Helen Rodwell is the Regional Head of Corporate and is ranked the number one lawyer in CEE for financial services M&A by Mergermarket, having advised banks and insurers on corporate and M&A matters in this region for more than 10 years.
Although mainly based in the Czech Republic and Ukraine, she has worked on transactions in the Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Russia, Romania, Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Albania, Switzerland, the UK and Australia. Helen has extensive experience in privatisations in the region, particularly in the banking sector.
She is Austrian Erste Bank’s preferred counsel for bank acquisitions, having acted for Erste Bank in more than 10 separate privatisation transactions in the region since their initial acquisition of Česká spořitelna (the Czech Savings Bank) in 1999–2000. Helen is also focused on the energy and projects market.
She advised a bidder in the first attempt to privatise the Czech generator CEZ in 2001 and has advised the Slovak Government on the privatisation of Slovenske elektrarne, a.s. Helen has extensive experience of leading large teams on complex transactions and ensuring clients receive excellent, commercially oriented advice.
Helen is a member of the Victorian Bar Association, Australia and the Czech Chamber of Advocates.
Relevant experience includes advising:
- Merrill Lynch (through its Global Principal Investments group) and the Pinnacle founders on the sale of Pinnacle Real Estate to Arcapita, a Bahrain-based investment fund. The deal included 230,000sqm of leased warehouses and a land bank of almost 1.5 million sqm for future development. The transaction involved acquisitions in four CEE countries (Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Bulgaria) and Luxembourg and English and local law documentation
- Raiffeisen Zentralbank Österreich AG and Raiffeisen International Bank-Holding AG in a JV with a Czech private co-investor on the acquisition of Lexxus a.s., a Czech real estate brokerage, and Hyposervis a.s., a mortgage brokerage
- EBRD on its investment in VEOLIA VODA, a subsidiary of CGE-VEOLIA EAU owning assets and subsidiaries in Central Europe. EBRD initially invested EUR90 million and will invest a further EUR4.5 million subject to the fulfilment of certain conditions
- Erste Bank/Banca Comerciala Romana ('BCR') on the legal preparation and documentation of the outsourcing of BCR’s call centre in Romania
- Slovak Government on the restructuring and proposed privatisation of Slovenske elektrarne, a.s., the Slovak electricity generation producer
Education:
1987-1991, Bachelor of Laws with Honours, Monash University, Melbourne. 1987-1989, Bachelor of Economics, Monash University, Melbourne. |