The Legal 500

Work Department

Mergers, Acquisitions and Privatisations; International Arbitration; Corporate and Commercial; Competition.

Position

Cornel Popa is partner at Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii. Cornel combines top technical skills with commercial acumen to deal with complex and diverse matters. His multi-disciplinary approach covers large domestic and international joint-ventures, mergers, acquisitions and privatization projects, as well as dispute resolution. Cornel Popa has represented buyers and sellers from a broad range of industries and various Romanian governmental authorities in relation to multi-faceted, sophisticated matters. He is acknowledged as one of the most experienced dispute resolution lawyers in Romania, having dealt with civil litigation, mediation, domestic and international arbitration and participated in many hearings before ICSID, ICC and the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague. Furthermore, he was part of the team of lawyers having successfully defended the Romanian Government in three such ICSID arbitration cases in which an award was rendered.

Career

Cornel Popa is one of the founding partners of Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii. For the past 16 years, Cornel has acted as a legal advisor for companies and institutions like: OMV Petrom; Colgate – Palmolive Romania; Zentiva; Orkla Foods; Interbrands; The Government of Romania; Hidroelectrica. He has been directly involved in some of the most important projects taking place on the Romanian market, including the following ones: co-coordinator of the legal team having successfully defended the Romanian Government in a complex international arbitration initiated by a foreign investor (EDF Services LTD) claiming over USD 100,000,000; coordinator of the legal team retained by Zentiva on a USD 200,000,000 transaction for the acquisition of the largest Romanian drugs producer, including the mandatory public offer on the Bucharest Stock Exchange Market; coordinator of the legal team retained by OMV Petrom in connection with a USD 100,000,000 sale-purchase transaction of several maritime drilling platforms and on-shore real estate and industrial equipment; assisting Interbrands Marketing & Distribution, the largest distribution company in the Romanian consumer goods market, in the acquisition of full ownership of Wella Romania, the local subsidiary of Procter & Gamble Group; coordinator of the legal team assisting OMV Petrom in connection with the restructuring of the petrochemicals business carried out at Arpechim Piteşti industrial platform and subsequent sale thereof further to a transaction worth EUR 12,000,000; member 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; legal assistance to the leading advertising sales house for private electronic, interactive and mobile media in Switzerland, Goldbach Media Group, in connection with a acquisition of 72.7% of ARBOmedia Group; coordinator of the legal team retained by a leading Romanian energy company in a complex international arbitration related to the modernization of one of the largest European hydro-power stations.

Languages

English, French.

Member

Bucharest Bar Association.

Education

University of Bucharest (LL.B., 1995).