BUCHAREST – RTPR Allen & Overy has advised the Japanese group Asahi Group Holdings, Ltd. on the acquisition of Ursus Brewery, one of the largest beer producers in Romania, in a huge deal in which Asahi group purchased the SAB Miller businesses in the region from Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV. The deal closed on Friday was announced at the end of last year when the sale purchase agreement was signed.
Allen & Overy is lead adviser to Asahi on the M&A, commercial, antitrust, banking, tax and employment aspects of the agreement with AB InBev. The transaction covers five markets in CEE, Romania, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary. It is also the largest deal in Asahi’s 127 year history.
RTPR Allen & Overy team involved in this deal was led by Adrian Cazan (Counsel), under Partner’s Mihai Ristici supervision, and comprised a multidisciplinary team of 15 lawyers.
Mihai Ristici declared: “We are happy to have completed another successful huge deal. The Asahi/SAB Miller deal, together with other significant transactions signed at the end of last year, such as the sale of Profi supermarket chain and the acquisition by Allianz Capital Partners of 30% of E.ON Distributie Romania, already recognised as the three largest M&A deals in Romania in 2016, further confirms our position as the leading law firm for M&A in Romania.”
Adrian Cazan commented: “I am happy that, together with our excellent team in Bucharest and our colleagues from the other A&O offices across the CEE, we have successfully closed this deal. It was a complex and multidisciplinary project which involved many resources, offering however great satisfactions to see such high profile project coming to a successful end. I would also like to thank the lawyers from Suciu Popa si Asociatii who, under the supervision of Cleopatra Leahu, assisted the seller.”
RTPR Allen & Overy’s main areas of activity are: financing, mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, insolvency and restructuring, competition, labour law, intellectual property law, litigation and arbitration, and providing advice across a range of business sectors including energy, telecommunications, finance, real estate and the pharmaceutical industry.
Selected M&A transactions in which RTPR Allen & Overy have been involved in 2016 are set out below:
• Enterprise Investors in relation to the sale of Profi supermarket chain to Mid Europa Partners, in the largest deal ever completed by a private equity fund in Romania and the largest deal in the retail sector in the country’s history
• Allianz Capital Partners on the acquisition of a 30% stake in E.ON Distributie Romania, the largest electricity and gas distribution network operator in the northern part of Romania. This is the largest transaction in Romania in the energy sector in the last years.
• South Eastern European Fund on the sale of Total Soft SA, the most important ERP producer in Central Europe
• Regina Maria, the healthcare services provider and Mid Europa Partners on the acquisition of Ponderas Hospital
• Enterprise Investors in relation to the acquisition of “Noriel” group, the largest toys and games retailer in Romania
• PAI partners, owner of R&R Ice Cream on its joint venture with Nestlé to form a new entity which will be called Froneri
• Enterprise Investors in relation to the sale of Smartree Romania, an important player on the market providing outsourcing payroll and personnel administration process services
• Catalyst Romania fund on the recent investments in SmartDreamers S.R.L., a well-known online recruitment platform, Intelligent IT, the developers of the well-known billing software SmartBill and Marketizator Friends, offering to online businesses conversion rate optimisation services, surveys, traffic segmentation and web personalisation
• Elefant Online and its shareholders, Millennium Gold Resources and Catalyst Romania, in relation to the investment of Axxess Capital and a supplementary investment from its minority shareholder Catalyst Romania
Note to the editors:
1. Allen & Overy is an international legal practice with approximately 5,200 staff, including some 530 partners, working in 44 major cities worldwide.
2. RTPR was incorporated in 2004 and has been working in association with Allen & Overy since 2008. RTPR Allen & Overy has a team of 43 lawyers, including 5 partners: Costin Tărăcilă, Victor Pădurari, Alexandru Retevoescu, Mihai Ristici, Valentin Berea and also Prof Dr Lucian Mihai, Of counsel.
3. In this press release, “Allen & Overy” means Allen & Overy LLP and/or its affiliated undertakings.
4. In this press release, “RTPR Allen & Overy” means Radu Tărăcilă Pădurari Retevoescu SCA in association with Allen & Overy LLP.
5. Allen & Overy has been operating in the CEE region since 1991, when its first office opened in Warsaw. Since then, it has expanded its operations to include Prague, Budapest, Bucharest, Bratislava and Moscow, all of which are renowned in the market for top quality legal advice combined with local commercial understanding, as well as for their integrity and their pro-active approach to matters. Additionally, Allen & Overy signed an exclusive association with the leading full-service Romanian law firm Radu Tărăcilă Pădurari Retevoescu SCA (RTPR), effective from July 2008, expanding the number of CEE offices in which we are able to provide local law advice to six.
