Radu și Asociații SPRL becomes Băncilă, Diaconu și Asociații SPRL

Radu și Asociații SPRL, member firm of EY Romania, becomes Băncilă, Diaconu și Asociații SPRL, taking over the names of the partners Emanuel Băncilă and Radu Diaconu.

Băncilă, Diaconu și Asociații SPRL offers the entire spectrum of legal services, especially advisory in the field of corporate / mergers & acquisitions (M&A), tax policy and controversy, real estate, energy, employment, banking and fintech. The two lawyers will be responsible for developing the firm’s business on two main service areas: business law advisory services – Radu Diaconu, and tax policy and controversy – Emanuel Băncilă.

Emanuel Băncilă, partner and leader of the tax policy and controversy practice, has 25 years of experience in coordinating tax inspections and litigation projects. The tax policy and controversy practice led by Emanuel Băncilă is one of the few in Romania included by Chambers Europe and Legal 500 in the “Tier 1” category. The same publications have included Emanuel Băncilă in the “Leading Individuals” category, while International Tax Review has included him in the “Highly regarded” category.

For the past 5 years, the International Tax Review has constantly ranked the tax policy and controversy practice in the top 5 firms in Romania, Central and Eastern Europe, and even Europe, in the following categories: “European Tax Disputes Firm of the Year”, “Tax Innovator Firm of the Year”, “Tax Policy Firm of the year” and “Central and Eastern Europe Tax Controversy Firm of the Year”.

Emanuel Băncilă stated the following: “In 2014, we started building this tax policy and controversy practice from scratch. In 7 years, we have reached over 20 lawyers, the practice being constantly recognized in top 4 law firms in Romania, alongside well-established law firms, having 20-30 years of experience. We are proud of the two favorable decisions obtained in the preliminary procedure in front of the Court of Justice of the European Union - C-438/13 and C-441/16, as well as of the landmark court decisions in the field of transfer pricing, VAT and corporate income tax. Innovation is what defines us, as proven by the unique court decisions obtained with regard to – for example – the applicability of amnesty when the tax authority has not complied with the legal starting date of the tax inspection, the reopening of two refineries in Romania whose activity was suspended by the tax authorities, the reclassification of a taxpayer’s fiscal risk or the clarification of the statute of limitations concerning the tax audit of corporate income tax.”

Radu Diaconu, managing partner and leader of the business law practice, leads a team with extensive experience in assisting both strategic and financial investors in a wide range of transactions on the Romanian market. The pillars of his team consist in practices such as corporate law / mergers and acquisitions (M&A), energy, labor law, regulatory, banking & fintech law, the work of the lawyers managing these practice areas being recognized by both clients and specialized publications. Moreover, with Roxana Dudău joining the firm as partner and leader of the real estate practice, the law firm positions itself as an important player on the legal advisory services market in this practice area, Roxana's experience being recognized both nationally and internationally by specialized publications.

Many of the top 100 largest companies on the Romanian market are clients of firm’s business law practice. Recent transactions include the sale of the Smart Diesel’s fuel card business to the German group, DKV, the sale of GloriaFood to Oracle, the merger of the three distribution companies of Electrica, the sale of the Casa Rusu furniture production and retail business to the Greenbridge investment fund and the acquisition of Majestic Hotel in Bucharest.

“I would like to thank both our clients for their trust and the 25 lawyer colleagues who offer business law advisory services for their tenacious and consistent work in recent years, which has given us the opportunity to carry out increasingly complex and interesting projects. In the upcoming year, along with the constant development of the team, my intention is to recognize the contribution of our fellow lawyers to the steady growth of our activity, by including some of them in the partnership of the law firm", said Radu Diaconu.