Romania/Moldova: Schoenherr advises Banca Comercială Română on sale of Chișinău subsidiary

BCR Chișinău has over 13,000 active clients, 110 employees and four branches, including two in Chișinău, one in Cahul and one in Bălți. The transaction was signed on 29 March and closing is expected to take place in the second half of the year, subject to the fulfilment of several conditions precedent.

The corporate/M&A and banking & finance teams of Schoenherr in Bucharest and Chișinău worked together in advising BCR on the structuring, negotiation and implementation of the transaction and the share purchase agreement.

"We are happy to have been part of this milestone in the Moldovan banking sector, having advised on this multifaceted deal with our cross-border expertise," said partner Mădălina Neagu, who oversaw corporate/M&A matters in this transaction. "Congratulations to all parties involved for the smooth signing of the transaction."

BCR (a member company of Erste Group) offers a full range of financial products and services through a network of 20 business centres and 16 mobile offices dedicated to companies and 321 retail units located in most Moldovan cities with more than 10,000 inhabitants, where 40 % of units are cashless.

Victoriabank is the first commercial bank established in the Republic of Moldova, in 1989. Their main shareholders are Banca Transilvania and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. With assets amounting to more than MDL 20bln, the bank is ranked among the top three banks in the Republic of Moldova.

The Schoenherr team was led by Matei Florea (partner). Mădălina Neagu (partner) oversaw the corporate/M&A aspects of the transaction, while Vladimir Iurkovski (office managing partner, Moldova) led Moldovan law matters. Other key team members involved were Alexandra Pop (senior attorney at law, Bucharest), Andrian Guzun (attorney at law, Chișinău), Denis Lefter (associate, Chișinău) and Adriana Otean (associate, Chișinău).