BUCHAREST – RTPR Allen & Overy advises Autonom Services on the acquisition of BT Operational Leasing.

RTPR Allen & Overy has advised Autonom Services in relation to the acquisition of BT Operational Leasing, the operational leasing company currently owned by Banca Transilvania group. We expect this acquisition to be the biggest M&A transaction of the year in the Romanian market of operational leasing.

Autonom Services offers rent a car services and operational leasing, having the largest network in Romania with 41 rental centres in 29 cities and a car park of over 3,000 new cars.

Marius Stefan, CEO of Autonom Services declared: “The success of any deal significantly depends on the involvement of the advisers. The RTPR Allen & Overy team proved a real understanding of our expectations and offered us a proactive approach during the negotiations. During the last few years several entrepreneurs in Romania chose to sell the business they built. We chose to continue to invest both in the organic growth of our businesses and in the acquisition of other companies, as well as in the expansion at regional level. We would like to see as many Romanian companies as possible that choose this way. We would like to thank Alina, Costin and Evelin as well as the rest of the team!”

The RTPR Allen & Overy team which assisted Autonom Services on this deal was coordinated Costin Tărăcilă (Managing Partner), assisted by Alina Stăvaru (Counsel). The team further included Roxana Ionescu (Counsel), Diana Dimitriu (Associate), Evelin Grigore (Associate), Mona Banu (Associate), Vlad Stamatescu (Associate), Petru Ursache (Associate), Cristi Porojanu (Associate), Cezara Popescu (Junior Associate) and Laura Mavrodin (Junior Associate).

“We are honoured to have advised Autonom Services on this deal and we wish them the best of luck to grow this business going further. The quality of our M&A team is once again emphasised by this new transaction, and this fact is proved by the number of landmark transactions our team has worked on during the last few years: 45 deals in the last 4 years, by the increase of the number of high value transactions: more than 20% of the deals we signed are over the EUR 100 million threshold, by recognition at local and international level: our team is ranked first in the three international directories which are a benchmark for worldwide lawyers’ activity, Legal 500, Chambers and IFLR1000.”, Costin Taracila declared.

“It was an honour to advise Autonom Services, a real team of professionals. We would like to thank them for putting their trust in us in all the phases of the acquisition process and we are confident in the success of this business, a genuine example of success of Romanian entrepreneurship.”, Alina Stăvaru declared.

Selected M&A transactions in which RTPR Allen & Overy have been recently involved are set out below:

- the shareholders of A&D Pharma, the largest pharma group in Romania, operating wholesale, retail and marketing & sales business and with operations in CEE as well, on the sale of the entire group to Dr Max, the Czech pharmacy chain owned by Penta Investments

- Enterprise Investors on the sale of Macon group to Xella Group

- Societatea Energetică Electrica S.A. on the acquisition of the minority stakes held by Fondul Proprietatea in the company’s energy distribution and supply subsidiaries

- ADM Capital on the sale of Brikston Construction Solutions S.A., one of the major players on the masonry and finishing materials market in Romania, to the Austrian group Wienerberger

- DS Smith Plc group in relation to the acquisition of EcoPack and EcoPaper, two major producers of packaging and paper products on the Romanian market

- Enterprise Investors in relation to the sale of Profi supermarket chain to Mid Europa Partners, in the largest deal ever completed by a private equity fund in Romania and the largest deal in the retail sector in the country’s history

- Asahi Group Holdings, Ltd. on the acquisition of Ursus Brewery, one of the largest beer producers in Romania, in a huge deal in which Asahi group purchased the SAB Miller businesses in the region from Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV

- Allianz Capital Partners on the acquisition of a 30% stake in E.ON Distributie Romania, the largest electricity and gas distribution network operator in the northern part of Romania. This is the largest transaction in Romania in the energy sector in the last years.

- South Eastern European Fund on the sale of Total Soft SA, the most important ERP producer in Central Europe

- Enterprise Investors in relation to the acquisition of “Noriel” group, the largest toys and games retailer in Romania

- Regina Maria, the healthcare services provider and Mid Europa Partners on the acquisition of Ponderas Hospital