Horia Ispas

Horia Ispas is a Partner in the firm's corporate and mergers & acquisitions practice groups. He has advised on private mergers and acquisitions, as well as privatisation projects involving major state-owned companies. He has structured and negotiated complex transaction documentation, such as shares sale and purchase agreements, business transfer agreements, joint-venture contracts, as well as side commercial agreements etc. Predominantly, he coordinated M&A and corporate restructuring projects in the banking field, as well acquisition deals in the dynamic private pensions industry. He also has relevant experience in start-up structuring, best-practice guidance on corporate governance and restructuring counselling. In the past years, Horia advised major players in natural resources and oil industry in relation to their prospected investments in Romania. 

In addition, he heads the firm's gambling practice, advising gambling operators on their online and offline presence, as well as software development companies, payment processors and other parties that provide services and products to gambling enterprises on the legal requirements affecting the gambling industry, including license application and other commercial matters.

Relevant Matters:

• Coordinator of the legal team retained by an American multinational conglomerate corporation on a cross-border USD 14 billion acquisition of the power and grid businesses of French conglomerate Alstom, i.e., assisting in the Romanian related legal issues incident to the transaction, i.e., the takeover of Alstom Grid Romania SRL and Alstom General Turbo SA. 
• Coordinator of the legal team retained by the second-largest player in the local oil-refining industry, owned by a Kazakhstan oil company on an reaching a complex debt settlement (under the form of a Memorandum of Understanding – MoU) with the Romanian State worth USD 200,000,000, as well as the setting-up of a Kazakh-Romanian investment fund worth USD 1 billion. 
• Coordinator of the legal team retained by the leading financial services provider in Central Europe on a series of transactions amounting to approximately EUR 600,000,000 for acquiring minority stakes (30.12%) held by five major investment companies (SIFs) in Banca Comercială Română (BCR). 
• Coordinator of the legal team retained by a Kazakhstan oil company in the Romanian law aspects incident to the sale of a 51% stake held in its subsidiary to CEFC (China Energy Company Limited).