RTPR Allen & Overy advises Barclays Bank PLC as arranger for Alpha Bank Romania on first mortgage bonds issue programme in Romania

RTPR Allen & Overy has advised Barclays Bank PLC as arranger for Alpha Bank Romania on the first mortgage bonds issue programme in Romania with a value of EUR 1 billion.

The RTPR Allen & Overy team was led by Andreea Burtoiu (Counsel) and Victor Padurari (Partner). The team involved in this project further included Andreea Chiriac, Lia Ilie and Ioana Ilie, lawyers specialised in finance and capital markets deals.

Andreea Burtoiu commented: “We are privileged to be part of the teams that finalised this pioneering transaction on the Romanian market. Mortgage bonds are a feasible financing solution for the banks in Romania and until now we had a modern but untested legal basis, and a well-established international practice of bond issues. It was a major professional challenge and we are looking forward to new challenges. I would like to congratulate all parties involved in this deal and to thank all colleagues in the project team.”

Victor Padurari also commented: “We are happy to have contributed to the successful closing of the launch of this mortgage bonds programme which represents a new chapter for the financing options available on the Romanian capital market. The satisfaction felt when such a project is closed is even bigger when the clients are happy and we know we did our best to see it successfully done. It was an extremely complex and challenging transactions, but as they say ’there's a first time for everything’. With this mandate RTPR Allen & Overy continues to consolidate the tier 1 law firm position in this area.”

RTPR Allen & Overy advised on the IPOs and listings of Electrica (2014), Med Life (2016), Sphera (2017) and Purcari (2018).

International legal guides Legal 500 and IFLR1000 position our capital markets practice on the top tier in the rankings for Romania, recognising our lawyers as market leaders in capital markets transactions.
At international level, Allen & Overy’s global capital markets practice maintained its position in the recently published capital markets league tables for 2018 as the top legal adviser across debt and equity capital markets transactions for the sixth year running, according to Thomson Reuters.

RTPR Allen & Overy’s main areas of activity are: financing, mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, insolvency and restructuring, competition, labour law, intellectual property law, litigation and arbitration, and providing advice across a range of business sectors including energy, telecommunications, finance, real estate and the pharmaceutical industry.

Selected capital markets transactions in which RTPR Allen & Overy have been involved are set out below:
•    Purcari Wineries Public Company Limited on its IPO and admission to trading on the Bucharest Stock Exchange.
•    Wood & Company Financial Services and Raiffeisen Bank as joint bookrunners on the IPO of Sphera Franchise Group.
•    Raiffeisen Bank S.A. and Wood & Company Financial Services a.s., as managers on the intermediation of Med Life’s IPO.
•    Electrica in relation to its IPO on the Bucharest Stock Exchange and on the London Stock Exchange - first primary offering of shares in Romania involving global depositary receipts.
•    Deutsche Bank, Raiffeisen Bank International and J.P. Morgan, as Joint Lead Managers and Deutsche Trustee Company Limited, as Trustee, on the issuance by NEPI of EUR 400 million high yield bonds.
•    J.P. Morgan in relation to the issuance by Cable Communications Systems of EUR 450 million senior secured notes guaranteed by RCS & RDS.
•    Schaeffler on the issue of high-yield bonds with a total volume of approximately EUR 1 billion and USD 600 million.
•    BRD - Groupe Société Générale, acting as intermediary, in relation to the offering by Garanti Bank of unsecured bonds due in 2019 with a value of EUR 68 million.