The Legal 500

Romania

Banking and finance

Banking and finance - ranked: tier 2

Reff & Associates SCA

Reff & Associates SCA's team is praised for its ‘knowledge and skills combined with flexibility and a win-win mentality’. It advises on all areas of transactional banking and has particular expertise with NPLs. Andrei Burz-Pinzaru heads the practice. Burz-Pinzaru and Alina Tihan recently assisted Green Oil and Lubes in relation to the structuring, negotiating and drafting of a secured financing agreement. A further highlight saw the team advise a bank on the winding down of its Romanian branch. Burz-Pinzaru and managing associate Andreea Serban ‘are very good professionals’ who adopt ‘a very human approach’.

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Commercial, corporate and M&A

Commercial, corporate and M&A - ranked: tier 3

Reff & Associates SCA

Reff & Associates SCA is well regarded for its work in the manufacturing, retail, health, energy and transportation industries. Its recent case load features a number of cross-border mandates including advising UK-listed investment fund Argo Group on the contemplated acquisition of the Romanian branch of Israel-based Leumi Bank. The practice is headed by Georgiana Singurel.

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EU and competition

EU and competition - ranked: tier 3

Reff & Associates SCA

Reff & Associates SCA's ‘dedicated’ and ‘very professional’ team is led by Florentina Munteanu, who recently provided state aid advice to the Ministry of Communication and Information Society in respect of a proposed share capital increase in Poșta Română. The team also handles merger clearances, compliance programmes and Competition Council investigations. Senior associate Oana Busca is praised for her ‘professional, focused’ approach and ‘in-depth’ understanding.

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Employment

Employment - ranked: tier 2

Reff & Associates SCA

Florentina Munteanu heads the group at Reff & Associates SCA, which possesses specialist knowledge of the IT, pharmaceuticals, retail, automotive, transportation and real estate sectors. It is experienced in handling hires, dismissals and collective negotiations as well as employee leasing, stock option plans and employee transfers in the context of M&A transactions. Recent highlights also include advising on changes to employee tax legislation and work-from-home policies.

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PPP and procurement

PPP and procurement - ranked: tier 3

Reff & Associates SCA

Reff & Associates SCA is reputed for handling public sector projects and is assisting the Bucharest municipality with the tender procedure for work contracts for 12 public parking areas. The European Investment Bank – Jaspers (Joint Assistance in Supporting Projects in European Regions) receives advice on an intermodal terminals development project. Georgiana Singurel leads the practice.

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Real estate and construction

Real estate and construction - ranked: tier 1

Reff & Associates SCA

The ‘excellent professionals’ at Reff & Associates SCA are ‘flexible, equitable and innovative in identifying solutions’. Practice head Irina Dimitriu and Alexandru Reff, who ‘stands out through his care for clients and commercial approach', advised IKEA on general contractor agreements for its new 67,065sqm store. The duo also acted for MAS Real Estate on the €95m acquisition, by way of a share deal, of the Militari shopping centre. The team covers a broad range of matters and is active in the office, retail, residential, logistics and agribusiness sectors.

Leading individuals

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TMT

TMT - ranked: tier 3

Reff & Associates SCA

Reff & Associates SCA focuses on data protection and the recent caseload contains a number of GDPR-related instructions; high-profile names such as ING Bank, IKEA Romania and Superbet have sought the team’s expertise on the new regulation. Georgiana Singurel heads the practice, which is also adept at e-commerce and digital media, technology and outsourcing, electronic signature and software-related matters.

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