International law firm CMS is pleased to announce the appointment of Horea Popescu as Managing Partner of the firm’s Bucharest office, with effect from 1 November 2020. Horea takes over from Gabriel Sidere, who has been CMS Bucharest’s Managing Partner since 2010.
A leading corporate transactional lawyer, Horea has been a partner at CMS since 2008, and has advised on many of the most significant deals in Romania over the course of his career. In May 2020, following six successful years as Head of Transactions at CMS Romania, Horea was appointed CEE Head of Corporate and M&A.
Horea Popescu comments: „I am honoured to be appointed Managing Partner of CMS Bucharest. Gabriel has done a superb job managing the Bucharest office over the last 10 years, as demonstrated by the firm’s continued growth and excellent reputation as a leading international law firm in Romania. Over the last 12 months, I have worked closely with Gabriel and Dora Petranyi, CMS CEE Managing Director, to prepare myself for this transition and to ensure a smooth handover. The future of CMS Bucharest looks very bright, and I look forward to working with our talented teams to translate our plans into a prosperous reality.”
Dora Petranyi adds: „Horea has a fantastic track record, built-up over the 16 years that he has been with the firm. He has demonstrated his capabilities as a leader and inspires the confidence of all those around him. Combined with the support of the partners and the team in Bucharest, Horea is well placed to build on the firm’s success in Romania.”
Gabriel Sidere comments: „I have enjoyed an exceptional relationship with CMS and its remarkable people for over 15 years and during this time our office has showed tremendous resilience and strength. I am confident that Horea will continue to expand our business in Bucharest and enhance our culture that puts people at the centre of our strategy. My congratulations to Horea on his well-deserved appointment. I know that his skills and character will enable him to build on CMS’ legacy as a collegial firm full of ambitious, motivated, and first-class professionals.”
CMS Bucharest has firmly established its position as a top-tier law firm, securing rankings in all the major international legal directories, including Legal 500 and Chambers Global. The firm routinely works on some of the most high-profile, ground-breaking deals across not only Romania, but also the CEE region. Notable transactions include:
- Advising AFI Europe on its acquisition of six companies owning four Class A office projects in Romania from NEPI Rockcastle. This is one of the largest real estate transactions ever concluded in both the Romanian and CEE office markets.
- Advising Advent International, one of the largest and most experienced global private equity investors, on the €1.9 billion acquisition of the Zentiva’s CEE and Swiss business. This was the largest CEE life sciences transaction in 2018.
- Advising Liberty Global on the Romanian, Czech and Hungarian aspects of the €18.4 billion sale of its European assets to Vodafone. This was the region’s largest telecoms transaction in over a decade.
- Advising Bitdefender, a global cyber-security technology company founded and based in Romania, on the sale of a significant minority stake to Vitruvian. The transaction valued Bitdefender’s business at over $600 million.
Foto: CMS
