastructure and project finance, as well as the real estate and construction sectors.
Raul Mihu, PartnerPractice Areas: Competition; Data Privacy and Compliance
Raul heads the competition, data privacy and compliance practices of Dentons’ Bucharest office. His expertise in the competition sector includes assessing and reforming clients’ business practices and franchise systems, assisting them in investigations by competition regulators and devising novel approaches to client needs in this field, both in Romania and at the European level.
Raul is also specialized in the pharma sector, where he has advised several major drugs companies and distributors on competition and regulatory matters. He also has experience in advising clients in connection with clinical studies made on patients, including on related data protection matters.
Claudiu Munteanu-Jipescu, PartnerPractice Area: Energy & Infrastructure
Claudiu heads the Bucharest Energy Group. With over 19 years of sector experience, he specializes in conventional and renewable energy, public procurement, PPP, infrastructure and concessions, including dealing with public authorities, having been involved in landmarks projects. He advises local and international clients on complex regulatory, contractual and corporate matters.
As part of his membership in AmCham’s (American Chamber of Commerce in Romania) Energy & Environment Committee, Claudiu has been involved in lobbying activity with respect to the energy legislation.
Bogdan Papandopol, PartnerPractice Area: Real Estate
Bogdan has over 19 years of experience and focuses primarily on transactions and consultancy, including due diligence, in the areas such as real estate, title insurance, construction (including FIDIC agreements), title investigation and restitution claims, property management related aspects, including leases and landlord/tenant disputes. He also concentrates on crisis management in connection with real estate deals and financing.
Bogdan has acted as counsel to a large number of Romanian and international investors in various types of sophisticated real estate transactions especially with the involvement of local and international banks.
List of the most representative projects
Advised KC Agro on the €22 million acquisition of a working farm from French investor, including approximately 2,800 hectares of arable land.
Advised the largest hotel group in Central and Eastern Europe on cross-border restructuring and sale of service business: advising on the separation of Orbis’ real estate ownership activity from its service business, and on the subsequent sale of its service business to French hospitality group Accor.
Advises global private equity firm on the acquisition of leading global provider oil and gas services and solutions, including automated control and optimization equipment.
Successfully advised CEE Equity Partners on the acquisition by China CEE Investment Co-operation Fund II of 15 grain silos and logistics hubs from the Romanian based Brise Group, one of the largest agribusiness groups in the country, to create the First Open Access Agriculture Infrastructure Platform in Romania.
Advised Phoenix Games GmbH on the acquisition of Romanian Studio Firefly. Studio Firefly offers live operations support to mobile developers around the world.
Specialist lawyers: Perry Zizzi, Raul Mihu, Bogdan Papandopol, Claudiu Munteanu-Jipescu, Cristina Daianu.
Banking
The largest and highest profile transaction in Romania during the pandemic has been the tender for sale by CEZ (the Czech State-owned energy company) of its Romanian assets, namely its (1) electricity distribution business, (2) renewable energy generation portfolio and (3) electricity and gas supply activities. The law firm advised (separated by a formal information barrier) two syndicates of lenders to bidders for financing the acquisition of the CEZ assets, demonstrating not only (a) our position as a leading international finance law firm for international transactions in Romania, but also (b) our ability to field two entirely separate full “A” teams for representing the lenders in these time and legal-intensive transactions. Simon Dayes led the team advising one lending syndicate and Simona Marin and Loredana Chitu led the team advising the other lending syndicate.
Advising Hidroelectrica on a planned 144A IPO of shares, the most important privatization to occur on the Romanian capital markets and, when closed, the most valuable Romanian IPO (if it is for 15% of the issuer’s share capital, it will have a value informally approximated at €750 million).
Advising large industrial group on financial restructuring of credit facilities and finance leases, made available by a dozen banks and leasing companies, including standstill and override arrangements.
Advising AFI Europe in negotiating the €170 million term facility for financing the acquisition of a portfolio of office properties in Bucharest and Timisoara from NEPI Rockcastle (transaction size €300 million). Simona Marin acts as lead negotiation counsel with respect to the facility agreement and the other finance documents.
Advising the two large European commercial banks as mandated lead arrangers, agent and lenders in syndicated credit facilities to the Republic of Ghana for the construction of six hospitals.
Specialist lawyers: Simon Dayes, Simona Marin, Loredana Chitu, Claudiu Munteanu-Jipescu.
Energy and Natural Resources
Assisting leading power company on the acquisition of two Romanian companies operating solar parks.
Advising Hidroelectrica on a planned 144A IPO of shares, the most important privatization to occur on the Romanian capital markets and, when closed, the most valuable Romanian IPO (if it is for 15% of the issuer’s share capital, it will have a value informally approximated at €750 million).
Assisting leading power company on the acquisition of two Romanian companies operating wind parks.
Assisting Canadian company on the possible acquisition of several wind farms and PV parks developments in Romania.
Assisting French private equity fund in relation to the complex due diligence and development of a 50 MW Wind Farm.
Specialist lawyers: Claudiu Munteanu-Jipescu, Loredana Chitu.
Competition
Assisting the Romanian Association of Financial Companies (ALB), as well as some of its members (both financial leasing and consumer leasing companies) in connection with the investigation initiated by the Romanian Competition Council on the financial leasing and consumer credit markets in Romania. The efforts of the firm's competition team has resulted in the statement of objections being returned by the plenum of the Competition Council, following hearings, to the case handler for the revision of the report, which is an almost unprecedented move.
Successfully assisting both Metro and Auchan in implementing the first ever joint acquisition project in Romania. The project is now in the first year of implementation and both Auchan and Metro continue to retain the firm as joint counsel advising on all competition matters related to the project.
The law firm has been advising Dual Man on the investigation initiated by the Romanian Competition Council on the road signage market. Following the expert advice provided by the firm's competition team, the client has been exonerated of any infringement of competition regulations.
Advised and successfully represented Auchan in obtaining the annulment by the court of first instance of the €5 million fine imposed by the Romanian Competition Council to Real Hypermarkets.
Assisting a confidential client in the assessment of an information exchange implemented by members of an association. The scope of work has included a forensic investigation of emails (performed with the firm's internal resources), interview with key stakeholders and issuing recommendations with respect to risk mitigation actions and reforming the reporting practice.
Specialist lawyer: Raul Mihu.
Real Estate
The law firm has successfully advised CEE Equity Partners on the acquisition by China CEE Investment Co-operation Fund II of 15 grain silos and logistics hubs from the Romanian based Brise Group, one of the largest agribusiness groups in the country, to create the First Open Access Agriculture Infrastructure Platform in Romania.
Advised White Star Real Estate, a real estate firm serving Central and Eastern Europe, on the acquisition of the Liberty Technology Park in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, from Fribourg Development.
The firm has advised KC Agro on the €22 million acquisition of a working farm from French investor, including approximately 2,800 hectares of arable land.
Advised the largest hotel group in Central and Eastern Europe on cross-border restructuring and sale of service business: advising on the separation of Orbis’ real estate ownership activity from its service business, and on the subsequent sale of its service business to French hospitality group Accor.
The law firm has represented GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, in one of the largest real estate investment deals signed in Europe in 2019 and the largest in Germany - the acquisition of the Maximus logistics real estate portfolio from Apollo Global Management, a US-based private equity firm.
Specialist lawyers: Perry Zizzi, Claudiu Munteanu-Jipescu, Bogdan Papandopol, Raul Mihu.
Litigation and Dispute Resolution
Represented Autoliv Romania on multiple fiscal disputes and fiscal-administrative procedures, including litigations before the Romanian courts.
Advising and representing Avatar Security as a defendant in connection with alleged unfair competition claims filed by the largest player on the electronic surveillance market.
Advised and successfully represented Auchan in obtaining the annulment of the €5 million fine imposed by the Romanian Competition Council to Real Hypermarkets.
Representing Rizhao Jinfukang International Trade in connection with recognition and approval of enforcement of a foreign arbitral award against a Romanian debtor.
Represent Hidroelectrica in a major tax litigation.
Specialist lawyers: Tiberiu Csaki, Bogdan Papandopol, Raul Mihu.
White Collar Crime
Representing a large manufacturing company as prejudiced party in a criminal investigation pertaining to fraud schemes by its employees.
Representing an international financial institution in connection with legal proceedings related to bankcard fraud.
Representing an international bank in connection with the investigation of bankcard frauds.
Representing international advisory firm in connection with alleged money laundering charges.
Advising international call center firm in connection with tax evasion allegations.
Specialist lawyer: Tiberiu Csaki.
