IFLR 1000, the international legal guide specialized in the financial-banking research of the legal market, reconfirms Muşat & Asociaţii’s leading position in all areas of practice, such as Mergers & Acquisitions, Banking & Finance and Capital Markets, Project Finance, while the firm’s partners are also recommended as Leading Lawyers in their field.
“Muşat & Asociaţii’s success is due to our clients, who have entrusted us with high-profile projects and relied on our experience and expertise, but also to a young and dynamic team of over 60 lawyers specializing in the areas of practice subject to review. Such performances are all the more important given that, backgrounded against the current economic context, the number of transactions downsized, as the banks are increasingly reserved in granting new financing and the business environment postponed its investment plans”, stated Mona Muşat, Managing Partner at Muşat & Asociaţii.
Muşat & Asociaţii continues to be involved in some of the largest projects developed in the last year in the four areas of practice scrutinized by IFLR 1000, its Partners – Gheorghe Muşat, Mona Muşat, Cătălin Băiculescu and Miruna Suciu – being recommended as “Leading Lawyers”, based on the quality of the legal services rendered and the clients’ appreciations.
The IFLR 1000 research covers over 120 jurisdictions worldwide, including Romania. The rankings consider criteria such as quality of the legal assistance, innovation exhibited in approaching legal projects, complexity of the advisory activity, cross-border experience, ability to comply with international standards, as well as feedback received from clients.
Among the most relevant projects advised by Muşat & Asociaţii in the past year, we mention: assisting Nokia during the divestiture of its operations in Romania and the sale of its production factory in Jucu to De’Longhi; legal assistance provided to Astra Rail Industries, in connection with the acquisition of Astra Vagoane, Meva SA and Romvag Caracal (which form the Romanian largest producer of rolling stock); preparing and running the offer amounting to EUR 200,000,000 submitted by Oz Minerals Limited, a leading mining company in Australia, focusing on copper extraction, for the acquisition of Cuprumin S.A., but also in the cross-border transaction by which Eldorado Gold Corporation took over the local gold mining business conducted by European Goldfields Limited in Romania. Furthermore, Muşat & Asociaţii assisted AFI Europe with respect to the financing granted by UniCredit Bank Austria for the construction of the first office building of AFI Business Park Cotroceni.
Muşat & Asociaţii’s attorneys also counseled the Office of State Ownership and Privatization in Industry (OPSPI) throughout the preparation and performance of the secondary public offer for the sale of 15% of the shares held in Transelectrica , successfully concluded at the end of March (value of the transaction: EUR 37.7 million), but also in connection with the launch of the secondary public offer for the sale of 15% stock in Transgaz and, respectively, 20% in Tarom.
The sustained activity undertaken during the past year also brought Muşat & Asociaţii a well-deserved recognition as the “Best Law Firm in Central and Eastern Europe”, an accolade awarded by the International Legal Alliance Summit & Awards 2012, in parallel with maintaining its leadership in Romanian business law and in the rankings made by the prestigious foreign publishers –Legal 500, Chambers Global or PLC Which Lawyer? – in all practice areas under review in Romania.