DLA Piper’s office in Bucharest and BICF | IMAP assisted East Grain, a local trader of cereals and oilseeds, on the sale of majority stake to AGROFERT, the largest group of companies active in the agriculture and food industry in Central Europe. Undertaken through capital increase, the transaction ranks as one of the most important foreign investments for the Romanian agribusiness ecosystem in recent years. The deal will also allow East Grain, already active in Romania, Hungary and Serbia, to explore new opportunities, increase its capacities and enlarge its market footprint.

The legal advisory part of the deal was carried out under the hands-on direction of Marian Dinu, Country Managing Partner, while the project has been coordinated throughout all stages by Sandra Cahu, Senior Associate, with assistance from Noemi Popa, Associate. The investment banking, M&A advisory and deal generation and coordination has been provided by BICF | IMAP, independent investment banking boutique experienced in strategic M&A advisory. The BICF | IMAP team was led by Alin Pop, Partner, and included Alina Matache, Consultant, and Teodor Rusu, Analyst. From the seller’s in-house team, Zsuzsa Nagy, longstanding corporate legal counsel of East Grain, also provided valuable assistance.

Commenting on the successful transaction, Marian Dinu commented: ″Romania has been historically recognized as a solid player in the agribusiness field. We are proud to have assisted East Grain, a young and ambitious player of the industry, in this landmark transaction. I would like to express my appreciation to East Grain’s team and in particular to its CEO, Tamas Vincze, for the fruitful and considerate collaboration throughout this project. I would also like to recognize Zsuzsa Nagy, who has been close to East Grain for many years, our fellow sell-side advisers, BICF | IMAP, in particular Alin Pop, Partner, and Teodor Rusu, Analyst, as well as my amazing team, Sandra and Noemi, who were outstanding, as usual.″

Alin Pop, the BICF | IMAP Partner leading the investment banking and corporate finance advisory team, said: ″This is another big league transaction that we had the opportunity to generate and assist and what makes it even more relevant is the strategic importance of the two players within the agribusiness industry. Likewise, our DLA Piper partners are a top tier global law firm, especially in M&A, which showed the complexity of the deal. Thank you East Grain and Tamas Vincze, CEO, for your trust, thank you DLA Piper and Marian for making things look so easy.″

Tamás Vincze, CEO East Grain, added: ″The DLA Piper team provided focused and pragmatic support to the company and its shareholders, resulting in a successful outcome for a transaction with many moving pieces. With Marian and Sandra, we felt that we were in safe hands throughout the process.″

About DLA Piper

DLA Piper is a global law firm with lawyers located in more than 40 countries throughout the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific, positioning us to help clients with their legal needs around the world.

About BICF IMAP

BICF | IMAP is a leading independent Investment Bank and M&A advisor founded by Bogdan Iliescu and Alin Pop, and affiliated to the leading international IMAP (International Mergers and Acquisitions Partners) specialized in financial advisory and M&A.