BUCHAREST – RTPR Allen & Overy advises the private equity fund Enterprise Investors on the sale of Profi supermarket chain to Mid Europa Partners.
RTPR Allen & Overy has advised the private equity fund Enterprise Investors in relation to the sale of Profi supermarket chain to Mid Europa Partners, in the largest deal ever completed by a private equity fund in Romania and the largest deal in the retail sector in the country’s history. The transaction is subject to approval by the Competition Counsel.
The RTPR Allen & Overy team that advised Enterprise Investors in relation to this matter was led by Costin Tărăcilă (Managing Partner), assisted by Roxana Ionescu (Counsel), Alina Stăvaru (Counsel), Andrei Mihul (Associate) and Laurențiu Tisescu (Associate) as well as a numerous team of lawyers who assisted on the due diligence process and transaction documents.
Sebastian Król, the Enterprise Investors partner responsible for this investment said: “I truly appreciate Costin’s and his team support, contribution and hard work. (…) This is the most successful transaction in the retail sector in Enterprise Investors’ history, and we are proud to have been a part of Profi’s success story.”
Costin Tărăcilă declared: “Firstly I would like to congratulate Enterprise Investors team for signing a transaction of such dimensions and to thank them for putting their trust in our team one more time. We are honoured and proud to have contributed to the successful realisation of this deal.”
RTPR Allen & Overy has also been involved in the acquisition of Profi supermarket chain by Enterprise Investors, on the seller’s side at the time, Profi Rom Food.
Enterprise Investors is one of the oldest clients of RTPR Allen & Overy, RTPR lawyers have assisted them in relation to several transactions in Romania, among which we can mention the most recent ones that have been concluded this year such as the acquisition of Noriel group and the sale of Smartree Romania, as well as older deals such as the exit from Siveco Romania, the acquisition of Macon and Simcor or the acquisition and subsequent sale of Artima.
RTPR Allen & Overy’s main areas of activity are: financing, mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, insolvency and restructuring, competition, labour law, intellectual property law, litigation and arbitration, and providing advice across a range of business sectors including energy, telecommunications, finance, real estate and the pharmaceutical industry.
Selected transactions in which RTPR Allen & Overy have been involved in the last 12 months are set out below:
- Enterprise Investors in relation to the acquisition of “Noriel” group, the largest toys and games retailer in Romania
- Enterprise Investors in relation to the sale of Smartree Romania, an important player on the market providing outsourcing payroll and personnel administration process services
- South Eastern European Fund on the sale of Total Soft SA, the most important ERP producer in Central Europe
- Regina Maria, the healthcare services provider and Mid Europa Partners on the acquisition of Ponderas Hospital
- PAI partners, owner of R&R Ice Cream on its joint venture with Nestlé to form a new entity which will be called Froneri
- Catalyst Romania fund on the recent investments in SmartDreamers S.R.L., a well-known online recruitment platform, Intelligent IT, the developers of the well-known billing software SmartBill and Marketizator Friends, offering to online businesses conversion rate optimisation services, surveys, traffic segmentation and web personalisation
- Elefant Online and its shareholders, Millennium Gold Resources and Catalyst Romania, in relation to the investment of Axxess Capital and a supplementary investment from its minority shareholder Catalyst Romania
- Technology in Central and Eastern Europe fund in relation to the acquisition of Internet Corp, one of the biggest players on the online publishing market at the moment which owns several well-known websites such as wall-street.ro, 9am.ro, start-up.ro etc.
- Note to the editors:
- Allen & Overy is an international legal practice with approximately 5,200 staff, including some 530 partners, working in 44 major cities worldwide.
- RTPR was incorporated in 2004 and has been working in association with Allen & Overy since 2008. RTPR Allen & Overy has a team of 44 lawyers, including 5 partners: Costin Tărăcilă, Victor Pădurari, Alexandru Retevoescu, Mihai Ristici, Valentin Berea and also Prof Dr Lucian Mihai, Of counsel.
- In this press release, “Allen & Overy” means Allen & Overy LLP and/or its affiliated undertakings.
- In this press release, “RTPR Allen & Overy” means Radu Tărăcilă Pădurari Retevoescu SCA in association with Allen & Overy LLP.
- Allen & Overy has been operating in the CEE region since 1991, when its first office opened in Warsaw. Since then, it has expanded its operations to include Prague, Budapest, Bucharest, Bratislava and Moscow, all of which are renowned in the market for top quality legal advice combined with local commercial understanding, as well as for their integrity and their pro-active approach to matters. Additionally, Allen & Overy signed an exclusive association with the leading full-service Romanian law firm Radu Tărăcilă Pădurari Retevoescu SCA (RTPR), effective from July 2008, expanding the number of CEE offices in which we are able to provide local law advice to six.