Agenda

12.00pm-12.35pm Registration and light lunch

12.35pm-12.40pm Opening remarks

12.40pm-1.30pm Infrastructure & investment projects – addressing procurement dynamics, contractual structures, and multi-jurisdictional risk in association with Popovici Nitu Stoica & Asociatii

In a rapidly changing global environment marked by energy transition, geopolitical shifts, and rising capital demands, major infrastructure and strategic sector investments require a new level of coordination, insight, and risk awareness. The panel brings together leading expertise to provide a concise yet comprehensive overview of how large scale projects can be effectively structured, financed, acquired, and managed across their full lifecycle.

Speakers will explore contractual and procurement frameworks for major infrastructure developments, regulatory, compliance and long term governance instruments. Equally it will examine private investment and acquisition strategies, offering practical perspectives on valuation, due diligence, negotiation dynamics, financing structures, and post transaction stewardship, from a portfolio investment and management perspective. A special emphasis will be placed on strategic sectors including oil & gas, energy, and critical infrastructure where heightened regulatory requirements, geopolitical sensitivities, and transition driven pressures shape project feasibility and investor expectations.

    • Florian Nitu, managing partner, Popovici Nitu Stoica & Asociatii
    • Lavinia Nucu, head of legal Romania, CPI Property Group
    • Veronica Titel, head of legal department, SWIETELSKY Construct
    • Saniya Sadykova, group legal director, KMG Rompetrol

1.30pm-2.20pm Internal investigations in association with Mareș & Mareș

This panel examines how in-house legal teams can design and manage effective internal investigations across borders, balancing legal rigour, speed, confidentiality, and organisational trust. Drawing on real-world experience, speakers will discuss practical challenges and trade-offs, including:

• Trigger points: What should prompt an internal investigation?
Red flags, whistleblower reports, regulatory inquiries, media exposure

• Structuring the investigation team: Internal vs external counsel, role of compliance, forensic experts, segregation of duties

• Interview strategies and witness management:
Preparing witnesses, Upjohn warnings, confidentiality expectations

• Cross-border investigations: Coordination with global teams, navigating conflicting laws, cultural constraints

• Managing whistleblowers: Ensuring protection, EU Whistleblower Directive alignment, avoiding retaliation claims

• Use of technology and AI in investigations: e-discovery tools, predictive analytics, fraud detection systems

    • Mihai Mare, managing partner, Mareș & Mareș
    • Larissa Cenan, head of legal, ethics and compliance, Capgemini Romania

2.20pm-2.40pm Coffee Break

2.40pm-3.30pm Managing transactional risk: making deals work in Romania and the CEE in association with Suciu Partners

Higher capital costs, sector concentration in energy and fintech, and the growing ambition of Romanian companies to become regional acquirers are reshaping how M&A deals are structured, approved and integrated across the CEE. For general counsel, the challenge is no longer simply protecting against downside risk, but actively enabling transactions that can withstand regulatory scrutiny, ESG pressure and post-deal execution realities.

This panel brings together senior in-house perspectives to explore how the GC role is evolving across the full deal lifecycle from valuation gaps, risk allocation and W&I insurance, to managing extended signing-to-closing periods, cross-border regulatory complexity and post-merger integration.

The discussion will focus on what works in practice: coordinating Romanian and EU-level scrutiny, navigating FDI and competition regimes, embedding governance and ESG without stifling growth, and using technology to support faster, more strategic decision-making. Ultimately, the session will examine how GCs can move from risk managers to true growth architects in an increasingly uncertain market.

    • Miruna Suciu, managing partner, Suciu Partners

3.30pm-4.20pm Competition law through the business lens – trends and case law: what Romanian GCs need to know in 2026 in association with GNP Guia Naghi & Partners

Against a backdrop of significant updates to Romanian competition laws, heightened competition enforcement, and the evolving EU alignment, Romanian GCs are increasingly required to factor competition risk into everyday commercial, investment, and workforce decisions, and not just headline transactions.

This panel brings together senior in-house and external perspectives to examine how recent Romanian and EU-level developments are reshaping business decision-making in practice, drawing on current case law, regulatory trends and sector-specific examples.

Discussions will focus on:

• The evolving FDI framework in Romania, including the proposed amendments, lessons from recent cases, alignment with EU regulation, and the practical impacts on transactions and strategy choices.

• Current enforcement priorities of the Romanian Competition Council, including major merger cases, preferred remedies, the treatment of so-called “killer acquisitions,” the applicability of the EU Draghi report, and the use of “call-in powers,” – viewed from a business-risk lens.

• New approaches to competition law in the labour market and their implications for hiring practices and compliance.

• Sector-specific developments in modern retail and pharmaceuticals, including margin caps, UTP law enforcement on “own brands” and early signals emerging from recent market studies.

The session is designed to equip GCs, and senior in-house legal leaders with practical insights to anticipate competition and regulatory risk, engage more effectively with business, and make confident strategic decisions in an environment of heightened scrutiny and enforcement.

    • Manuela Guia, managing partner, GNP Guia Naghi & Partners
    • Otilia Vilcu, partner, GNP Guia Naghi & Partners
    • Cosmin Vanatoru, general secretary (legal, regulatory, compliance, corporate affairs, sustainability) director CEE and Ukraine, Danone
    • Alina Vladoianu, VP legal, public affairs & sustainability, Mega Image Romania (part of Ahold Delhaize Group)

4.20pm-4.40pm Coffee Break

4.40pm-5.10pm Competition economics in merger control: From pre-SPA self-assessment to compliance risk in association with Intuitive Economics

Competition economics is playing an increasingly central role in merger control, as the Romanian Competition Council shows a growing appetite to closely scrutinise transactions and an expanding number of prospective transactions fall into legally and economically borderline territory. In light of these recent developments, economics becomes the main tool to obtain precision in assessing the likely anti-competitive impact of potential mergers. For General Counsels, this shift requires earlier, more structured engagement with economic analysis, well before a transaction is signed.

This session explores how competition economics can be effectively integrated into pre-SPA self-assessments, enabling companies to anticipate regulatory risk under multiple plausible scenarios, using the speakers` extensive practical experience on both the private and public side. The discussion will focus on how alternative market definitions, varying timelines, and the potential depth of regulatory scrutiny should be reflected not only in legal strategy, but also in transaction structuring and price modelling.

Particular attention will be paid to the risks arising from emerging or novel market definitions and merger impact evaluation frameworks where established precedents offer limited guidance and where authorities may test new analytical approaches. These dynamics increase uncertainty during the merger review process and may even raise important compliance considerations, both pre- and post-closing. Based on recent cases, the speakers will offer valuable insights into how to mitigate compliance risk linked to the merger review process and dramatically increase the probabilities for positive outcomes in the merger review process.
This session is designed to equip General Counsel with the insight and confidence to take ownership of competition-law risk in merger scenarios, translating complex economic analysis into clear, board-level guidance on deal structure, valuation, timing, and regulatory exposure, and supporting informed decision-making in an environment of heightened scrutiny and evolving enforcement standards.

    • Paul Prisecaru, managing director, Intuitive Economics
    • Oana Romano, chief economist, Romanian Competition Council
    • Alex Șotropa, competition law director, eMAG

5.10pm-5.40pm Panel 6

    • Mihai Jiganie-Serban, head of criminal law practice, CMS Romania

5.40pm-5.50pm Closing Remarks

5.50pm-7.30pm Drinks and canapés reception