Schoenherr advised Raiffeisen Bank International AG and Raiffeisen Bank SA ("Raiffeisen") on the successful completion of the acquisition by Raiffeisen Bank SA of 100 % of the shares in Garanti BBVA Group Romania (comprising Garanti Bank SA and the leasing unit Motoractive IFN SA) from subsidiaries of Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA (BBVA). The transaction strengthens Raiffeisen's position in the Romanian banking market.
Schoenherr's Banking & Finance and Corporate/M&A teams provided buy-side legal advice throughout all phases of the transaction. The firm's Competition, EU & Foreign Trade team advised on multi-jurisdictional merger control and foreign direct investment (FDI) screening matters.
"The completion of this transaction marks an important milestone for Raiffeisen Bank Romania and for our growth strategy in the local market," said Alina Rus, Vice-President & CFO, Raiffeisen Bank Romania. "The strong collaboration between the teams and our partners was essential for such a complex project. We would like to thank everyone for their professionalism and dedication. Looking ahead, our priority is to build a stronger organisation together and to capitalise on the opportunities that this acquisition creates for our clients and colleagues."
"We are proud to have supported our client throughout this significant transaction, from its initial stages to successful completion. It has been a pleasure to work alongside the Raiffeisen team on a deal of such scale and strategic importance," said Partner Matei Florea, Head of Schoenherr's Banking & Finance practice and project lead.
"We are happy to have played a part in achieving this outcome and would like to thank the Raiffeisen team and everyone involved for their trust and excellent cooperation throughout the process," said Partner Mădălina Neagu, who oversaw the corporate/M&A aspects of the transaction.
Raiffeisen Bank International AG (www.rbinternational.com) is a leading banking group in Central Eastern Europe with a strong capital position, pursuing growth both organically and through acquisitions in its core markets. Raiffeisen Bank SA is one of Romania's largest banks, with total assets of EUR 17.5 bln at year-end 2025 and a customer base of 2.3 million.
The Schoenherr team advising Raiffeisen on this transaction was led by Matei Florea (Partner) and Mădălina Neagu (Partner). It also included Katerina Kaloyanova-Toshkova (Attorney at Law), Silviu Lazăr (Senior Attorney at Law), Narcisa Oprea (Partner), Veronica Das Alexeev (Managing Attorney at Law), Ana Florea (Attorney at Law) and Francesca Buta (Senior Attorney at Law), as well as Didem Kara (Attorney at Law) on Turkish law matters.
Merger control and FDI screening matters were coordinated by Georgiana Bădescu (Partner), with the support of Darius Trușculete (Senior Attorney at Law) and Teodora Burduja (Attorney at Law) on Romanian law matters, and Srđana Petronijević (Partner) and Nina Rašljanin (Attorney at Law) on Serbian, Kosovar, Montenegrin and Albanian law matters.
