Biris Goran SPARL > Bucharest, Romania > Firm Profile
Biris Goran SPARL Offices
47 AVIATORILOR BOULEVARD
011853, BUCHAREST
Romania
Biris Goran SPARL > The Legal 500 Rankings
Romania > Tax Tier 1
Biris Goran SPARL has a broad-based tax practice with a market-leading reputation for landmark disputes. The firm regularly represents some of Romania’s largest institutions, Banca Comercială Română being a notable example, on their confrontations with the tax authorities. The firm’s expertise covers direct and indirect taxes, and its lawyers are praised for their ‘good knowledge and understanding of the law’ and being ‘always willing to find a solution‘. Key team members include founding partner Gabriel Biris , whose experience also extends to legislative reforms, and Ruxandra Jianu , who works within the firm’s tax consulting arm, Biris Goran Consulting. Support here includes advice on corporate tax structuring and M&A.Practice head(s):
Gabriel Biriș; Ruxandra Jianu
Testimonials
‘The team is client and problem solving oriented. They understand clients’ needs and always look for a solution, also different ways to improve or to mitigate risks within legal limits.’
‘A good knowledge and understanding of the law. Always willing to find a solution’
Key clients
BCR (Banca Comercială Română)
Farmec SA
Distribuție Energie Electrică
eMAG (Dante International)
River Development
The Family Butchers (former H&E Reinert)
Oriflame Romania
Impuls Leasing Romania
Fildas Catena Group,
Angelli Spumante & Aperitive
Hagag Development Europe
Immofinanz, Global Vision
Forte Partners
Vastint
Cris-Tim
Titan Mar
Thales Romania
LeasePlan Romania
LeasePlan Service Center
One United Properties
Work highlights
- Assisting Banca Comercială Română on a major multimillion Euro dispute with the tax authorities concerning transfer pricing, share transfers and assignment of receivables, as well as corporate income tax matters specific to financial institutions.
- Legal advisor the largest Romanian energy distributor, Distribuție Energie Electrică in a complex tax dispute.
- Provided tax assistance to River Development following the sale of one of its real estate developments.
Romania > EU and competition Tier 2
Biris Goran SPARL is popular with clients who commend its ‘swiftness combined with unquestionable professionalism'. The firm’s experience of competition and antitrust matters covers high level contentious and non-contentious mandates. The practice has a good track record on high profile cartel cases and investigations, and has achieved some notable successes on behalf of international clients such as Viessmann. This is coupled with a solid understanding of heavily regulated sectors such as financial services and life sciences. The ‘very helpful‘ founding partner Gelu Goran is praised for his ‘good and timely advice’. Senior associate Răzvan Bardicea is also singled out for praise.Practice head(s):
Gelu Goran
Testimonials
‘Very proactive and knowledgeable.’
‘One of the most appealing aspects of the firm is its swiftness throughout the whole procedure of fulfilling a mandate, from the first contact until the mandate is completely performed. This swiftness combined with the highest level of professionalism on a wide range of legal fields resulted in that all of our co-operations were highly fruitful. Our main field of co-operation was competition law, specifically a Romanian merger clearance procedure, which is widely known for its strict deadlines and the requirement of precision and a deep understanding of different legal and business areas, and this firm was more than capable to correspond with these requirements.’
‘We have worked especially with Goran Gelu and Teodora Motatu. Both lawyers represented a distinguished level of understanding on their fields, competition law and M&A (another prominently complex field) respectively. Again, we must mention that their strongest aspect was their swiftness combined with unquestionable professionalism.’
‘Gelu Goran is very helpful and provides good and timely advice.’
‘Provide deep legal analysis, dedicated, focus on obtaining good results, good understanding of the business impact of the matters analyzed and appropriate adaptation of the legal opinion to respond to business needs and minimize any negative impact.’
‘Deep analysis combined with clear practical guidance, reliable, prompt’
‘Promptness, pragmatic/commercial approach, flexibility and, in general, ‘value for money’ and “out of the box” approach.’
‘Gelu Goran and Razvan Badircea – Their experience in the specific area of competition matters provided a strong legal know-how and practical basis for dealing with any aspects/hurdles that could come in the course of the projects, both legally correct but also pragmatically and in a flexible manner. They were definitely efficient, responsive and very proactive, with a significant experience with the Romanian legislative initiatives environment and the Romanian authorities’
Key clients
Aon UK Limited
Viessmann
UniCredit Leasing Fleet Management
UniCredit Leasing Corporation
ASLO
Profi
Procter & Gamble
General Leasing
LafargeHolcim
Lingemann
Work highlights
- Ongoing assistance to Aon UK and its Romanian insurance brokerage affiliate, Aon Romania, in a Competition Council investigation into the aviation insurance market for alleged bid-rigging and price fixing.
- Advising Viessmann, a manufacturer of heating and refrigeration systems, in a vertical price fixing investigation.
- Advising UniCredit Leasing Fleet Management in an industry-wide information exchange investigation.
Romania > Real estate and construction Tier 2
Biris Goran SPARL is a strong choice for major real estate transactions and development projects. The firm acts for a mix of domestic and international investors and developers, including corporate owners and investment funds. Complex transactions, often with a heavy corporate element, have featured prominently on the agenda in the past year, both in terms of divestments and acquisitions. The firm was also busy with several high profile mixed-use, industrial and logistics developments. Daniela Lazea has good expertise in transactional and contentious matters, while Sorin Aungurenci has a particular emphasis on zoning and related regulatory issues. Mariana Signeanu is the main contact for related project finance.Practice head(s):
Daniela Lazea; Sorin Aungurenci
Key clients
SIF Banat-Crișana
Tubinox
Zeus International
River Development
Hagag Development Europe
Gran Via
Procter & Gamble
CTP Invest
Global Vision
Renergy Power Plants
Work highlights
- Assisted SIF Banat-Crișana on the indirect (via a share deal) acquisition of the land on which the IMGB Bucharest industrial platform is located, with an area totaling 540,000 square metres.
- Assisted Tubinox in the sale of 100,000 square metres worth of industrial land and related buildings in Bucharest.
- Assisted Zeus International in the financing and then acquisition of a portfolio of three hotels in Bucharest from Alpha Real Estate.
Romania > Commercial, corporate and M&A Tier 3
Biris Goran SPARL represents an impressive mix of investment funds and corporates, and has seen an increasing amount of buyer-side mandates in the past year. The practice has especially good experience of cross-border corporate deals in with a heavy real estate component, such as SIF Banat Crisana’s acquisition of South Korea’s IMGB Doosan. Coupled with the firm’s ‘exceptional quality ‘ and ‘great strength in M&A‘, is its ‘excellent knowledge of regulatory and tax structuring‘. The team is jointly led by Ana Frațian and the ‘pro-business and proactive‘ Teodora Moțatu , who ‘is always responsive’, and ‘has great entrepreneurial drive‘.Practice head(s):
Teodora Moțatu; Ana Frațian
Testimonials
‘The firm offers full-service with great strength in M&A; every practice needed for our M&A deal was smoothly provided with exceptional quality.’
‘Teodora Motatu is the partner to got to in M&A Deals involving Romania. She is always responsive, has great entrepreneurial drive, is pro-business and proactive and anticipates the clients´ needs’
‘Excellent knowledge of regulatory and tax structuring. Commitment and high level of negotiation skills.’
‘360 degrees of M&A, covering all levels of the transaction. Highly skilled team with extensive national and international experience.’
Key clients
Zeus International
SIF Banat Crisana
Riegler & Zechmeister
GÖRG Partnerschaft von Rechtsanwälten mbB
River Development
Green Ideas
One United Properties
Inditex Group
Work highlights
- Assisted River Development, a real estate developer, in selling of a company owning The Light One office building to UNIQA Real Estate.
- Assisting Zeus International, a Greek hospitality management and restructuring company, in its leveraged acquisition of three Bucharest downtown hotels from Alpha Bank Romania.
- Assisted SIF Banat-Crișana, a major local investment company, on its acquisition of IMGB Doosan, a South Korean heavy machinery company that owns the largest industrial platform in Bucharest.
Romania > Dispute resolution Tier 4
Biris Goran SPARL is renowned for its extremely strong tax litigation practice where it represents major domestic and international clients on some of their most high value claims. This feeds into broader strengths in administrative litigation, including antitrust and competition disputes, and appearances before regulatory agencies and tribunals. The team is praised for its ‘excellent knowledge of substantial and procedural laws‘, and ‘very extensive experience with courts and tax authorities‘. Practice head Mihai Nușcă brings ‘exceptional knowledge of handling cases‘ and an ‘ability to foresee and prevent potential issues‘.Practice head(s):
Mihai Nușcă
Testimonials
‘Excellent knowledge of substantial and procedural laws; Very extensive experience with Courts and Tax Authorities; multidisciplinary approach (legal, tax, transfer pricing, accounting).’
‘Mihai Nusca, Partner (Head of Litigation): exceptional knowledge of handling cases; proactive/ has the ability to foresee & prevent potential issues; effective communication with client; availability & direct involvement.’
Key clients
Banca Comercială Română (BCR – member of Erste Group)
CT Park
Farmec
Stratum Energy
Distribuție Energie Electrică România
SEWS Romania
Low & Bonar
FEPRA International
Publicis Groupe
Viessmann Romania
UniCredit Leasing Corporation IFN
Engie Romania
AMV Style
The Family Butchers Romania
Work highlights
- Assisting Banca Comercială Română in a major tax dispute.
- Representing the energy distributor, Distribuție Energie Electrică, in a complex tax dispute.
- Advising Viessmann, a global manufacturer of heating and refrigeration systems, in connection with a Competition Council investigation focused on vertical price fixing on the heating systems market.
Biris Goran SPARL > Firm Profile
The firm: Biriş Goran is a Romanian law firm of approximately 45 lawyers and tax consultants. With one partner licensed to practice in the US and most of the senior associates educated, trained or licensed in various European countries, the firm offers business advice to Western standards to its wide range of clients, including multinational corporations, investment funds and local high-net-worth entrepreneurs. The firm focuses primarily on transactional work, including tax, corporate/M&A, real estate, competition, litigation, labour, energy, data protection, IP, IT&C, as well as insolvency and public acquisitions. The firm is also widely recognized as having the top tax practice in Romania.
Biriș Goran is a member of NGL Symbio, a new international alliance built by partnering strong law firms in the CEE region: Biriș Goran in Romania, Rowan Legal in the Czech Republic, NGL Legal in Poland, Erdős Katona in Hungary, and HKV in Slovakia. As a solid regional player in Central Eastern Europe (CEE) with strong ties to the Baltics, Balkans & Adriatics (BBA), NGL Symbio offers fast and easy access to diversified regions with consistent practice and quality support and represents a new option on the market for clients looking for well-organised, integrated service originating from the CEE region.
Areas of practice
Taxation: the firm has extensive experience in tax planning, structuring cross-border transactions and tax litigation. In addition, the tax group advises on a wide array of taxation matters, such as direct and indirect taxation, customs and leasing, transfer pricing, thin-capitalisation issues, personal income taxation and tax litigation. The tax group is lead by Gabriel Biris and Ruxandra Jianu, leading tax law experts, heavily involved in the consultations regarding the drafting of amendments to the Romanian Fiscal Code and its implementation legislation.
A forte of the firm’s practice is tax litigation, where we currently represent institutional clients against the tax authorities on litigation related to VAT reimbursements, excise and other fiscal obligations and tax audits, for EUR
multi-million amounts. As particular detail to support the “innovative” attribute of the firm’s litigation practice, in some administrative and tax disputes our
arguments found successful in court determined the Romanian state to amend the legislation in the energy and tax sectors. Contacts: Gabriel Biris and Ruxandra Jianu
Antitrust/competition: the firm’s antitrust/competition practice is lead by Gelu Goran, with over 22 years of experience in competition matters, including regulatory authority experience as former attorney with the Romanian Competition Council. Among others, the firm offers merger control assistance, and regularly advises clients on price fixing and collusion investigations, as well as exclusive dealing arrangements and antitrust compliance and audits. LafarageHolcim, JT International, Nestle, Procter & Gamble, Siemens and UniCredit Bank are among the most important companies advised by the firm.
Contact: Gelu Goran
Real estate: the firm’s real estate practice group represents clients in all aspects of real estate investments, from sales or purchases of shopping centers, hotels, office buildings, hypermarkets and raw land, commercial and hotel leasing, retail or warehouse roll-out programmes, to joint ventures with private parties or governmental bodies (PPPs), as well as the representation of lenders and developers in all types of lending and re-financing arrangements. The firm has strong expertise in advising on real estate financing and taxation and tax efficient investment structures, providing a cutting edge ‘one-stop’ shop for real estate investments in Romania, as it continues to advise on ‘headline’ transactions in the country. Contacts: Daniela Lazea and Sorin Aungurenci
Finance and restructuring: Real estate finance is a leading practice area of the finance team, and lawyers within the finance team have advised on many high profile real estate finance transactions in Romania. Working closely with the real estate and tax teams, team members have acquired substantial experience in structuring complex financings for the acquisition of real estate assets and portfolios as well as for construction of residential, offices and shopping malls projects. In the last year the firm’s team specialized also in financing through bonds issuance, an alternative method of financing which is rather undeveloped in Romania as compared to other jurisdictions.
Lawyers within the finance team also have an established record of advising on a broad range of acquisition finance transactions and related aspects, including LBOs, compliance with the prohibition of financial assistance and structuring of security packages and have drafted and negotiated project documentation as well as financing documentation and have advised banks, international financial institutions and sponsors in public infrastructure and manufacturing facilities in Romania. Contact: Mariana Signeanu
Litigation and insolvency: the firm provides its clients with comprehensive advice at every stage of a controversy, whether it is proactive problem avoidance, effective negotiation and settlement, or vigorous advocacy both in court and before governmental agencies and tribunals. Tax litigation is a particular specialty of the firm and the tax practice’s deep knowledge of the litigation and the practice of the authorities leads to unparalleled service. The firm also has an active insolvency practice licensed with the Romanian National Union of Insolvency Practitioners, advising both insolvent companies and creditors on all stages of workout, insolvency and bankruptcy procedure.
Contact: Mihai Nusca
Corporate/M&A: Attorneys comprising the firm’s corporate/M&A practice group have been involved in privatization/M&A transactions in the Central and East European area and Romania since 1997. They have advised well-known multinational and local clients active in industries ranging from fast moving consumer goods, construction and real estate development, manufacturing and financial services, to banking, media, internet and defense industry investors. Contact: Teodora Motatu
Energy and natural resources: Biriş Goran lawyers are well aware of the specificity of the electricity market in Romania and the European Union and the firm’s team is able to provide an integrated approach to its clients acting in the industry, covering issues regarding taxation, competition, corporate and the organization and functioning of the companies, as well as real estate, litigation and labor related matters. Dana Dunel-Stancu heads the firm’s energy practice. A noted expert on the Romanian market for her energy and oil and gas expertise, Dana has been practicing exclusively in energy field since 2002 and has a thorough and proven command of the regulatory and practical commercial opportunities and constraints in the field. Contact: Dana Dunel-Stancu
Labour: The firm’s experience covers representation in contentious cases such as unfair dismissal, disciplinary action and breach of contract, but also advises on non-litigious matters such as negotiation of collective bargaining agreements, executive service agreements, fiscal employment optimization (including secondment arrangements), and internal regulations. Biriș Goran routinely advises on employment-related matters in the context of M&A transactions, including requirements regarding personnel and trade unions. The firm’s labour practice has expanded to include white collar crime elements. Biriș Goran has been engaged on several occasions by the foreign headquarters of multinational companies to pursue actions and protect company interests against rogue employees, as well as conduct investigations as to potential breaches of applicable anti-bribery legislation.
The firm advises a large number of clients on routine employment matters, such as reviewing and revising standard labour agreements, internal labour regulations, compliance with labour code matters and health and safety requirements, etc. Considering the new regulations addressing the equal treatment and harassment at work, Biriș Goran assists employers to adapt their internal regulation and working environment to the new legal requirements and constraints in the field. Contact: Anca Iulia Zegrean
Data protection, IP and IT&C: Early 2018 Biriş Goran and PrivacyON, a boutique law firm specialized in legal advice on personal data protection, joined forces to provide consolidated advisory services in the field of personal data protection. The expertise of PrivacyON – currently focusing on the alignment to the new Personal Data Protection Regulation – comes to complete the portfolio of services offered by Biriş Goran with thorough GDPR knowledge.
The firm’s support includes assisting clients with the full range of legal services from gap analyses, implementation plans, training programs, drafting of internal policies, privacy notices and data protection agreements, drafting the records of processing operations, preparing data protection impact assessments, devising cookie consent mechanisms for websites, as well as assisting with the compliance of transfers of personal data outside of the European Union. With considerable experience on structuring, drafting and reviewing general corporate group and HR policies, the firm also provides support with employee privacy compliance, telephone, Internet and email use and customer data. Contacts: Roxana Guiman and Dana Ududec
Main Contacts
| Department | Name | Telephone | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tax | Gabriel Biris | office@birisgoran.ro | +40 21 260 0710 |
| Competition/Antitrust | Gelu Goran | office@birisgoran.ro | +40 21 260 0710 |
| Insolvency | Mihai Nusca | office@birisgoran.ro | +40 21 260 0710 |
| Litigation | Mihai Nusca | office@birisgoran.ro | +40 21 260 0710 |
| Data Protection, IP and IT&C | Roxana Guiman | office@birisgoran.ro | +40 21 260 0710 |
| Labour | Anca Zegrean | office@birisgoran.ro | +40 21 260 0710 |
| Tax | Ruxandra Jianu | office@birisgoran.ro | +40 21 260 0710 |
| Finance and restructuring | Mariana Signeanu | office@birisgoran.ro | +40 21 260 0710 |
| Energy and Natural Resources | Dana Dunel Stancu | office@birisgoran.ro | +40 21 260 0710 |
| Transfer Pricing | Alina Andrei | office@birisgoran.ro | +40 21 260 0710 |
| Corporate/M&A | Teodora Motatu | office@birisgoran.ro | +40 21 260 0710 |
Lawyer Profiles
| Photo | Name | Position | Profile |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Ms Alina Andrei | Partner | View Profile |
 | Mr Sorin Aungurenci | Partner | View Profile |
 | Mr Răzvan Bardicea | Senior Associate | View Profile |
 | Mr Sorin Biban | Tax Senior Manager | View Profile |
 | Mr Gabriel Biriş | Gabriel is a founding partner of Biriş Goran and is widely regarded… | View Profile |
 | Ms Ioana Cartite | Tax Senior Manager | View Profile |
 | Mrs Dana Dunel Stancu | Head of Energy & Natural Resources | View Profile |
 | Ms Ana Frațian | Partner | View Profile |
 | Mr Gelu Goran | Co-managing Partner | View Profile |
 | Ms Mioara Grecu | Senior Associate | View Profile |
 | Mrs Roxana Guiman | Partner, PrivacyON in alliance with Biriș Goran | View Profile |
 | Mrs Ruxandra Jianu | Partner | View Profile |
 | Ms Daniela Lazea | Partner | View Profile |
 | Ms Teodora Moțatu | Partner | View Profile |
 | Mr Mihai Nușcă | Partner, Head of the Litigation Practice | View Profile |
 | Mrs Oana Olteanu | Senior Associate | View Profile |
 | Ms Mariana Signeanu | Partner, Head of Banking & Finance Practice | View Profile |
 | Ms Anca Zegrean | Partner, Head of Employment and Labour Department | View Profile |
Staff Figures
Number of lawyers : 45Languages
English RomanianDiversity/Community
Biriș Goran’s priority will always be the needs of its clients. However, the firm also recognizes the need to give back to the wider community that made us what, and helped us reach where we are.
As such, we actively encourage our lawyers to get involved, and dedicate firm resources and time, to a number of initiatives past and present:
- Gabriel Biriș is actively involved in Ready Nation Ro, a Romanian NGO supported by Ready Nation US, which aims to determine a large number of Romanian business leaders to actively engage in creating public policies impacting the early education; Gabriel is also an active member of AOAR (Asociația Oamenilor de Afaceri din România), an apolitical organization, recognized as a supporter of the most valuable ideas and actions that cause the Romanian economy to develop and integrate more and more into the European and world economy;
- Ruxandra Jianu headed in 2019 the tax task force of the Coalition for Romania’s Development (Coaliția pentru Dezvoltarea României), a private non-political initiative, gathering the most representative organizations for the business environment in Romania with the purpose to provide a cohesive basis for consultation with the Government and other public institutions on topics that impact the business and economic climate in Romania;
- supporting with legal advice Fotograful Anului în România (The Photographer of the Year in Romania), a national large-scale competition aiming to recognize Romanian photographic art and photographic artists and to further become a platform for promotion, valorisation and education in the art of photography. The competition’s jury is formed of prestigious photographers from Romania and abroad, editors of international publications as well as cultural managers in the field;
- providing pro bono assistance with regulatory and litigious issues for identity rights protection to the PACT Foundation, a non-governmental and non-profit organization, which helps foster sustainable development of at risk local communities in rural and small-urban areas in the South of Romania;
- supporting ZP3, a non-governmental and non-profit organization set up by two of our colleagues, Anca Zegrean and Teodora Moțatu, devoted to help orphans and impoverished children with education materials, food and clothing, toys, cleansing products, and in some cases fire-wood. “We take a particular interest in talented and academically gifted children, aiming to achieve both immediate and lasting change in their lives by providing them with educational supplies, and helping them to fulfill their potential” Anca Zegrean.
- active involvement in various chambers of commerce. For instance, Biriş Goran has been present at AmCham’s task forces on Tax, Competition, Energy or IP / IT matters since its inception in 2006;
- providing pro bono work to selected charities, such as SOS Satele Copiilor, Ovidiu Ro, Asociatia Vasiliada or Fundatia Scheherazade.
- Tax
Top Tier Firm Rankings
- EU and competition
- Real estate and construction