Muşat & Asociaţii is consolidating its Mergers and Acquisitions department by promoting another of the firm’s lawyers as partner. As a result of her significant involvement in many of the major transactions advised by the firm in the past years, Iuliana Craiciu has recently joined the other eight partners of the firm, founded 15 years ago by Gheorghe Muşat.
The recently-appointed partner is 31 years old and has graduated the Faculty of Law within the University of Bucharest in 1998, being a member of the Bucharest Bar Association, of the Romanian Bar Association and an insolvency practitioner, member of the Romanian Insolvency Practitioners Association.
The Mergers and Acquisitions Department has generated a significant contribution to the turnover accomplished last year by Muşat & Asociaţii, securing almost one third of the firm’s income. “Private acquisitions have been and will remain our strength and main practice area. Muşat & Asociaţii has been involved in almost every important transaction concluded in Romania within the last decade, acting mostly for private investors and especially foreign investors, which represent the overwhelming majority of our client portfolio.
From this perspective, I think it’s fair to say that we are the lawyers of foreign investors doing business in Romania”, stated Gheorghe Muşat, managing partner. Iuliana Craiciu has acquired a significant expertise in mergers and acquisitions/privatization – with special focus on projects within the energy sector, banking and financial services – providing legal assistance to major international players. In addition, Iuliana Craiciu has advised on international securities offers, project finance and asset finance as well as consumer finance projects.
Always driven by the desire to provide innovative and practical solutions to certain of the most difficult and complex transactions, Iuliana Craiciu has also acquired an unrivalled expertise within areas such as insolvency and corporate restructuring, both in the public and in private sector, as well as in capital markets projects.
The most significant transactions in which the newly-appointed partner has been recently involved are Enel’s EUR 820,000,000 acquisition of Electrica Muntenia Sud SA, KBC Group’s EUR 75,000,000 acquisition of Romstal Leasing IFN SA and Swiss Capital SA, Termoelectrica debts restructuring (exceeding EUR 1 billion) and various greenfield projects. “The event is in line with Muşat & Asociaţii’s strategy to promote young lawyers within our firm to partnership, young lawyers who have proven excellent professional abilities as well as their commitment to the team and our firm.
The doors of our partnership remain open and most probably, by the end of this year we shall promote new partners. Likewise, we shall also recruit other 8 to 10 experienced lawyers, especially in mergers and acquisitions, real estate and litigation. We estimate that, in the next 2 – 3 years, the firm will grow to over 100 lawyers, assisted by 50 – 60 assistants and support-staff”, stated on this occasion Mr. Gheorghe Muşat, the firm’s founding member.
Muşat & Asociaţii presently counts over 75 lawyers providing legal assistance in a wide range of areas of practice, acquisitions being the company’s most active practice area. Recently, the firm distributed, for the previous year, average net incomes of approximately EUR half million for each of its partners, whilst senior lawyers have billed fees exceeding EUR 200,000/lawyer.
Muşat & Asociaţii has earned a well-deserved reputation as leader of the Romanian legal market, providing legal assistance with respect to all areas of law. IFLR 1000 – the top world-wide law firms guide, involved in financial projects – recommends Muşat & Asociaţii for projects related to capital markets, banking, mergers and acquisitions. Likewise, the firm maintains its leading position within the prestigious publication, Chambers Global 2007, which recommends Muşat & Asociaţii for areas such as mergers and acquisitions, finance and banking.
The firm develops a close collaboration with high profile law firms within the European Union and the United States of America and is the exclusive representative in Romania of Terralex – the worldwide network of independent law firms consisting of more than 15,000 attorneys all over the world. Presently, Muşat & Asociaţii has a portfolio of highly complex transactions and projects, operated for a clientele represented by first-tier European and American corporations, as well as prestigious local companies, such as: Enel SpA, ABN AMRO Bank, Fortis Bank, BNP Paribas, Eli Lilly, Glaxo Smithkline, General Electric, General Motors, Intel Corp, Oracle, AON, AT&T, HALLIBURTON, KBC Bank, Piraeus Bank, Raiffeisen Bank, OTP Bank, Thyssen Krupp, Generali, Immoeast Corporate Finance Consulting, Equest Investment, European Investment Bank, Petrom, Posta Romana (the Romanian Post), Electrica, Banca Comerciala Romana, Biroul de Credit (the Credit Bureau), Automobile Dacia S.A. / Renault, ORANGE, SBS Broadcasting Corporation, Liebrecht & Wood, Caterpillar, Gabriel Resources / Rosia Montana Gold Corporation.