Schoenherr advised Czech agri-food group Agrofert on the acquisition of a majority stake in East Grain, a Romanian trader of cereals and oilseeds, and its Hungarian subsidiary. With this transaction, Agrofert enters the Romanian agribusiness market, expanding its footprint in that country, where it was already active in the fertilisers distribution sector.

Schoenherr provided integrated cross-border buy-side legal advice in Romania and Hungary. The transaction was signed in October 2023, with closing expected in a few months, pending various regulatory clearance proceedings.

"This is the most important foreign investment in the Romanian agribusiness over the last year," said Mădălina Neagu, partner, who led the Schoenherr team advising Agrofert. "We are happy to have been alongside Agrofert in this deal, which gives the company a very promising start in this sector in Romania."

Founded in 1993 in the Czech Republic, Agrofert is one of the main players in the agri-food industry in Central Europe. It is the largest group of companies active in the Czech and Slovak agriculture and food industry and has approximately 31,000 employees and over 220 subsidiaries.

East Grain's main activity is the trading of cereals and oilseeds. The company also provides related services such as logistics, storage, processing and integration services. It is active in Romania, Hungary and Serbia.

The team was led by Mădălina Neagu (partner) and included Romanian and Hungarian lawyers active in various practice areas, with key roles played by Kinga Hetényi (local partner, Budapest), Mihaela Popescu (senior attorney at law, Bucharest), Adrian Menczelesz (attorney at law, Budapest) and Alexandra Șmahon (attorney at law, Bucharest). A team of real estate lawyers led by Mădălina Mitan (local partner, Bucharest) covered the extensive property-related implications, while our EU, competition and foreign trade team led by Georgiana Bădescu (partner) was retained to advise on merger clearance and FDI filings.