RTPR advises Morphosis Capital on investment in Mark Twain school

RTPR has assisted private equity fund Morphosis Capital and a group of co-investors from Belgium in relation to the acquisition of a majority stake in Mark Twain International School. Mark Twain International School is a private, international school, accredited by the International Baccalaureate, as well as by the Romanian Ministry of Education. The transaction is subject to customary regulatory approvals.

“This has been a particularly complex transaction to execute from a legal perspective. The RTPR team, led by Alina Stavaru, combined their usual thoroughness with great creativity to help us navigate through the complexity and achieve an excellent outcome”, declared Andrei Gemeneanu, Managing Partner of Morphosis Capital.

The team of lawyers was coordinated by Alina Stavaru (Partner) who was supported by Cezara Urzica (Senior Associate) and Andrei Tosa (Managing Associate) for the transaction documents, who were joined by Roxana Ionescu (Partner), Serban Halmagean, Flavia Mincu (Associates), Irina Marinescu, George Capota, Bianca Cojocaru, David Mirea (Junior Associates) for the due diligence.

“After a record year with 30 M&A deals signed in 2023, we continue to sustain the same level of activity and we are confident that we will continue to be equally active in 2024. We are proud of our achievements and we are prepared to meet the challenges of our clients with the same enthusiasm and professionalism they have come to expect. Congratulations to the entire team for this outstanding result. At the same time, I would like to thank our clients for putting their trust in us repeatedly and for offering us the chance to advise on the most interesting projects in Romania”, said Alina Stavaru, Partner of RTPR.

The extensive experience of RTPR’s Corporate/M&A team in private equity deals and its client portfolio in this sector recommend the law firm as the first choice for private equity funds for their transactions in Romania. At the end of last year, the RTPR team received the award for the most active legal adviser in the private equity and venture capital sector, at the ROPEA Awards Gala, the awards being granted by the Romanian Association of Private Equity and Venture Capital Funds. At international level, every year RTPR is recommended in the first tier by the three reputed international directories, Legal 500, Chambers & Partners and IFLR1000. At the same time several of the team’s lawyers are recommended as Leading Lawyers or Rising Stars in individual rankings produced by the same publications.

Selected corporate/M&A deals in which RTPR have recently advised are set out below:

-        MidEuropa Partners on the EUR1.3bn sale of Profi, in the largest transaction in the retail sector ever concluded in Romania

-        ENGIE Romania on the acquisition of an operational wind farm with a capacity of 80MW

-        Macquarie Asset Management (MAM) on the sale of CEZ Vanzare to Premier Energy PLC, owned by the Czech private equity fund, Emma Capital

-        Intesa Sanpaolo Bank, the largest Italian bank, on the acquisition of First Bank from the American private investment fund J.C. Flowers

-        IPS Solutions, leader on the European software market, on the acquisition of the majority stake in Avaelgo SRL, a Romanian IT services company, from the founder Mihai Tataran

-        Orange Money Romania, part of Orange group, on the transfer of its retail business to Alpha Bank Romania

-        Romcim, part of the CRH Group, on the acquisition of Bauelemente Reinvest S.R.L. and its fully owned subsidiary, Bauelemente S.R.L., the market leader manufacturer of prefabricated reinforced and prestressed concrete in Romania

-        AS Piletilevi Group on the acquisition of a majority stake in Departamentul Logistic Event S.R.L., the owner of the website bilete.ro

-        Sarmis Capital on the acquisition of a majority shareholding stake in BMF Grup, the largest integrated facility management company on the Romanian market

-        Regina Maria on the acquisition of a majority shareholding stake in the stomatology clinics chain Dr Leahu