PELI PARTNERS

Address: 71 Aviator Mircea Zorileanu Street, 1st District, Bucharest, RO-012054, Romania
Tel: +40 721 540 051
E-mail: [email protected]
Web: www.pelipartners.com
Most senior representative: Francisc Eduard Peli, Managing Partner
No. of local partners: 3
No. of lawyers: 24
Year founded in Romania: 2019
Offices in Romania: Bucharest
Representative clients include: Banca Transilvania, AFI Europe, Mitiska REIM, Alpha Bank, Skanska, GLL Real Estate Partners, Portland Trust, UNSAR, First Bank, Porsche Group.

Partners and heads of practice

Francisc Eduard Peli, Managing Partner

Practice Areas: Real Estate & PPP; Corporate M&A; Dispute Resolution

Francisc is a founding partner of PeliPartners and one of the most acclaimed real estate lawyers on the Romanian market, having acquired his reputation in leading Romanian transactions.

Francisc is ranked no. 1, in two of the most important specialised legal publications, for real estate practice in Romania and recognized as “exceptionally hard working and business-oriented”.

Francisc has an impressive record in M&A deals, with significant experience on regulatory and environmental matters after advising top corporations in developing industrial projects in Romania.

Carmen Manuela Peli, Partner

Practice Areas: Corporate M&A; Finance & Banking; Competition & Commercial

Carmen is one of the founding partners of PeliPartners, with over 20 years’ experience in Corporate M&A, Banking & Finance and Competition matters.

Well-known for her innovative legal solutions, Carmen Peli acts as C-suite senior consultant for large corporations and investment funds.

Carmen was the first Romanian lawyer to ever be ranked (Band 1), by one of the most important specialised legal publications, in competition and is praised by clients as a lawyer with “hands-on approach and effortless command of antitrust issues”.

Oana Badarau, Partner, Head of Real Estate & PPP

Practice Areas: Real Estate & PPP; Corporate M&A; Dispute Resolution

With a significant experience in landmark transactions and projects, Oana Badarau coordinates the practice that gathers one of the largest and most experienced real estate legal teams in Romania.

Oana’s expertise covers all matters related to the real estate industry and includes transactions, development and financing of projects, land acquisition, leasing, urban planning, construction, dispute resolution etc., in all types of real estate projects, from office buildings, retail centres, logistics parks to residential and hospitality businesses.

List of the most representative projects

Corporate and M&A

Assisting Banca Transilvania Asset Management (BTAM), affiliated to the largest Romanian bank, in relation to the acquisition of Certinvest Pensii Societate de Administrare a Fondurilor de Pensii Facultative, manager of the optional pensions fund “Pensia Mea”.

Assisting GLL Real Estate Partners in relation to the sale of Floreasca Park an office complex located in the northern part of Bucharest, having a total leasable area of approx. 40,000 sq. m, by way of a share deal to Resolution Property and Zeus Capital Management.

Assisted AFI Europe, a leading real estate development and investment company in Central and Eastern Europe and a prominent player on the Romanian market, in signing the pre-sale agreement for the acquisition of the majority stake holding in the project company owning Casa Radio project.

Assisting Despec Romania in the take-over process of the majority shares package by one of the lead players in the retail sale of electrical household appliances. The firm is assisting the client in all stages of the transaction, including in relation to the transaction structuring, drafting and negotiation of the transaction documents, fulfilment of the conditions precedent.

Assisting Wienerberger with: a) a legal audit meant at identifying its level of compliance with GDPR rules and b) drafting of policies and other data protection related documents in order to finalize the GDPR implementation process at company level.

Specialist lawyers: Carmen Manuela Peli, Francisc Eduard Peli, Oana Badarau.



Banking

Assisting Banca Transilvania Asset Management (BTAM), affiliated to the largest Romanian bank, in relation to the acquisition of Certinvest Pensii Societate de Administrare a Fondurilor de Pensii Facultative, manager of the optional pensions fund “Pensia Mea”.

Assisting Mitiska REIM in relation to (i) securing a facility granted by a consortium of Austrian and Romanian banks aimed at refinancing existing debt, as well as funding a new development project and (ii) analyzing the potential implications of the Covid-19 pandemic on its €27 million facility agreement.

Assisting several companies within the Niro group in relation to a facility granted by Libra Bank for the purpose of developing a hotel. The firm's involvement included advising and negotiating the structure of the facility and the security package.

Assisted Banca Transilvania/European Investment Fund in reviewing the merger of Bancpost Romania into Banca Transilvania following its acquisition, with a view to provide an opinion on the conformity of the merger process and documents with the Romanian law and consequently, the universal transfer of all rights and liabilities of Bancpost to Banca Transilvania.

Advising Jupiter Development with respect to a refinancing granted by Raiffeisen Bank for the purposes of repaying the company's existing financial indebtedness. The firm's involvement included advising and negotiating the structure of the facility and the security package, as well as providing general legal advice prior to the closing of the transaction.

Specialist lawyers: Carmen Manuela Peli, Oana Badarau.



Competition

Advised UNSAR in the court proceeding aimed at the annulment of the decision of the Competition Council sanctioning the association for an alleged participation as facilitator in a concerted practice on the insurance market.

Advised First Bank in connection to a sector inquiry on the market for registration of mortgages.

Advised Sofmedica, a leading SEE distributor for blue-chip healthcare manufacturers, on day-to-day competition compliance matters, as well as in relation to structuring and negotiations of its main contracts and relationships with suppliers, sub-distributors and clients.

Assisting Home Away Platform in relation to setting up an on-line platform for intermediating home care services and other home services. From a competition law perspective, the firm's assistance includes advising the client with respect to the structuring of the relationship with suppliers which will provide home care and other services through the online platform.

Advising Direct One, a leading Romanian telecommunications infrastructure provider, on management of risk and identification of competition law options in relation to specific commercial partners, including partnerships and relationships with TMT companies and joined infrastructure companies.

Specialist lawyer: Carmen Manuela Peli.



Real Estate

Assisting Skanska in relation to various matters related the development and leasing of Equilibrium and Campus 6 projects, as well as the divestment of Campus 6.2 and Campus 6.3.

Assisting GLL Real Estate Partners in relation to the sale of Floreasca Park, an office complex located in the northern part of Bucharest, with a GLA of approx. 40,000 sqm.

Assisting Portland Trust in connection with the sale by means of a share deal of Oregon Park, its office project located in Bucharest, consisting of approx. 70,000 sqm GLA, to Lion’s Head Investments.

Assisting AFI Europe, a leading real estate development and investment company in Central and Eastern Europe and a prominent player on the Romanian market, in signing the pre-sale agreement for the acquisition of the majority stake holding in Casa Radio, as well as in relation to a land acquisition.

Assisting Mitiska REIM on various leasing and development matters regarding their retail portfolio of 20 stores in Romania, including in relation to complex permitting matters.

Specialist lawyers: Francisc Eduard Peli, Oana Badarau.



Litigation and Dispute Resolution

After assisting the client in the investigation conducted by the Romanian Competition Council on the insurance market regarding a potential breach of article 5(1) of the Romanian Competition law and Article 101(1) of TFEU (including during the hearings in front of the authority), the team is currently assisting UNSAR in the court proceedings aimed at the annulment of the decision issued by the Competition Council imposing a fine of approx. €34,000.

Assisting and representing a company pertaining to the Mitiska Group against one of its neighbour’s claims involving, amongst others, complex matters of recognition of property title, right of way, property overlaps and alleged damages of more than €1.4 million incurred due to an alleged breach of contract, as well as breach of the rules for neighbourliness and the urbanism regulations.

Assisting and representing the Romanian subsidiary of Wienerberger, the world's largest producer of bricks, in a litigation initiated by Romsilva (the Romanian forestry administration), claiming an alleged overlapping between the clay quarry operated by Wienerberger and a public ownership forest land.

Part of a consortium which successfully assisted Banca Transilvania in the first court in a dispute against several sanctions imposed by the national consumer protection authority for an assignment of a portfolio of loans from one of the client’s subsidiaries to a foreign company which took place in 2008.

After successfully assisting Skanska in an arbitration concerning rights of way over a plot of land registered with the International Commercial Arbitration Court attached to the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Romania, the law firm's team assisted the client in court proceedings related to the implementation of the favourable outcome.

Specialised lawyers: Carmen Manuela Peli, Oana Badarau.



PPP Public Procurement

Assisting AFI Europe, a leading real estate development and investment company in Central and Eastern Europe and a prominent player on the Romanian market, in relation to the negotiation and signing of the pre-sale agreement for the acquisition of 75% of the participation in the project company developing “Casa Radio”, a public-private partnership, from a company controlled by Plaza Centers NV.

Assisting GLL Real Estate Partners in relation to the sale of Floreasca Park an office complex located in the northern part of Bucharest, having a total leasable area of approx. 40,000 sqm, by way of a share deal to Resolution Property and Zeus Capital Management.

Assisting Skanska in relation to (i) the sale in a share deal of two of its special purpose vehicles currently developing Campus 6.2 and Campus 6.3 office projects, consisting of two office buildings with a total GLA of 37,900 sqm, having Microsoft Romania and Societe Generale European Business Services as anchor tenants; and (ii) the development of (a) Campus 6, an office complex of approx. 82,000 sqm GLA, and (b) Equilibrium, an office building complex of approx. 40,000 sqm GLA.

Assisting Forte Partners, one of the main local developers, very active on the Romanian market, in connection with (i) the development of the final phase of The Bridge office complex; and (ii) the negotiation of FIDIC-based construction agreements for the development of the third phase of The Bridge, the U Center, Tandem Offices and of The Millo Offices Development office project, including advice on possible impact of Sars-Cov-2 related governmental measures on the continuation of construction works.

Assisting Portland Trust in connection with (i) the sale by means of a share deal of Oregon Park, its office project located in Bucharest, consisting of approx. 70,000 sqm of leasable area, to Lion’s Head Investments, a joint venture between South African investment fund Old Mutual Property and AG Capital; and (ii) the development of Expo Business Park, an office project consisting of three buildings with an approx. GLA of 39,000 sqm developed in Bucharest, Expozitiei area.

Specialist lawyers: Francisc Eduard Peli, Oana Badarau.



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