NNDKP wins two ‘2022 Deal of the Year’ awards for the assistance provided in two distinct deals completed in Romania and Bulgaria

Nestor Nestor Diculescu Kingston Petersen (NNDKP) has won two “Deal of the Year” awards for the year 2022 at the CEE Deals of the Year Awards gala organized by CEE Legal Matters. The event took place on April 25, 2023, in Istanbul, and brought together representatives of the most powerful and best-performing law firms in Central and Eastern Europe.

NNDKP has won the “Deal of the Year” awards for the assistance provided in two distinct deals completed in Romania and Bulgaria.

"We are happy to receive the 2022 Deal of the Year Award in Romania, a distinction that honors us and confirms our contribution through expertise and professionalism to the development of the energy market in Romania. The project is a pioneering one, with a complex nature, considering the novelty of the legal works it entailed, which required adaptability and innovative solutions. This success would not have been possible, however, without the trust that ExxonMobil has placed in us, which was the basis of a successful collaboration of over a decade. Congratulations to the entire NNDKP team involved in the project, as well as to the fellow lawyers who represented the buyer", said Ruxandra Bologa, Partner and co-head of NNDKP`s Energy and Natural Resources and Corporate/M&A practices.

The Deal of the Year in Romania

At national level, NNDKP has been selected as winner for the work of the team advising on the transaction in which ExxonMobil, one of the world’s largest publicly traded international oil and gas companies, sold to Romgaz its 50% participation in the Neptun Deep offshore block in the Black Sea. NNDKP advised ExxonMobil in all stages of the transaction, covering the full range of legal aspects entailed by the exit project.

The NNDKP team was coordinated by Ruxandra Bologa, Partner and Co-head of the Energy and Natural Resources and Corporate/M&A practices, and included Mirela Preda (Counsel, Energy), Emanuel Flechea (Managing Associate, Energy), Adina Chilim-Dumitriu (Partner, PPP and Public Procurement), Alexandru Aman (Counsel, PPP and Public Procurement), Georgeta Dinu (Partner, Competition, State Aid and EU Law), Anca Diaconu (Partner, Competition, State Aid and EU Law) and Roxana Ionescu (Partner, Environment).

The sale is one of the most important M&A transactions in the energy sector carried out on the local market that reshaped the oil and gas industry in Romania.

The Deal of the Year in Bulgaria

For the Bulgarian jurisdiction, NNDKP has won the “Deal of the Year” award for its advisory work in the transaction in which BioIVT, a leading global provider of research models and value-added research services for drug discovery and development, acquired Fidelis Research, active in the Romanian market as well.

The NNDKP team was coordinated by Gabriela Cacerea, Partner and Co-head of the Corporate/M&A practice, and included Mădălina Pancă (Counsel, Corporate/M&A), Anca Diaconu (Partner, Competition, State Aid and EU Law), Mihai Fifoiu (Senior Associate, Corporate/M&A) and Oana Popescu (Associate, Competition, State Aid and EU Law).

Alongside NNDKP, four other law firms have been involved in the transaction on behalf of the buyer, all members of the regional law firm network SEE Legal: Boyanov & Co (Bulgaria), Divjak Topic Bahtijarevic & Krka (Croatia), BDK Advokati (Serbia) and Kolcuoglu Demirkan Kocakli (Turkey). NNDKP is one of the founding members of SEE Legal, which brings together ten leading law firms covering twelve jurisdictions in South-East Europe.