On the first edition of the Attorney Gala of Ziarul Financiar, the award for the largest telecom transaction for 2009 went to "Lina & Guia" for the firm's contribution in providing advice in one of the most important transactions on the telecommunication market of 2009. The firm assisted Cosmote Mobile Telecommunications S.A. on the acquisition of Romanian mobile operator Telemobil S.A., operating under the Zapp trademark.

Also this week, on the third edition of the Top Attorneys Awards Gala held by Finmedia, Lina & Guia has received an award under the "Mergers and Acquisitions" category.

Lina & Guia was rewarded for its role within the course of the transaction which included running a full due diligence exercise on the target, negotiation of transaction documents and transactional assistance, and merger clearance.

"Beyond the challenges posed by this transaction, the highlight for us was that this operation is the third notable assignment given by our client Cosmote (following the acquisition of Cosmorom and Germanos) and we are proud that by providing quality services we managed to grow our client's loyalty" says Cristian Lina, managing partner of Lina & Guia. The telecommunication industry is a highly specialised field, on a well regulated and concentrated, from a competition point of view, market therefore the transaction proved to be very complex.

Two new Associates join Lina & Guia providing a perfect upgrade of its capabilities in the Banking, Corporate & Commercial and Energy practices.

Alina Corobana is an attorney with strong credentials in corporate and commercial law in Romania. Alina joins the Lina & Guia team from the Bucharest office of Gide Loyrette Nouel. Alina is a graduate of University of Bucharest and speaks English, French and Romanian.

Mara Pancu focuses primarily on Banking and Finance, Energy and Projects and Corporate related matters. She has developed a particular and valuable expertise in banking and finance transactions, in focusing in particular on securitization of receivables and other instruments, as well as in advising both public and private clients in public sector transactions. Before joining Lina & Guia, she worked as an Associate Attorney with Voicu & Filipescu SCA. Mara is a graduate of University of Bucharest and speaks English and Romanian.

Lina & Guia advises Cosmote Mobile Telecommunications S.A. in connection with the acquisition of the Romanian mobile operator Telemobil S.A , which operates on the local market under the Zapp brand name.

Our role includes full due diligence, assisting with the transaction documents and merger clearance.

The transaction represents the combination of the third and fourth largest mobile network operators in Romania and is one of the most significant transactions in the telecom sector in Romania and likely to be the largest M&A transaction of the year in Romania.

Additional press coverage can be found here, at Top Legal International, or here, at Ziarul Financiar and here, at Standard.

We are proud to announce that Lina & Guia SCA has received, for the second year, meritorious recommendations from Legal 500 in its 2008-2009 issue in 4 core areas, notably placing our team in the second tier (top 10) law firms in the area of Energy and Natural Resources.
(References: http://www.legal500.com/firms/14337/offices/18659)

For additional press coverage see also this link and this link.

Lina & Guia was selected by Helios Eastern Europe Limited to provide legal advice in relation to development, operation and divestment of its operations in Romania.

Helios Eastern Europe Limited is a successful property development and investment company with an active presence on the UK and European real estate market (commercial, mixed use and residential property markets).

Lina & Guia law firm is pleased to announce the appointment of two new Partners. Adrian A. Iordache and Cristian T. Guia have been made Partners in the firm, effective January 1, 2009.

Cristian T. Guia specialized in real estate law acting on a broad range of cross-border and domestic transactions with an emphasis on real estate acquisitions, lease agreements, construction law (including FIDIC regulated agreements), real estate finance and due diligence reviews. Prior to joining the Firm in 2008, Cristian practiced as a senior associate with the Bucharest office of Gide Loyrette Nouel.

Adrian A. Iordache is a NY and Bucharest qualified attorney, educated in the UK, Canada and France and advises on banking & finance, real estate and corporate matters, as well as EU and Romanian competition regulations. His work has involved advising on multilateral institution financing, structuring M&A transactions, as well as various corporate and other matters in Romania. Adrian joined the firms from Iordache & Iordache SCA, where he practiced as Partner and acting General Counsel to the developer Baneasa Developments. For additional press coverage, please also refer to this article.

Three new Associates join Lina & Guia boosting its capabilities in the Real Estate Corporate/M&A and Dispute Resolution practices.

Diana Balanescu is an experienced attorney, with strong credentials in dispute resolution, regulatory and corporate law in Romania. Diana joins the Lina & Guia team from Iordache & Iordache SCA. She holds an undergraduate degree in Laws from Spiru Haret University and a Masters from Nicolae Titulescu University. She speaks English, French and Romanian.

Ana-Maria Lupu-Otelea specializes in Commercial Real Estate and Corporate law. Ana-Maria has successfully assisted major commercial developers in Romania with contracting, commercial leasing and corporate work as well as in various regulatory aspects of Romanian law. She holds degrees in Laws from University of Bucharest and in Public Administration from SNSPA and she speaks English and Romanian.

Veronica Berzoi is advising primarily in the areas of Corporate, Real Estate and Regulatory law in Romania. Before joining Lina & Guia, she worked as an Associate Attorney with Iordache & Iordache SCA assisting with medium and large corporate clients in corporate, real estate and other areas of Romanian law. Veronica is a graduate of University of Bucharest and speaks English, Russian and Romanian.