The Legal 500

Work Department

Litigation and International Arbitration; PPP, PFI and Concessions; Corporate and Commercial; Mergers and Acquisitions.

Position

Dr Florentin Tuca is Managing Partner at Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii. he has gained a wide reputation in handling complex domestic and international arbitration, particularly in relation to privatization and cross-border disputes, having been involved in no less than three international arbitration files brought against Romania to the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes – ICSID. In addition, he has a wealth of experience in corporate law, banking law, as well as project finance, concessions and other forms of PPP projects, notably in the fields of infrastructure and energy. He has also conducted, as co-ordinator, numerous privatizations, joint-ventures, mergers and acquisitions in various industries. He is also highly skilled in drafting laws and regulations, being involved in the development and implementation of the legal framework relating to privatization, concessions, banking and other areas. Florentin Tuca is a regular speaker and writer on topics related to corporate law, PPPs, concession and other legal matters. He is also a founding member and General Secretary of the French-Romanian Chamber of Commerce and holds a PhD degree in PPPs and Concessions.

Career

For the past 18 years, Florentin Tuca dealt with a variety of interesting and sophisticated projects including the first privatization in the banking sector in Romania. He has been directly involved in many of the most important projects taking place in Romania, including the following ones: coordinator of the legal team retained by the Ministry of Economy (OPSPI) in a EUR 700,000,000 privatization of Daewoo Automobile Romania SA (DWAR) with Ford Motor Co., including preparing the privatization strategy and assisting the Governmental authority during negotiations; coordinator of the legal team retained by Erste Bank / Banca Comerciala Romana (BCR), BRD-Groupe Societe Generale, Banca Transilvania in connection with the prospected sale of their participation in Asiban S.A., a top 10 insurance company in Romania; coordinator of the legal team retained by Deutsche Bank in connection with the acquisition/privatization of Banca Comerciala Romana (BCR), the largest Romanian bank; coordinator of the legal team assisting the Romanian Ministry of Justice in relation to the project “Technical Assistance for the Preparation of the enforcement of the New Civil Code, Criminal Code, Civil Procedure Code and Criminal Procedure Code”, by conducting an assessment from institutional, human resources, fiscal and economic perspectives; coordinator of the legal team assisting Sofiproteol/Saipol in a transaction worth approximately EUR 85,000,000 for the acquisition of the majority shareholding in a leading local company – Expur – from the Swiss-based Alimenta Group, a significant player in agriculture commodity trading. In the first international arbitration case brought before the ICSID, Florentin Tuca coordinated the team of lawyers who competently and successfully defended the Romanian Government against the claim of Noble Ventures Inc. for USD 447,000,000. He has also ensured a successful outcome for the Romanian Government in two other ICSID arbitration cases in which an award was rendered. He has recently advised, or is currently advising, Deutsche Bank AG, ArcelorMittal, Monte dei Paschi di Siena, Vinci Concessions, Romtelecom, OMV Petrom, Alstom group of companies, Societe Generale, CEZ, EBRD, Eximbank, the Romanian Ministry of Finance, the Romanian Ministry of Economy, the Romanian Ministry of Justice. Speaker at numerous local and international conferences on PPP/concession law, banking, investments legal regime, including: 2nd Annual PPP in CEE and SEE Summit in Prague, 2009; IBA conference in Singapore, 2007; European PPP conference, Paris, 2007; Eastern European Investment Summit, organised by the International Herald Tribune, Bucharest 2003; French-Romanian Forum, Paris, 1993, 2003 and 2005. He is also the author of many articles, books and legal considerations in leading local and international publications, including: The Public-Private Partnerships – Romanian Outstanding Legal Issues in Privatization & Public-Private Partnership Review, 2002-03; The Public-Private Partnerships, a New Perspective in Bucharest Business Week, 2002; New Rules for Public-Private Partnerships in World Markets Regulatory Analysis, 2002; Civil Responsibility of Building Contractors in Studia, 2002; Law no. 114/1996 on Dwelling – the basis of leasing legislation (ALL, 1997); and the following articles for Dreptul Comercial Magazine: The Present Interest of Building Contracts (2002), Shares against financial claims or the utopia of a project (1999), Revoking the administrators of commercial companies (1999), Coordinates of the reorganization of regies autonomes (1999), Donation Sponsoring Patronage (1998), Specific elements of leasing agreement on dwelling settled by law 114/1996 (1997), Fictitious commercial company in Dreptul Comercial Magazine (1996) and Capacity of foreign capital companies to obtain properties in Romania (1995).

Languages

English, French.

Member

Bucharest Bar Association; International Bar Association; founder, member and general secretary of the French-Romanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Education

University of Bucharest (LL.B., 1993); assistant professor to the Law School of Bucharest University (1996-99); PhD (magna cum laude) in private-public partnership in Romania (2007).