For several years now, Țuca Zbârcea & Asociații has been actively supporting Hospitality Culture Institute in its efforts to implement the HoReCa Business Accelerator, an innovative short-term program providing education and mentorship to start-ups from the hospitality industry.

After a very successful start and with two cohorts graduating the program already, the HoReCa Business Accelerator has recently rebranded itself into F&B Business Accelerator as to better reflect its new focus on (1) Food & Beverages Products; (2) Food & Beverages Serving Concepts and (3) Technology for the Food & Beverages Industry.

We are currently accepting registrations for cohort #3 until October 25. Together with other HoReCa leaders, academic personnel, entrepreneurs and business angels, we are really looking forward to meeting the next leaders and entrepreneurs of the hospitality and food-tech industry and helping them scale their businesses up!

More details are available here.

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Țuca Zbârcea & Asociații received the highest number of nominations in Romania in the recent Euromoney's Expert Guide Rising Stars 2021 publication. As such, five lawyers from the firm's Real Estate, Commercial Arbitration, Transfer Pricing, Litigation, Corporate and M&A teams were recognised for their activity and track of successful projects.

Congratulations to the following lawyers:

• Raluca Mișu (Managing Associate) / Real Estate
• Ruxandra Niță (Managing Associate) / Commercial Arbitration
• Narcisa Ichim (Tax Director) / Transfer Pricing
• Dan Cristea (Partner) / Litigation
• Ciprian Timofte (Partner) / Corporate and M&A

Euromoney's Expert Guide Rising Stars 2021 represents a listing of the brightest and most talented practitioners in the area of business law and related practices.

More details: https://www.expertguides.com/pdfs/RS-2021.pdf

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Zacaria Industrial sold around 112,000 sqm of industrial space representing parks in four cities to CTP, the largest developer of industrial and logistics parks in the CEE region. The new capital will allow Zacaria to support an organic growth, focused on the development of industrial parks, shopping centers and residential projects.

The record transaction of the year, mediated by Avison Young through David Canta, targeted four industrial parks in Sibiu, Craiova, Oradea and Arad, with an occupancy rate of 100%. Zacaria also benefited from the support of an experienced team of lawyers from Țuca Zbârcea & Asociații, led by Partners Răzvan Gheorghiu-Testa and Dragoș Apostol.

In a press statement, Scifo Diamantino, CEO of Zacaria said the company "will continue to develop new industrial parks, first in Sibiu and Pitești. Moreover, we will accelerate the construction of residential complexes. At the same time, the capital infusion will be directed to new business lines that we want to open in Romania, especially in the retail sector".

More info on this deal is available here.

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Electrica has announced it bought shares in three project companies that are developing a portfolio totalling 207MW of renewable energy. The Romanian company relied on Țuca Zbârcea & Asociații for legal advice on the deal.

Social shares in three project companies owned by Monsson, consisting of two photovoltaic parks in the Satu Mare area and a wind farm in the Dobrogea area have been recently bought by Electrica, Romania's distribution and supply company, thus reconfirming "the commitment of the Electrica Group towards the development of the electricity production sector from renewable resources", according to the company's representatives.

A multidisciplinary team from Țuca Zbârcea & Asociații comprising lawyers specialising in Energy, Corporate and Commercial, Mergers and Acquisitions, Real Estate, Competition, Environmental Law acted for the buyer. The firm advised with respect to the due diligence of the target companies, on the structuring of the transaction and with respect to the drafting of relevant transactions documents, as well as in the negotiations with the sellers and the creditors.

Partner Sorin Vlădescu led the team, alongside Managing Associates Nisa Jecu, Alexandra Pereș and Andreea Oprișan.

Ernst & Young acted as financial consultant for Electrica.

The official announcement of Electrica may be found here.

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Property Forum has recently launched the inaugural edition of its annual publication "The 50 Most Influential People on Romania's Real Estate Market". In spite of the challenges and difficulties raised by the pandemic, the Property Forum list honours 50 professionals with intense activity in the real estate sector and who have led major projects over the past 15 months. The selection includes top executives from construction companies and developers of office, residential, industrial and logistics projects, as well as real estate advisors and investment consultants, such as lawyers, bankers, investment directors, sales managers etc.

Property Forum listed Răzvan Gheorghiu-Testa, Founder of Țuca Zbârcea & Asociații and co-head of the firm's Real Estate practice group amongst the most influential professionals on the real estate market. He has been practicing law for the past 25 years, focusing primarily on real estate, corporate/M&A and tax matters. He is a Fellow Member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (FRICS) and serves as Board Member of RICS Romania. In addition, Răzvan is recommended as a "Leading Lawyer" and ranked as a top tier professional in real estate by reputed international legal directories such as Chambers Europe, Legal 500.

Property Forum says that Romania's real estate market continued its dynamic growth in the past 15 months even under the challenging circumstances resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, this being the reason for the launch of "The 50 Most Influential People on Romania's Real Estate Market". According to the editors, "the top 50 list has been put together based on various criteria, such as market share, local and global rankings, past and current market activity, expansion plans, participation in deals that defined 2020 and the first months of 2021, media and event appearances and social media activity".

"The 50 Most Influential People on Romania's Real Estate Market" is available on Property Forum's website.

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A total of 36 awards were given at this year's Romanian Legal Awards hosted by LegalMarketing.ro to the most active players in the legal and fiscal consultancy market in Romania. Once again, Țuca Zbârcea & Asociații has been singled out for its work in Energy, TMT and Tax.

This year's Romanian Legal Awards, hosted by LegalMarketing.ro, celebrated the most successful lawyers and law firms across a wide range of service areas. As such, six special trophies and 30 prizes in various areas of practice were handed out in recognition of lawyers' notable achievements over the past year.

Țuca Zbârcea & Asociații received three awards, with our Energy, TMT and Tax teams being acknowledged for their contributions on major local and regional transactions.

According to the organisers, the firm's Energy lawyers acted on some of the most significant projects in the energy field in Romania, covering both contentious (including complex litigation and arbitration) and non-contentious work. The firm is regularly advising major players in the energy, oil and gas, mining sectors. The prize went to Irina Moinescu, Partner (Energy) and Christina Vlădescu, Partner (Litigation).  

Also, Țuca Zbârcea & Asociații's expertise in TMT received an award for the firm's work on complex matters for its clients - telecommunications and technology companies, suppliers of IT services, companies active in the media/broadcasting and entertainment industry, as well as advertising, including entertainment companies. The award was presented to Cătălin Băiculescu, Partner specialising in TMT and one of the firm's heads of practice.

As for Tax, the award recognises the impressive growth of the firm's dedicated tax division - Țuca Zbârcea & Asociații Tax as regards new client intake and new matters over the past 12 months. Benefitting from a collaboration with Andersen Global, the group has continued to strengthen its market position by way of internal promotions and new additions to the team. The prize was handed out to Alexandru Cristea, Tax Partner.

The trio of awards at this year's Romanian Legal Awards completes a string of distinctions and accolades that the firm has recently received, among which: "Deal of the Year Award for Romania" at the Deals of the Year Awards/DOTY, CEE Legal Matters 2021; the "Impact Case Award: Romania" and the "Dispute Resolution Law Firm of the Year Award: Romania" at the Benchmark Litigation Europe Awards, Euromoney Legal Media Group 2021; the "Law Firm of the Year Award: Romania" at the IFLR Europe Awards 2021.

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Central and Eastern Europe's premiere legal publication, CEE Legal Matters, announced the winners of its annual Deals of The Year Awards (DOTY) in 22 jurisdictions throughout the CEE/SEE region. The sale of CEZ's assets to funds managed by Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets ("MIRA") is Romania's Deal of the Year. 

Winners of the 2020 Deals of the Year Awards were announced in June 2021. Trophies will be handed out in person at the 2021 Deals of the Year Banquet in London on September 16, 2021. These awards celebrate law firms' work in some of the most spectacular transactions taking place in 22 jurisdictions from the CEE/SEE region and Russia.

The 2020 Deal of the Year Award for Romania went to the legal teams acting on the acquisition by Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets ("MIRA") of CEZ Group's Romanian assets, namely the electricity distribution assets, the energy supply and an operational portfolio of renewable energy.

A number of local and international law firms and financial advisors from Romania and the Czech Republic acted on the deal which was signed in October 2020 and closed at the end of March 2021. Țuca Zbârcea & Asociații advised CEZ Group, covering the corporate and M&A issues surrounding the deal, including the related due-diligence appraisal, assisting throughout the negotiations with potential investors and the final buyer, as well as assisting during the signing of the transaction documents and the closing. A team of lawyers specialising in competition law covered the competition matters of the deal, while lawyers from the firm's banking and finance practice group provided legal support as regards the financing issues incident to the transaction.

The legal team was led by Partner Sorin Vlădescu (corporate/M&A, energy) and Nisa Jecu, Managing Associate (corporate/M&A, energy).

Also, Raluca Mișu, Managing Associate (real estate); Alexandra Pereș, Managing Associate (real estate); Bogdan Halcu, Managing Associate (environmental law); Andreea Oprișan, Managing Associate (competition law); Cătălin Georgescu, Managing Associate (banking law) were involved in the various stages of the transactions.

Țuca Zbârcea & Asociații worked closely with the Czech law firm - Skils s.r.o., that acted as lead international legal advisor to CEZ a.s. on the sale.

"This year's award-winning deals are particularly significant for taking place against the backdrop of the (at the time rapidly expanding) COVID-19 pandemic, and many of them were arranged, at least in part, remotely, and with newly-created facilitating technology. Especially in these circumstances, the firms that played such critical roles in helping usher these deals to completion - including, of course, Țuca Zbârcea & Asociații for its work on the Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets' Acquisition of CEZ Group in Romania - deserve special recognition and credit," said CEE Legal Matters Executive Editor David Stuckey. "The judges who chose Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets' Acquisition of CEZ Group in Romania, as the winner for Romania were tremendously impressed by its domestic and regional significance, its size, and its complexity. Our heart-felt congratulations go out to Țuca Zbârcea & Asociații. Well done!"

Finalists for the peer-selected CEE Deal of the Year Awards were selected by a panel of legal experts in each country, with winners determined by a second group of experts with widely-recognized regional expertise and experience. Deals submitted for consideration were signed in the 2020 calendar year.

The full list of DOTY winners is available here.

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Țuca Zbârcea & Asociații has been named "Dispute Resolution Firm of the Year" and also won the "Impact Case Award" at the annual Benchmark Litigation Europe Awards 2021, hosted by Euromoney Legal Media Group. No less than 71 trophies were handed out to recognise excellence in the disputes and litigation market across a wide range of dispute resolution practice areas.

Six law firms from Romania with significant litigation and arbitration specialist work competed for the title "Dispute Resolution Firm of the Year". For the second time in a row, the prize went to Țuca Zbârcea & Asociații. On announcing the award winners, Benchmark Litigation said: "Țuca Zbârcea & Asociații is awarded dispute resolution law firm of the year in Romania. The firm is well established and is notably recognised for its commercial and white-collar crime practice. The firm manages several complex cases and has dealt with a number high profile ICSID arbitrations. The firm prides itself on its litigation and arbitration work and clients praise the firm for its "great service and diligent, committed lawyers". Congratulations to the firm for winning this award."

Furthermore, the firm won the "Impact Case Award" at the 2021 Benchmark Litigation Europe Awards for their work on the Romanian Football Federation case led by Partner Dan Cristea.

The firm acted for the Romanian Football Federation (FRF) in a suite of procedural steps related to the claims of Fotbal Club U Craiova S.A. as a result of the disaffiliation of this football club. The case concerns a long-running dispute over almost a decade, during which the litigation lawyers of Țuca Zbârcea & Asociații, in close collaboration with the legal department of FRF, led by Adrian Stângaciu, obtained in turn the rejection of administrative claims, criminal charges and, subsequently, of all the civil damages claims of the disaffiliated club, as well as of other entities.

"Benchmark Litigation Europe awards and recognises Țuca Zbârcea & Asociații for its work on a civil and criminal dispute. The firm represented the Romanian Football Federation in a dispute concerning damage claims of EUR 300 million. The firm successfully represented its client with all criminal charges against the federation dropped. The case gained attention in the market for its high-profile nature and for the impact it had in sports litigation in Romania.", added Benchmark Litigation.

Țuca Zbârcea & Asociații has a leading practice in Dispute Resolution, the firm's pre-eminence in this area being already acknowledged by renowned international publications, such as Chambers & Partners, Legal 500 and the Global Arbitration Review.

Winners of the third annual Benchmark Litigation 2021 Europe Awards can be found here.

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