Over the last few years, the law firm has been involved in several transactions, such as the listing of A&D Pharma in London, the sale of BelRom retail parks in Sibiu and Targu-Mures to North East Real Estate and Natixis, the transaction between the Czech group PPF and insurance company Ardaf, as well as the UPC-Astral, Coca-Cola - Dorna and Kronospan - Gruppo Fratti deals.
"A law firm with 10-15 lawyers is paralysed if it has two major deals to work on at the same time. When we worked to collect Romexterra's shares, we managed 15 collection centres. 20 lawyers managed the arduous and technically challenging collection process. A small firm would not only have lacked the necessary staff to handle such a process, but also the technical expertise," says Daniel Voicu, senior partner at the firm.
Voicu & Filipescu advised Czech investment fund PPF Investments when it launched an offer to buy a 20% stake in Romexterra.
Daniel Voicu says the growth of the legal market has been prompted by the positive trend of the overall economy.
Although, at the beginning of this year, the key interest rate increased from 8% to 9%, and the Stock Exchange dropped over 20% against the end of last year, Voicu believes the overall trend is a positive one.
"The entire Romanian market is continuously growing, and I think there will be further increases. The Stock Exchange experienced a rather difficult period, but I think this is temporary. Most listed companies have clients, they had positive results, so declines on the Stock Exchange were more likely to be psychologically driven, or prompted by other factors that didn't involve the actual value of companies," says Voicu.
He believes there will be IPOs this year, because there is market demand.
There are no signs of decline on the real estate market, either, although infrastructure-related problems will mean investors will be more sceptical.
"I don't think the real estate market will stop growing. The funds are there, and there is demand for projects. Players in the field don't fear the fact that they might lack tenants or buyers, or even the necessary funds. They are afraid that peripheral occurrences on the supply-demand market, such as the incidental bankruptcy of an international player, or indirect international circumstances, could affect the market's confidence," adds Voicu.
This year, Voicu & Filipescu plans to open an office outside Bucharest, most likely in Transylvania, and intends to expand the range of services provided to clients by introducing a financial services offer.
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