Țuca Zbârcea & Asociații Advises on Loan Facility Agreements Worth EUR 115 Million in Past Five Months
The firm’s financing work in H1/2012 outstripped the level reached in the same period of last year. Recently concluded loan facility agreements were secured for Olympus Diary, Carrefour Property, Espe Energia and Transelectrica.
Țuca Zbârcea & Asociații’s finance team has successfully concluded loan facility agreements worth EUR 115 million in the past five months. The firm’s lawyers also took the lead role in advising on several complex restructuring projects of existing loan facilities, especially in the area of real estate.
“While it may be too soon to expect a full recovery of banking and finance activity in the legal sector, we have managed to perform reasonably well under the current market conditions. Since the beginning of the year, we have been quite busy advising on potential transactions involving portfolios of non-performing loans and the restructuring thereof. Despite the ongoing challenges in the ‘new money’ segment of the financial market, we have also taken lead roles on several loan financing projects, which suggests that larger banks are still active on the market and willing to invest in bankable projects,” said Mihai Dudoiu, Partner at Țuca Zbârcea & Asociații and Co-head of the firm’s Banking and Finance practice group.
The firm advised the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank on financing of EUR 30 million granted to Olympus Diary, a Greek company, to support the company’s investment program in a new dairy plant in Romania.
It also acted for Carrefour Property in relation to a EUR 26 million loan secured from BRD – Groupe Société Générale to complete works on a shopping centre in Romania jointly developed with South African investment fund NEPI. The project will require a EUR 65 million investment, 60 percent of which will come from own funds.
Another work highlight of the past five months was a EUR 17 million loan granted by Banca Comercială Română – BCR (the largest Romanian commercial bank) to the company Espe Energia, for the building of a micro hydroelectric power plant in Romania.
More recently, the firm’s finance lawyers advised BRD Groupe Société Générale – La Caixa – ING Bank on a EUR 42 million club deal for Transelectrica, Romania’s national power grid company, in order to finance investments in upgrading the grid.
The firm fielded a team of lawyers led by Mihai Dudoiu (Partner).
“Turbulence in the wider global financial markets obviously impedes the normal functioning of the local financial system. In light of this, our main goal over the coming months will be to continue at the same pace by advising on financing projects, as well as on the restructuring of existing loan facilities, while also providing regulatory advice on new regulations impacting on the financial services sector such as the New Civil Code and New Civil Procedure Code. Another potential area of growth for us is the trading of non-performing loan portfolios. While up until this year most of the transfers of portfolios of non-performing loans were being made among group companies, this year it seems that some of the larger banks are seeking buyers for their portfolios of non-performing loans,” added Mihai Dudoiu.
Țuca Zbârcea & Asociații has one of the largest and best-established finance teams in Romania, advising on asset finance and banking transactions, as well as project finance and innovative cross-border finance work. The group acts for a diverse client base ranging from local banks (Romanian subsidiaries of international financial groups), regional financial institutions lending in Romania as part of cross-border transactions, IFIs, non-banking financial institutions (leasing companies, sponsors, etc) and corporate borrowers.