Lavinia Ioniță Rasmussen

Partner

lavinia.ionita-rasmussen@nndkp.ro
+40 21 201 1200

Practice areas

Expertise

With a professional experience of over 17 years in the legal area, Lavinia’s expertise covers all the specific matters related to real estate industry. She has successfully negotiated and closed complex projects and business structures, provided assistance in transaction arrangements, development issues or constructions and urbanism and applied integrated exit solutions. Lavinia is also specialized in FIDIC contracts.

Her practice focuses on:

  • due diligence, development, transaction structuring and negotiation for all asset classes
  • joint ventures in real estate area
  • permitting and related real estate matters for large scale infrastructure projects
  • drafting, negotiation of FIDIC based contracts
  • FIDIC claims management and FIDIC-related arbitration

Representative Cases and Transactions

Real Estate

  • assistance to the largest developer and long-term manager of industrial and logistics parks in Romania and CEE in the acquisition of a 95.000 sqm area of buildings
  • assistance to the largest developer and long-term manager of industrial and logistics parks in Romania and CEE in the acquisition of a logistics park located on the Romanian A1 highway
  • due diligence investigations and assistance with the development of the business strategy for a major telecommunications operator in connection with the real estate holdings of more than 1,500 properties throughout Romania
  • successful assistance to a large real estate investment company in relation to the 46 million EUR acquisition of a modern office building strategically located in Bucharest’s new central business district
  • entrance on the Romanian market of an American private equity firm making investments in middle-market companies through the acquisition of two Romanian agricultural companies owning and operating more than 7,000 hectares of agricultural land
  • assistance to a global farming company in the due diligence process and acquisition of more than 500 lots in western Romania, totaling almost 20 million sq.m
  • due diligence, on behalf of a major American wealth management division, in support of the acquisition of the largest retail park in the outskirts of Ploiesti
  • assistance to a global investment firm in relation to the forward-purchases of office and residential buildings in the north area of Bucharest, of a value of 341 million EUR, the largest transaction concluded so far in Romania in this field, including related leasing
  • successful assistance to a major investment fund in relation to the capital injection granted to a Belgian based investment fund which administers and owns two commercial centers in Sibiu

FIDIC Contracts

  • representation of the largest American construction and civil engineering company in the claims settlement process and termination of the motorway construction contract concluded with the Romanian National Company of Motorways and National Roads
  • assessment of claims, on behalf of the largest Romanian oil&gas player, arising from an FIDIC agreement for the construction of a landfill and bio-remediation plant; ongoing assistance in the claims litigation process
  • advice to a United States based logistic park developer in relation to the construction and development of a modern industrial building located near Bucharest
  • successful advice to a large real estate investment company in relation to drafting and negotiation of the FIDIC based contract for an office building project located in Bucharest’s new central business district and envisaged to be a Platinum LEED certified building with a value of 60 million EUR
  • assistance provided to a major British investment fund in successfully settling with an Austrian construction company the claims resulting from the performance of construction agreements having as subject matter a large scale residential project in Bucharest; the value of the parties’ claims exceeded 46 million EUR (59.8 million USD)
  • drafting and negotiation, on behalf of a Greek investment fund, of the contract conditions for office buildings and commercial projects in Bucharest and in Zagreb, Croatia

Accolades

Included in international rankings since 2015; most recently:

  • Next Generation Partner, Real Estate and Construction (Legal 500, 2023)
  • Ranked, Real Estate (Chambers and Partners, 2023)
  • Ranked, Real Estate (Chambers and Partners, 2022)
  • Next Generation Partner, Real Estate and Construction (Legal 500, 2022)

Included among The 50 Most Influential People in Romania’s Real Estate Market by Property Forum (2022, 2021)

”I would trust Lavinia Ionita-Rasmussen’s commitment to her client’s interests and she can play the bad cop role if necessary whilst doing so in an elegant, non-offending way.”

(Legal 500, 2023)

”She instinctively feels what are the key commercial aspects and fights for those on behalf of her clients.”
(Chambers and Partners, 2023)

She is “an excellent lawyer who is very knowledgeable about the real estate market and has a world of experience in real estate in Romania”.
(Chambers and Partners, 2022)

Clients note that “her technical knowledge is supported by a productive commercial approach and hard work.”
(Chambers and Partners, 2021)

“Lavinia Ionita-Rasmussen is most probably the ideal partner to have on the job. […] She manages to deliver high quality work, clever solutions and clear legal structures.”
(Legal 500, 2020)

Clients highlight “her capacity to pinpoint the issues and to identify the solution”.
(Chambers and Partners, 2020)

Education

  • University of Bucharest Law School, Law Degree
  • Making, Defending and Resolving Claims under FIDIC 1999 Contracts; A Practical Guide to Using and Understanding the International Conditions of Contracts, organized by Cornerstone Seminars, a fully accredited FIDIC training supplier
  • American Institute for Legal Educations, Negotiation program

Memberships and Affiliations

  • Bucharest Bar

Notable Contributions

  • speaker at the online conference “Building Laws and Codes in Europe: Past, Present and Future”, organized by Mikolas Romeris University (2021)
  • speaker at the online conference REBEC 2020 (Real Estate Belgrade Exhibition & Conference), in the panel “Property Investment: 2020/2025” (2020)
  • speaker at the Pre-MIPIM event, 2nd edition, organized by NNDKP and Reed MIPIM (2020)
  • speaker at the conference “Real Estate Investment South East Europe”, organized by British Romanian Chamber of Commerce, British Croatian Chamber of Commerce and British Serbian Chamber of Commerce (London, 2019)
  • speaker at the conference “Outlook 2019: Europe & CEE”, organized by Investment Briefings and MIPIM (2019)
  • “When is a zonal urban necessary?” (Ziarul Financiar, 2013)
  • “The reception of the construction works in the light of the New Civil Code” (Wall-Street, 2012)