Cătălin Băiculescu is a Partner at Tuca Zbârcea & Asociatii. He has advised on many high-profile mergers & acquisitions and Romanian privatisations, and is recognised as an expert in the due diligence process, the negotiation of assets and share-purchase agreements, as well as post-acquisition restructuring matters. His expertise in the banking and finance area includes advising on banking regulatory legal issues and compliance, syndicated loans, project finance transactions, and bank restructuring and privatisation. Cătălin has also assisted international aircraft owners and financing banks in connection with aircraft lease agreements and mortgage agreements signed with local airlines. Furthermore, he is a skilled and resourceful lawyer in electronic communications & IT, where he has advised on licensing issues, telecom service agreements, software development agreements, data privacy and outsourcing agreements. His expertise includes the area of entertainment and media, providing legal assistance services to broadcasters and production companies on commercial contracts relating to television shows, betting and gaming, advertising agreements and regulatory issues.
Tuca Zbârcea & Asociatii is 'at the top of the game' in the corporate and commercial arena. The group provides 'clear, to the point, and practical' advice to clients in a broad range of industries. M&A work forms a key pillar of strength for the team, and the department works closely with the firm’s energy, real estate and tax groups to support clients on deals and corporate governance issues. The practice is led by the quintet of managing partners Florentin Tuca and Gabriel Zbarcea; the 'sharp and talented' Cătălin Băiculescu; Stefan Damian, who handles complex corporate reorganisations, public and private M&A, and post-privatisation issues; and Horia Ispas, who is well known for handling M&A and corporate restructuring matters in the banking sector. Razvan Gheorghiu-Testa and Sorin Vladescu have respective expertise in real estate and energy transactions. Silvana Ivan, Oana Ureche and Dragos Apostol are other recommended lawyers.
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Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
‘I have worked with the firm on a number of different aspects and under various instructions. They helped us tremendously with contract drafting and signing, contract negotiations, due diligence investigations and so on. In the context of an M&A project, they proved to be extremely astute, having duly captured and understood all relevant legal and factual issues involved, demonstrating skill and expertise. The services are simply exceptional, this law firm is at the top of the game in the legal industry.’
‘Catalin Baiculescu has exceptional qualities: sharp and talented, competent and with a perfect understanding of the industry market in which we operate and a very good knowledge of the general economic context that could influence our business. I have relied on his expertise on many occasions and have not been disappointed. He is a brilliant legal mind! Also, calm, measured and reassuring. Have no hesitation in recommending Catalin.’
‘A team with common sense, initiative, client centred, well organized and very prompt. Professional and can-do attitude all along. Excellent contract writing techniques and negotiation skills. They followed up on all tasks that were given and provided continued guidance up to the finalization of our project.’
‘We recommend Stefan Damian, Razvan Testa, Dragos Apostol, Veronica Aman, Silvana Ivan and many more. The whole team is top class! Stefan Damian masters general business laws like no other, and is an effective M&A lawyer with lots of expertise and impressive knowledge of the market! Razvan Testa is accurate and efficient, he provides commercial and corporate law counselling but he is also an excellent M&A lawyer, very adept at negotiating various types of contracts. Dragos Apostol has impressive commercial and technical skills, very friendly and he always finds the time to explain and answer my questions. Veronica Aman is a very hardworking and focused young lawyer, with outstanding abilities in the corporate and commercial field, also regulatory and, of course M&A. She writes very detailed contracts and provides helpful insight into the pros and the cons. Silvana Ivan is a skilled and experienced M&A lawyer with a strong background in corporate law. She is dependable, very practical and she catches issues quickly.’
‘The whole team has a lot of transactional related expertise which was an important part in our decision making as regards working with Tuca Zbarcea & Associates. Another element was their extensive experience in corporate matters and more significantly in legal issues affecting the IT&C sector. Their advice has always been straight to the point and simply impeccable. ’
‘The main partner Catalin Baiculescu is fantastic! He explained everything very clearly, putting my mind at ease. It gives me a lot of comfort knowing that he has our best interest in mind, both financially and legally. Thanks to his negotiation skills, our transactions always went smoothly to the satisfaction of all parties involved. And if unexpected issues arise, Catalin would handle every situation with professionalism and knowledge.’
‘Tuca has been a great partner in managing our corporate and employment needs. Their advise is clear, to the point, and practical, which makes our day-to-day operation easier.'
- 'Their entire team is knowledgeable and very easy to work with. We enjoy our partnership and they are willing to get creative and work with our legal team when we face complex issues.'
Key clients
- Vodafone Romania
- Carrefour Romania
- GlobalLogic Inc
- Smithfield Foods Group Ltd.
- The Estée Lauder Companies (ELC)
- Booking Holdings Inc.
- Untold Universe
- The Rohatyn Group/ Optimapharm d.o.o.
- Egis
- Clever Media Network Group
- TESLA group
- Oracle
- Lenovo
- Vesta
Work highlights
- Advising GlobalLogic on signing a definitive agreement to acquire the group of companies Fortech SRL and Fortech Software Solutions SRL.
- Advising Carrefour Romania SA, Carrefour France and Carrefour Netherlands on the acquisition of Romania Hypermarche SA.
- Assisted Smithfield Foods Group Limited with its acquisition of Goodies Meat Production.
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Stefan Damian is Deputy Managing Partner at Tuca Zbârcea & Asociatii. He specialises in mergers and acquisitions, banking and finance and capital markets. Stefan has built up a considerable body of practice and experience on the merger and acquisitions/privatization, post-merger and acquisitions/privatization issues affecting private and State-owned enterprises, and on the reorganization of corporate and commercial relationships. His capital markets experience includes assistance in the first listing of an international company in Romania, while also working very closely with the main regulatory authorities – the Bucharest Stock Exchange, as well as investment banks, investment and private equity funds, buyout funds, venture capital firms, real estate funds and other alternative investment vehicles, public portfolio companies in many types of investment transactions, including buyouts and recapitalizations, fund formation and management, acquiring participations and exiting procedures, and joint ventures.
Next Generation Partners
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Practice head
The lawyer(s) leading their teams.
Stefan Damian, Florentin Tuca, Gabriel Zbarcea, Catalin Baiculescu, Horia Ispas