Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii has won three out of the 13 awards granted during the Lawyers’ Gala event organised by Ziarul Financiar on the 24th of May. The firm received the award for the 2010 top financial performer, along with two other recognitions of the firm’s achievements in completing the largest transactions in the agribusiness and online sectors.

With revenues of EUR 22.4 million, the firm has been acknowledged as the top financial performer in the Romanian legal market for the second year in a row.

It also won the award for the largest transaction in agribusiness and FMGC, further to the successful completion of the acquisition by the French group Sofiprotéol/Saipol of the local company Expur S.A. With an estimated value of EUR 85 million, the transaction was coordinated by Florentin Ţuca, Managing Partner and Cristian Radu, Managing Associate.

Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii received a third award for the largest online transaction of the past year, namely the acquisition by the Spanish investment fund GED of Millennium Tour SRL’s online reservation business (for air travelling, accommodation, car rentals, travel insurance)  conducted through well-known local websites such as paravion.ro, BileteLowCost.ro, HotelMania.ro, as well as through the foreign ”paravion” domains. The team of lawyers having successfully advised on the deal was led by partners Ciprian Dragomir and Silvana Ivan.

The Lawyers’ Gala is organised by Ziarul Financiar in order to recognise the best performers in the 2010 business law market. There were a total of 13 awards for those law firms that have contributed to the successful closing of some of the most important transactions in areas such as retail, real estate, energy, banking-insurance-pension funds, IT&C, medical services, agribusiness and FMGC, online, and also rewarding those firms that have significantly supported the local entrepreneurship over the past year.

In 2011, our firm’s expertise in various areas of practice has once again been highly regarded by Chambers & Partners’ editors who praised Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii for having earned market recognition for its involvement in significant transactions.

The firm came first in the Chambers Europe 2011 guide in the following areas of expertise:

• Competition/Antitrust: "this firm's competition team is central to its superb market reputation, while sources say: "fully deserving of its excellent reputation"; "Excellent in preparation and in argument"
• Corporate/M&A: "this firm continues to win great praise for its largely domestic corporate and M&A practice. Clients report that the firm has some of the best lawyers in town to handle intricate legal matters and mitigate risks for the best outcome on any deal". Furthermore, the team's 30 lawyers are "versatile, reliable, creative and excellent negotiators", according to sources 
• Energy & Natural Resources: "clients are warm in their praise for the full-service energy practice at this local firm, noting that it offers excellent service, to international standards - versatile, excellent in negotiations, reliable and creative. It is one step ahead in every situation."
• Projects: "this team is drawn from the corporate M&A, real estate and energy and natural resources departments to deliver a full service to clients on capital-intensive infrastructure projects"
• Real Estate: "this substantial team continues to secure a steady flow of premium mandates. Clients are impressed by the firm's resources and breadth of expertise, describing it as arguably the best in town to handle intricate situations"
• Restructuring/Insolvency: "the first choice for several high-profile clients, this firm has established a dedicated insolvency unit, providing advice and representation to clients in conjunction with lawyers from the corporate, finance, tax and litigation departments. Clients cite the excellent reputation, client-friendly approach and competitive fees as the key strengths of the firm" 
  

The firm ranked 2nd in Dispute Resolution, Tax and Employment areas, while its Banking & Finance practice came 3rd.

Since 1969, Chambers & Partners has published world-famous guides to the legal profession. Every year, it carries out thousands of in-depth interviews with clients in order to assess the reputations and expertise of business lawyers across Europe. The qualities Chambers & Partners’ editors are looking for (and which determine rankings) include technical legal ability, professional conduct, client service, commercial awareness/astuteness, diligence, commitment and other similar qualities most valued by clients.

Once again, our firm’s expertise in various areas of practice has been highly regarded by the editors of Legal 500 who praised Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii for having earned market recognition for its involvement in significant projects.

The firm came first in the latest Legal 500 2011 guide in the following areas of expertise:

• Corporate/M&A: "with sectoral experience which covers everything from retail to manufacturing, Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii’s clients praise the firm’s in-depth knowledge and business acumen"
• Dispute Resolution: "the firm has a large dispute resolution team which clients praise for its proactive approach and in-depth understanding of complex business issues. Large commercial arbitrations are an area of expertise as part of a full service practice" 
• Energy & Natural Resources: "the firm provides energy clients with high quality advice and fast response times"
• Public Private Partnership and Procurement
• IT, Telecoms and Media
  

The firm ranked 2nd in Real Estate and Banking & Finance / Capital Markets.

Published for over twenty years, the Legal 500 Series provides the most comprehensive worldwide coverage currently available on legal services providers, in over 100 countries. 

Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii came first in the following three main areas of practice:

• Capital Markets
  
• Mergers & Acquisitions
• Project Finance
  

The firm also ranked second in Banking.

The guide names Ştefan Damian, Florentin Ţuca and Gabriel Zbârcea as Leading Lawyers.

IFLR 1000 lists only corporate and financial law firms at the top of their profession in over 100 jurisdictions and the lawyers with the best track records for advising in each practice area.

Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii has been recognised as Romania's top law firm in four areas of practice, including Litigation and Arbitration, Energy and Natural Resources, Mergers and Acquisitions and Finance and Banking. The awards were announced at FinMedia's Gala held on the 14th of June 2010 in Bucharest, marking the publication of the third edition of the Top Lawyers of Romania report.

More so, Nistorescu, Şomlea & Asociaţii, which operates in association with Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii, with offices in Cluj-Napoca, has received two special recognitions for the work handled in Litigation and Arbitration and Real Estate.

"The year 2009 was very good in terms of financials, and this is the result of both our flexible policy that we have initiated starting with the fall of 2008 when we have designed a complex strategy for managing the economic crisis, and also because we were given the opportunity to successfully finalize complex projects in energy and large-scale litigation and arbitration cases. We have definitely been fortunate to be involved in some of the most significant projects of last year, but we owe much of our recent successes to the firm’s lawyers efforts, admirable skills, competence, spirit of cooperation and determination”, said Gabriel Zbârcea, Managing Partner of Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii. 

In the area of Litigation and Arbitration, the firm was awarded for winning the most important litigation and arbitration case in 2009, based on the successful representation of Romania in the EDF Services Ltd. v. Romania international arbitration case with compensations being claimed in excess of USD 132,000,000 and initiated before the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) in Washington D.C.

The transaction for the acquisition by CEZ of the minority shareholding held by Fondul Proprietatea and Electrica in CEZ Distribuţie and CEZ Vânzare also secured an award for the largest Merger & Acquisition transaction of the year 2009 worth EUR 375,000,000.

Another award in the Energy field was presented by FinMedia in recognition of the firm’s involvement in the drafting of successive amendments to the Law No. 220/2008 for establishing the promotion system for producing energy from renewable energy sources.

The successful completion of the merger through absorption between BCR Fond de Pensii and Omniforte, OTP Pensii and Prima Pensie was recognized by FinMedia as one of the most important projects in the area of Finance and Banking.