Horea Popescu

Horea Popescu is a Partner with CMS Cameron McKenna in Bucharest.

He specialises in competition law, mergers and acquisitions and commercial transactions. In addition to advising several Romanian banks and financial institutions on transactional and regulatory matters, he has advised a variety of international clients with respect to their acquisitions in Romania. Other areas of competence include regulatory, corporate and tax with an emphasis on privatisations, public-private partnerships, share transfers and capital increases.

Relevant experience includes advising:

• Cadbury Schweppes plc in the successful acquisition of 93.32% of Kandia-Excelent, the second largest confectionery business in Romania, from a private equity arm of the Vienna based Meinl Bank AG, followed by a mandatory public offer and squeeze-out of the minority shareholders, resulting in an increase of their share of Cadbury Schweppes in the Romanian company (Kandia-Excelent) to 100% and the de-listing of Kandia-Excelent from the Bucharest Stock Exchange. The transaction has been reported as Romania’s single largest public takeover in terms of value on the Bucharest Stock Exchange
• HSBC Specialist Investments, one of the largest financial groups in the world, on a recently completed acquisition of a Romanian company, Expo Market Doraly SRL, operating a wholesale market and warehouse complex in Romania. The transaction was a complex multi-jurisdictional leveraged acquisition, refinancing and joint venture 
• Elster Gmbh, a world leader in Advanced Metering Infrastructure and integrated metering and utilisation solutions to the gas, electricity and water industries, in connection with the acquisition of the largest Romanian gas motoring systems producer Aeroteh gpsa
• Advent International in its successful bid for the acquisition of LaborMed Pharma. The EUR 123 million deal was a complex leveraged acquisition
• A Swiss based specialized oncology manufacturer and distributor with extensive CEE operations on an auction sale to Actavis, one of the leading generic pharmaceutical companies in Europe, for US$177 million
• A variety of clients, including but not limited to BNP/Cetelem, Pepsi, Iveco, GED Eastern European Fund and Advent International, in filing competition clearances before the Romanian Competition Council with respect to their acquisitions in Romania
• Provided ongoing competition law assistance to a number of clients, including Nestle, Flanco and Advent International
• A multilateral European financial institution and World Bank/IFC on several transactions with regard to the competition law impact of their acquisitions/financings in Romania, as well as with regard to certain state aid issues relating to their investments in Romania

Education:

Horea holds a Master in European Law from the College of Europe, Bruges, Belgium, with a Master thesis on 'Direct taxation in the European Union' (2000), a Master of Laws from Central European University in Budapest (1999) and a degree in law from West University in Timisoara (1998).