Reff & Associates and Colliers International add another landmark deal to their M&A portfolio

Reff & Associates, the correspondent law firm of Deloitte Romania, acted as legal counsel, while Colliers International acted as real estate advisor, to New Europe Property Investments plc (“NEPI”) in the acquisition of the class A office complex Business City Center, located in Timisoara.

Fully owned subsidiaries of NEPI acquired from MTInv BV and Mr. Ovidiu Sandor the two companies owning three adjoining office buildings. NEPI also secured the acquisition from the same shareholders of MTBF, a company developing two additional office blocks, subject to completion and various other conditions precedent. Reff & Associates assisted NEPI in conducting the legal due diligence, in drafting and negotiating the shares sale purchase agreements, and related transaction documents.

“We are privileged to act as legal counsel for NEPI, the most active investor in the property market, whose confidence in Romanian assets has generated value for their shareholders, while bringing significant investment into the country, through multiple landmark deals,” said Alexandru Reff, Partner Reff & Associates.

He continued: “This transaction is remarkable not only due to its size and the market context but also in terms of execution. In its decisive stage, the deal progressed at an unprecedented pace due to pragmatic commercial approaches by the principals, effective cooperation between the legal teams and massive efforts from all parties involved. I am confident that this deal consolidates our reputation in the market and confirms our standing as one of the leading firms in property M&A.”
Robert Ionita, the Managing Associate who coordinated the legal team, added: “The transaction was of unusual complexity given the very sophisticated commercial mechanisms, the forward purchase and its terms, the EU financing in place and other commercial and legal elements. Some of these complexities had to be addressed under a lot of time pressure. It has been a very exciting project.”

Robert Miklo and Blake Horsley of Colliers International’s CEE Investment Services team were the commercial advisors of NEPI in the transaction.

Robert Miklo stated: “This is yet another pioneering investment by NEPI in Romania. After the most significant office acquisition post 2008 (Floreasca 169A), and the first major joint venture transaction (Victoria City), this time NEPI has secured the first truly prime office development outside Bucharest. By acquiring City Business Center, NEPI invested in a project with strong fundamentals that in the current global economic context continues to attract blue-chip occupiers seeking to increase the efficiency and quality of their global operations as well as leading national and local service providers. Adding to this the creative structuring of the deal, we trust that the acquisition will prove to be an excellent case of value investing by an astute investor.”
City Business Center currently consists of three office buildings, with two more to be developed in the following two years. With a current 27,000 sqm renting space and an additional 20,000 sqm in the making, the complex is headquarters for tenants like Alcatel, Deloitte, IBM, Microsoft, PWC, Raiffeisen Bank and Unicredit. Other international companies like Autoliv and SAP have expressed interest in the development properties.

Reff & Associates is the correspondent law firm of Deloitte Romania, integrated with the Deloitte multi-disciplinary advisory practice and affiliated to a network of law firms and legal departments working with Deloitte all over the world. The professionals working with Reff & Associates have significant experience in high level transactions, in which complex matters are addressed from cross-border and multi-disciplinary perspective. The multi-disciplinary experience of legal professionals allows them to provide, together with other Deloitte professionals, a complete answer to the needs of their clients. They propose state-of-the-art services relying not only on legal and regulatory expertise but also on the use of innovative processes. Their global and systematic approach allows clients to integrate early in their strategy potential legal issues, thus anticipating and preventing legal risks and minimizing the disruption of business operations.