bpv Grigorescu Ştefănică advised the Latvian financial group 4Finance, one of the largest online and mobile consumer lending groups in Europe, in the acquisition of the financial group TBIF Financial Services, which includes the bank TBI Bank EAD, with offices in Bulgaria and Romania and the entities TBI Credit and TBI Leasing. After a transactional process that lasted approximately one year, the transaction was completed on August 11, 2016, with other post-closing steps and procedures currently pending. The total amount paid on closing was approximately EUR 69 million, plus an adjustment to be paid based on the reviewed results of the acquired assets.
With this acquisition, 4Finance is expanding its presence in Romania, adding to its portfolio the Bucharest branch of TBI Bank EAD and two non-bank financial institutions with a long-standing presence in Romania, TBI Leasing and TBI Credit, in addition to Zaplo IFN which is operating on the market since 2015. TBI Bank EAD is active in Romania and Bulgaria in particular in the SME and retail sectors and reported consolidated assets of EUR 272 million and customer loans of EUR 175 million at the end of June 2016.
The team advising 4Finance on the Romanian part of the deal was coordinated by Cătălin Grigorescu, Managing Partner bpv Grigorescu Ştefănică, Cristina Mihai (Managing Associate) and Andreea Cărare (Associate) and included up to 12 lawyers in various stages of the transaction. The deal was coordinated globally by the Moscow office of the international law firm Akin Gump, with Penkov, Markov & Partners advising on the Bulgarian law aspects of the transaction.
The first part of 2016 saw a steep rise in the activity of the M&A practice of bpv Grigorescu Ştefănică, the team completing several significant transactions with regional and international impact, among which the acquisition by Med Life, the Romanian market leader in private healthcare of the majority shareholding in dental clinics group Dent Estet, the USD 920 million acquisition of Key Safety Systems by the Chinese conglomerate Joyson Electronics, one of the largest automotive transactions so far in 2016, the acquisition by the American technology company Riverbed Technology of the German-headquartered Ocedo.
About bpv Grigorescu Ștefănică
bpv Grigorescu Ștefănică is a Romanian law firm with a full service offering for complex projects and litigation and a unique combination of legal and tax advisory capabilities. In 2016, bpv Grigorescu
Ștefănică celebrates 10 years of activity during which it advised countless international and local clients from various fields: energy, infrastructure, utilities, environment, technology, pharmaceuticals, and agriculture. Since its founding, bpv Grigorescu Ștefănică has been consistently recommended as a leading Romanian law firm by the most reputed international legal directories, Chambers & Partners, Legal 500, IFLR1000, ITR World Tax.
bpv Grigorescu Ștefănică is a founding member of bpv Legal, an alliance of independent commercial law firms with offices in Bratislava, Brussels, Bucharest, Budapest, Prague and Vienna, offering cross-border legal advisory services.
