NNDKP wins two “2022 Deal of the Year” awards at the annual CEE Legal Matters Awards Gala
NNDKP has won two “Deal of the Year” awards for the year 2022 at the CEE Deals of the Year Awards gala organized by CEE Legal Matters, one of the leading regional legal publications. The event took place on April 25, 2023, in Istanbul, and brought together representatives of the most powerful and best-performing law firms in Central and Eastern Europe.
NNDKP has won the “Deal of the Year” awards for the assistance provided in two distinct deals completed in Romania and Bulgaria.
“We are happy to receive the 2022 Deal of the Year Award in Romania, a distinction that honors us and confirms our contribution through expertise and professionalism to the development of the energy market in Romania. The project is a pioneering one, with a complex nature, considering the novelty of the legal works it entailed, which required adaptability and innovative solutions. This success would not have been possible, however, without the trust that ExxonMobil has placed in us, which was the basis of a successful collaboration of over a decade. Congratulations to the entire NNDKP team involved in the project, as well as to the fellow lawyers who represented the buyer”, said Ruxandra Bologa, Partner and co-head of NNDKP`s Energy and Natural Resources and Corporate/M&A practices.
“The significance of the Exxon deal was, ultimately, impossible for the two-tiered panel of voters to ignore, despite the fact that this year’s line-up of deals was the most competitive to date. Our congratulations go out to NNDKP for the critical role they played in making this deal happen and we’re looking forward to reporting on, and perhaps celebrate similar awards for, their future deals.” commented Radu Cotarcea, CEE Legal Matters Managing Editor.
The Deal of the Year in Romania
At national level, NNDKP has been selected as winner for the work of the team advising on the transaction in which ExxonMobil, one of the world’s largest publicly traded international oil and gas companies, sold to Romgaz its 50% participation in the Neptun Deep offshore block in the Black Sea. NNDKP advised ExxonMobil in all stages of the transaction, covering the full range of legal aspects entailed by the exit project.
The NNDKP team was coordinated by Ruxandra Bologa, Partner and Co-head of the Energy and Natural Resources and Corporate/M&A practices, and included Mirela Preda (Counsel, Energy), Emanuel Flechea (Managing Associate, Energy), Adina Chilim-Dumitriu (Partner, PPP and Public Procurement), Alexandru Aman (Counsel, PPP and Public Procurement), Georgeta Dinu (Partner, Competition, State Aid and EU Law), Anca Diaconu (Partner, Competition, State Aid and EU Law) and Roxana Ionescu (Partner, Environment).
The sale is one of the most important M&A transactions in the energy sector carried out on the local market that reshaped the oil and gas industry in Romania.
The Deal of the Year in Bulgaria
For the Bulgarian jurisdiction, NNDKP has won the “Deal of the Year” award for its advisory work in the transaction in which BioIVT, a leading global provider of research models and value-added research services for drug discovery and development, acquired Fidelis Research, active in the Romanian market as well.
The NNDKP team was coordinated by Gabriela Cacerea, Partner and Co-head of the Corporate/M&A practice, and included Madalina Panca (Counsel, Corporate/M&A), Anca Diaconu (Partner, Competition, State Aid and EU Law), Mihai Fifoiu (Senior Associate, Corporate/M&A) and Oana Popescu (Associate, Competition, State Aid and EU Law).
Alongside NNDKP, four other law firms have been involved in the transaction on behalf of the buyer, all members of the regional law firm network SEE Legal: Boyanov & Co (Bulgaria), Divjak Topic Bahtijarevic & Krka (Croatia), BDK Advokati (Serbia) and Kolcuoglu Demirkan Kocakli (Turkey). NNDKP is one of the founding members of SEE Legal, which brings together ten leading law firms covering twelve jurisdictions in South-East Europe.
CEE Legal Matters is the leading source of news and information about lawyers and the legal industry in Central and Eastern Europe. Launched in 2017 by CEE Legal Matters, the CEE Deals of the Year Awards recognize the largest, most important, and impressive deals in Central and Eastern Europe, as well as the leading law firms and lawyers contributing to their successful completion.
The finalists for the CEE Deals of the Year Awards were selected by a panel of legal experts from each country, with the winners being determined by a second panel of specialists with widely recognized regional expertise. The transactions subject to jury review were completed in 2022, in 22 jurisdictions across the region.
The full list of winners in the 22 jurisdictions analyzed by CEE Legal Matters is available here.
