Reff & Associates | Deloitte Legal and Deloitte Romania advised Bank of Cyprus in the sale of a portfolio of secured non-performing loans and repossessed real estate assets located in Romania, with a total contractual value of around 147 million euros, to an entity part of the APS group. The transaction was signed in May 2022 and closed on August 24, 2022, after being scrutinised by the Romanian Competition Council.
The sale of the residual Romanian portfolio of non-performing assets held by the Cypriot group was made in the context of Bank of Cyprus' decision to wind down its operations in our country, which was gradually implemented over the last years.
"This was the last key milestone transaction in our overseas deleverage plan, as we continue shifting our focus on serving our local market. We were fortunate that during the years of our presence in the Romanian market we had the support of Reff & Associates | Deloitte Legal team, who are a trusted and reliable advisor, always paying attention to the commercial angles of the transactions, beyond the necessary legal technicalities", said Ioannis Petrou, Manager Corporate Finance Solutions, Bank of Cyprus.
Throughout the entire lifetime of the project, the lawyers from Reff & Associates | Deloitte Legal advised the bank on all legal implications pertaining to the disposal process, from the preliminary deal structuring, drafting the package of transaction documents, during the negotiations with APS and its advisors, up to signing and closing, and will also advise on the fulfilment of post-closing formalities.
The significant legal complexity of this deal derived from the heterogeneous nature of the package of distressed assets transferred, as well as from the application of several law systems (Romanian, Cypriot and English) and regulating specific formalities to be fulfilled in each relevant jurisdiction. The team of lawyers from Reff & Associates | Deloitte Legal advising the bank included Andrei Burz-Pinzaru, Partner, Andreea Serban, Senior Managing Associate in the Banking and Finance department, who led the entire project team, Iulian Maier, Senior Associate (Corporate M&A), Diana Stan, Managing Associate, and Alexandru Butusina, Senior Associate (Real Estate), Florentina Munteanu, Partner, and Mihnea Radu, Senior Associate (Competition), and Danut Arion, Associate (Banking & Finance).
The Deloitte Romania’s tax practice covered the transaction’s fiscal aspects and was involved in the project through Alexandra Smedoiu, Partner, Raluca Baldea, Partner, Anca Ghizdavu, Senior Manager, and Alexandru Stancu, Senior Manager.
"The closing of this deal, which, based on publicly available information, seems to be the largest transaction of this kind on the Romanian NPL market in 2022, is a great success for our team, due to its high legal complexity and the very tight implementation calendar. We are very grateful to the bank for the trust they have shown us over the years of our collaboration and I want to congratulate my colleagues for their professionalism and the dedication they showed in this challenging project", said Andrei Burz-Pinzaru, Partner, Reff & Associates | Deloitte Legal.
Reff & Associates | Deloitte Legal is recognized as a leading law firm in Romania for the quality of services and ability to deliver solutions on complex legal matters. The areas of practice include banking and finance, competition law, employment law, energy and environment law, insolvency law, legal management consulting, litigation, mergers and acquisitions, public sector, real estate. The firm represents in Romania Deloitte Legal, a global network with more than 2,500 lawyers in 80 countries.
For more information about Reff & Associates, please visit www.reff-associates.ro. For more information about the global Deloitte Legal network, please visit www.deloittelegal.com.
Deloitte provides worldwide audit, consulting, legal, financial advisory, risk advisory, tax and related services to public and private clients spanning multiple industries. Deloitte serves four out of five Fortune Global 500 companies through a globally connected network of member firms in more than 150 countries and territories, bringing world-class capabilities, insights, and high-quality service to address clients' most complex business challenges. Deloitte's goal is to make an impact that matters through its more than 345,000 professionals.
Deloitte Romania is one of the leading professional services organizations in the country providing, in cooperation with Reff & Associates | Deloitte Legal, services in audit, tax, legal, consulting, financial advisory, risk advisory, business processes as well as technology services and other related services, through over 2,600 professionals.
Please see www.deloitte.com/ro/about to learn more about the global network of member firms.
