RTPR has assisted Swiss-Greek businessman and entrepreneur Jean Valvis in relation to the strategic agreement between AQUA Carpatica, the premium Romanian spring water owned by Carpathian Springs SA company, and the American corporation PepsiCo. PepsiCo will own a 20 percent equity stake in AQUA Carpatica and will have rights to distribute the spring water in Romania and in Poland, with opportunities to expand into other markets, including the United States.
The RTPR mandate covered legal assistance in relation to all phases of the transaction, from structuring, due diligence, negotiation of transaction documents, to signing and closing.
“As an entrepreneur who has built premium brands, I expect excellence from those I work with, and RTPR have fully lived up to their reputation, proving to be the most professional M&A lawyers in the commercial field, with full focus on results”, stated Jean Valvis.
RTPR involved in this transaction a team coordinated by Costin Taracila (Managing Partner), Alina Stavaru (Partner), Roxana Ionescu (Partner) and Cezara Urzica (Managing Associate).
“It was a pleasure working with Jean Valvis and we thank him for trusting us with this important mandate. The vision and perseverance of Mr. Valvis in positioning AQUA Carpatica internationally as a premium brand and Romania as the “Motherland of Mineral Waters” are simply contagious. Collaborating with visionary entrepreneurs is always a great challenge, as well as a source of learnings and inspiration”, said Costin Taracila, Managing Partner of RTPR.
It is the third major signing in the last week for the RTPR team, the other two being for private equity funds. This year, 14 transactions have been signed so far, which reconfirms RTPR’s leading position on the M&A market.
With an impressive track record of landmark transactions, RTPR’s Corporate/M&A practice enjoys a reputation that is hard to match, being constantly recommended by international publications in this field. 2021 was a record year for the M&A transactions with 20 mandates assisted by RTPR. Its experience in the most complex M&A mandates in various sectors was noticed and appreciated by the most prestigious international legal guides, such as Legal 500, Chambers & Partners and IFLR1000, which place the company in the first tier of the rankings. At the same time several of the RTPR lawyers are recognised as Leading Lawyers for this field in individual rankings.
Selected M&A deals in which RTPR have recently advised entrepreneurs are set out below:
- Autonom Services S.A., the most important independent player on the operational leasing and rent-a-car markets in Romania, in relation to the acquisition of Premium Leasing, the operational leasing business of Tiriac Group.
- The shareholders on the sale of Farmavet S.A., Pasteur Filiala Filipesti S.R.L. & the fodder business of Agrozootehnica Pietroiu S.A. to Gardenica Limited, owned by CEE China II Fund (managed by CEE Equity Partners)
- The shareholders of Cronos Med Group, leader in aesthetic medicine in Romania, on the investment of the private equity fund Morphosis Capital
- AROBS Transilvania Software, an important Romanian company that provides software services and solutions in various industries and the largest tech company listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange, in relation to the acquisition of Enea Services Romania SRL, the software development services business of the Swedish group Enea AB, one of the world’s leading specialists in software for telecommunications and cybersecurity.
- Adrian Ionescu, the founder of Adidana, one of the most important distributors of chemical fertilizers in the country, on the sale of 100% of the company to RDF, a major supplier of agricultural products, input distribution and grain trading, a company in the Roca Investments portfolio
- The shareholders of Berg Software, a local software outsourcing and custom software development company, on the sale of 100% of the company to AROBS Transilvania Software, a provider of software services and solutions for various industries
- The founders of Keez on the sale of the majority stake to Visma group, one of the largest software development companies in Romania, based in Norway
- 123FormBuilder and its shareholders, Catalyst Romania, Florin Cornianu and Adrian Gheara, in relation to the investment of 212, a venture capital fund specialised in tech companies.
- The shareholders of Te-Rox Prod, a Romanian company and a leading European producer of covers and harness systems for child safety seats on the sale of the business to the Swedish group Holmbergs
- The shareholders of SanoVita, one of the most reputable and trusted food brands in Romania, on the sale of the business to the American private equity fund Highlander Partners
- The shareholder of Pet Product, the largest pet shop chain in Romania operating under the Animax brand, on the sale of the company to Rohatyn Group
- The shareholders of A&D Pharma on the sale of the entire group to Dr Max, the Czech pharmacy chain owned by Penta Investments
