FILIP & COMPANY

Address: 2 Gara Herastrau Street, Equilibrium Building, 11th Floor, 2nd District, Bucharest, RO‑020334, Romania
E-mail: [email protected]
Web: www.filipandcompany.com
Most senior representative: Cristina Filip, Managing Partner
No. of local partners: 15
No. of lawyers: 74
Year founded in Romania: 2008
Offices in Romania: Bucharest

Partners and heads of practice

Cristina Filip, Managing Partner

Cristina Filip has a broad expertise in M&A transactions and corporate matters, representing clients in complex high-profile deals, multi-lawyered partnerships and large restructurings across various sectors, including financial services, energy and natural resources, media and automotive. Energy is a key area for which Cristina is recognised as leading legal expert.
Alexandru Birsan, Partner, Head of Corporate and M&A Department

Alex’s main areas of focus are mergers and acquisitions (including private equity transactions) and capital markets. His background includes diverse experience in other areas such as privatisations, telecommunications and IT, real-estate, project financing, energy and banking. Previously Alex has worked for seven years in the Bucharest, London and Paris offices of a Magic Circle firm and has acted on projects in a large number of jurisdictions in CEE, CIS as well as Western Europe.
Alina Stancu Birsan, Partner, Head of Finance & Banking Department

Alina heads the Finance department and the Energy and Projects practice of Filip & Company. She advises sponsors, lenders, equity investors, lenders and contractors on a wide range of matters (including financing transactions, acquisitions and mergers, joint ventures, regulatory, structuring and contractual matters). Her experience covers sectors such as financial services energy and infrastructure, where she advised on some of the most noteworthy deals in the sector.
Alexandra Manciulea, Partner

Alexandra has advised clients in complex multijurisdictional finance transactions, restructuring deals, banking regulatory matters, as well as in high profile acquisitions carried out in the financial sector and some of the most significant transactions related to sale of performing and non-performing loan portfolios. Before joining Filip & Company, Alexandra has worked in the Bucharest office of a Magic Circle law firm.
Catalin Suliman, Partner, Head of Competition Practice

Catalin is providing the entire spectrum of day-to-day advice on competition matters, overseeing competition trainings and mock dawn raids. Prominent competition-related matters include assisting a leading oil and gas group in EU and local cases, leading IT company in a complex bid-rigging case, as well as assisting one of the largest telecom operators in several investigations, some finalized with the application of the first commitments procedure in the telecom sector. Catalin has also been involved in competition proceedings in other industries.
Catalin Alexandru, Partner, Head of Dispute Resolution

Catalin has brought together some of the brightest and dedicated legal minds to form the fastest-growing Dispute Resolution practice in Romania. He coordinates a number of mandates with the potential to open up new markets and trade routes for Romanian undertakings.Highlights include representing RCS & RDS in its unprecedented challenge against the monopoly of several power distribution companies, Hidroelectrica in court proceedings in defence of its right to directly export energy in the EU and the financial services regulator in defense of its decision to institute special administration proceedings against the largest Romanian insurance company.
Ioan Dumitrascu, Partner, Head of Commercial Department

Ioan's main specialisations are Employment law, Corporate/M&A and commercial contracts. He gained also extensive experience in private equity deals, restructuring and insolvency and public procurement. Ioan has assisted clients concluding successful deals in automotives, energy, retail, food&consumer goods, pharma, telecom, financial services or IT. Highlights include the acquisition by a major international car manufacturer of a plant in Romania,the restructuring of a multinational industrial company employing thousands of employees in Romania,reorganization of the remuneration system and of the labour relationships or the 3.75 billion Euro sale of the largest Romanian bank.
Ioana Roman, Partner, Head of Real Estate Department

Ioana’s main specializations are real estate, projects & infrastructure and public procurement. Her expertise includes structuring of complex transactions from acquisitions to exits, development and financing of real estate projects, leasing, private-public partnership in real estate projects, infrastructure projects, health and safety regulations, arbitration and general litigation, commercial contracts, as well as various regulatory matters related to development of real estate and wind farm projects.
Eliza Baias, Partner

Eliza’s main practice areas are corporate and M&A, capital markets and banking. Eliza has advised on corporate, financing and regulatory matters on some of the most complex transactions on the Romanian market in recent years.
Raluca Puscas, Partner

Raluca’s main practice areas are banking & finance and commercial. Her area of expertise includes complex projects such as the authorization of banks and financial/payment institutions, insurance and pension funds regulatory advice, restructuring and transfer of business projects. In addition, Raluca has provided legal advice to the clients in projects related to data protection, consumer protection, intellectual property, media & telecom and competition.
Olga Nita, Partner

Olga’s primary practice areas are Capital Markets, M&A and Corporate. She gained extensive experience in debt and equity capital markets transactions in Romania, M&A projects, legal due diligence, corporate governance and general corporate advice for private and publicly traded companies. Her background includes diverse experience in areas such as telecommunications and banking. Olga has advised on some of the most significant M&A and capital markets transactions in Romania in the past years.
Monica Statescu, Partner

Monica Statescu is a partner in the Corporate and M&A department at Filip & Company. Monica’s primary practice areas are corporate and M&A, capital markets and intellectual property. Her background includes diverse experience in other areas such as privatizations and energy. Monica has advised on some of the most significant M&A and capital markets transactions in Romania in the past years, as well as on complex software development and licensing agreements.
George Trantea, Partner

George Trantea has over 14-years of experience in dispute resolution projects. George specialises in public law litigations (fiscal, administrative, fair competition) and has a significant experience in assisting and representing clients in complex commercial disputes as well as in domestic and international arbitration cases. George is a member of the Bucharest Bar since 2008 and of the Paris Bar since 2013 and has an LL.M in private international law and commercial international law from the Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University.
Silviu Vasile, Partner

Silviu focuses on competition and pharmaceutical and life sciences matters. Silviu also has extensive expertise in contract law, with a focus on drafting and negotiating commercial agreements in various sectors, such as automotive, pharmaceutical or food retail. Highlights of his recent work include assistance in a multi-jurisdiction merger clearance procedure in the financial sector involving proceedings before both the European Commission and the Romanian Competition Council, obtaining clearance from the Romanian Competition Council in a highly complex merger in the pharmaceutical sector or implementing a complex competition compliance program for a large client.    
Cristina Tudoran, Partner

Cristina’s main specialization is employment law, field in which Cristina holds a master’s degree from the Faculty of Law, University of Bucharest. Cristina is assisting clients active in various industries, some of the core and recurrent topics in her activity covering: major restructurings projects, assistance with the employment side in M&A transactions, TUPE restrictions, collective negotiations, collective litigations with unions, requalification of civil contracts with contractors, individual negotiations for termination cases or managing sensitive situations with top management. In the litigation field, Cristina coordinated cases that reached notorious successes for our clients, privately or publicly owned, saving hundreds of millions of EUR for the companies represented in court. 

List of the most representative projects

Corporate and M&A

Assisted Digi Communications N.V. and RCS & RDS in connection with the sale of DIGI Tavkozlesi Szolgaltato Ltd. and of its subsidiaries Invitel, I TV, and DIGI Infrastructure towards 4iG. This transaction is the largest M&A transaction of a Romanian company outside Romania, the largest Romanian transaction of this year. Specialist lawyers: Alexandru Birsan, Olga Nita, Rebecca Marina, Anca Badescu.

Advising Tiriac Holdings, owner of the sanction rights to organize the combined ATP Masters 1000/WTA Premier Mandatory Tennis event in Madrid in  relation to the sale of the rights to the Madrid Tournament through a competitive tender procedure to IMG UK, an international entertainment group part of
Endeavour. Specialist lawyers: Cristina Filip, Eliza Baias, Catalin Suliman, Monica Statescu, Irina Suatean.

Advising TIRIAC Group in relation to the sale of Tiriac Leasing IFN to Banca Transilvania. Specialist lawyers: Cristina Filip, Andrei Konya.



Banking

Advised a syndicate of banks including UniCredit Bank, Raiffeisen Bank, Banca Comerciala Romana, ING Bank, and OTP Bank Romania SA in the €127 million financing to Green Group, the largest integrated waste recycling group in Central Europe. Specialist lawyers: Alexandra Manciulea, Ioana Roman, Rebecca Marina, Camelia Iantuc.

Assisting RCS&RDS, one of the leading media and telecommunication companies in Romania, in connection to a €260 million facility agreement concluded between Digi Spain Telecom, SLU, as the borrower, RCS&RDS and Digi Communications N.V., as guarantors, and, among others, Banco
Santander and ING Bank NV, Spanish Branch, as lenders. Specialist lawyers: Alexandru Birsan, Rebecca Marina, Smaranda Vacaru.

Assisting Banca Transilvania on (i) the acquisition of 100% of the shares in Idea Bank group in Romania containing a bank, a non-banking financial institution, an insurance broker, and certain other companies within the banking and financial services sectors and (ii) the sale to Mozaik Investments (an
investment fund) of its majority stake in a technology company, which developed an online payment application (Pago). Specialist lawyers: Alina Stancu Birsan, Monica Statescu, Rebecca Marina.



Energy and Natural Resources

Representing Next Energy Partners in several disputes against important players in the energy market in relation to power sale and purchase agreements, in the context of the price volatility in the energy market versus long term commitments and pricing. Specialist lawyers: Alina Stancu Birsan, George Trantea, Alin Grapa.

Assisting Holcim Romania in relation to several litigation cases against the National Energy Regulatory Authority connected to the qualification of their electricity consumption as technological consumption subject to exemption under the renewables energy support scheme, for the electricity generated
by the Waste Heat Recovery installation and consumed at the Alesd Cement Factory. Specialist lawyers: Cristina Filip, Catalin Alexandru.

Successfully assisted Energy Gas Provider, a local natural gas supplier, in proceedings against the National Energy Regulatory Authority in connection with the alleged failure to observe the obligation to store minimum quantities of natural gas in underground facilities for the benefit of its final consumers. Specialist lawyers: Cristina Filip, Catalin Alexandru.



Competition

Assisted BCR in the three-party transaction by BCR, BRD Groupe Societe Generale and Raiffeisen Bank Romania hold an equal 33.3% share in CIT One, one of the leading companies on the cash services Romanian market. Besides the corporate assistance concerning the transaction, the Competition/ Antitrust practice obtained the merger control clearance following a complex process before the European Commission and the
Romanian Competition Council. Specialist lawyers: Catalin Suliman, Silviu Vasile.

The services provided to RCS & RDS relate do day-to-day advice on various competition-law related matters, including in relation to audits for the purpose of bond issuance. Specialist lawyers: Catalin Suliman, Silviu Vasile, Dragos Iordache.

Assisted Tiriac Group in selling the rights and operations of the Mutua Madrid Open tennis tournament and the Acciona Open de España golf tournament to IMG UK, part of the Endeavor group. Specialist lawyers: Cristina Filip, Catalin Suliman.



Real Estate

Assisted One United Properties, a leading Romanian residential real estate developer, in connection with its IPO and subsequent listing on the Bucharest Stock Exchange, being the first primary initial public offering on the stock exchange in the last seven years. Specialist lawyers: Alexandru Birsan, Ioana Roman, Olga Nita.

Assisted Anchor Group, one of the first foreign investors entering the Romanian real estate market and a major player in the field, in relation to the envisaged acquisition, by way of a share deal, of a company operating a competing cinema business. Specialist lawyers: Ioana Roman, Catalin
Suliman.

Assisting Tiriac Group in respect of the sale of a real estate property with an area on 145,000 sqm located in the north area of Timisoara, a major secondary city in Romania, to Dedeman. Specialist lawyer: Ioana Roman.



Litigation and Dispute Resolution

Assisted Super Slam Limited, the sanction rights holder of the Masters 1000 Mutua Madrid Tennis Tournament in its groundbreaking claim against the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) in relation to contractual breaches and discriminatory behaviour by the ATP of the Mutua Madrid Tennis Tournament. The claim was filed in the United States, before the court of Delaware. Specialist lawyers: Cristina Filip, Irina Suatean.

The law firm is constantly requested to present offers for disputes involving Hidroelectrica. After obtaining a favourable decision in front of the ECJ and securing the client’s right to trade electricity, the team continues to represent the client in front of the Romanian courts to obtain a final decision in this matter. Specialist lawyers: Catalin Alexandru, Cristina Tudoran.

Assisting Electrica in a €18 million profit tax dispute, which generated over 10 separate lawsuits, including a complaint in front of the European Court of Human Rights, all due to authorities’ refusal to enforce a favourable decision obtained by their client, in the context in which the authorities managed
to obtain a contradictory ruling on the same legal issue. Specialist lawyers: Catalin Alexandru, Cristina Tudoran.



PPP Public Procurement

Assisted the companies from the Medicover/Synevo Group, one of the largest medical services and laboratories in Romania in various public procurement issues. The client participates constantly in various procedures (direct attribution, public tender or negotiation procedures) and the
team follows closely to support with possible issues and eventual challenges. Specialist lawyers: George Trantea, Carmen Predescu.

Defending the client, Comtel Focus, against a highly publicized expropriation procedure covering several of its land plots on which the client runs a Hotel. The team obtained the stay of several expropriation deeds in court and assisted the client in settlement discussions with the public authorities. Specialist lawyers: George Trantea, Ioana Roman.



Employment

Constantly assisting British American Shared Services (Europe) on various employment related aspects, out of which they mention the assistance related to the representation of the client while managing the relationship with several employees, reviewing internal policies, providing specific advice during the COVID-19 pandemic, tailoring complex restructuring processes and assisting the client during various labour law litigations. Specialist lawyers: Ioan Dumitrascu, Cristina Tudoran. 

Assisting Atos IT Solutions and Services in various employment law matters, including managing the relationship with the relevant trade union. Specialist lawyers: Ioan Dumitrascu, Cristina Tudoran.

Continuously advising MagnaPharm Marketing & Sales Romania on complex labour law matters, including employment termination structures. Specialist lawyers: Ioan Dumitrascu, Cristina Tudoran.



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