Maria Nica
Partner
Maria is the Head of our M&A and Corporate practice. She specializes in private and public M&A and corporate governance matters. In the last few years, Maria has acted for a series of large international investors across a broad range of industries, including telecommunications, metallurgy, pharmaceuticals, medical devices and other highly regulated industries and sectors. Her work includes advising on acquisitions as well as commercial activities.
Maria is a leading authority in agricultural issues, including advising on large acquisitions, E.U. funding and support programs and leasing and land management. She acts as general counsel for some of the largest Argo-businesses in Romania.
A Certified Compliance and Ethics Professional (CCEP-I), Maria has worked on numerous compliance matters, including fraud and employee malfeasance cases, investigations of possible violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and matters before the Romanian anti-corruption authority (the DNA).
Maria is an expert on data protection matters. Recently, she has been assisting clients from all industries and sectors with the implementation and compliance of their data protection programs with the General Data Protection Regulation (the “GDPR”) that came into force in May 2018.
- Assisted in the acquisition by a large UK agricultural group of several businesses in Romania (including publicly traded companies), advised on the restructuring of such business (including in relation to the withdrawal of the public companies from the market) and acting as general counsel to the group in Romania.
- Acted as general counsel to one of Romania’s largest Agro-businesses, including handling its day to day legal operations, advising on accessing European funds, land management, leasing issues, environmental matters as well as on commercial agreements and acquisitions.
- Acted for German investors in the acquisition of land and leases in relation to creating a large farming operation. Also advised on regulatory matters and general corporate issues.
- Acting as general counsel to one of the largest European pharmacy companies, including handling its day to day legal operations both in Romania and in multiple foreign jurisdictions.
- Advised a world leading telecommunications company as general counsel, including handling its day to day legal operations.
- Advising a large construction materials manufacturer with its entry into the Romanian market, including advising on all aspects of a green field factory, drafting and negotiating joint venture arrangements as well as assisting with the financing of the operations.
- Assisting the largest developer of shopping malls in Romania with the restructuring of the group as well as with the drafting, negotiations and conclusion of different agreements with municipalities in Romania for the purpose of building different commercial centers.
- Assisting one of the largest fashion retailers in the world with the legal aspects of their operations in Romania (corporate governance matters, regulatory compliance and other matters).
- Lead counsel on a series of criminal defense cases with regard to one of Romania’s largest agro-businesses (including filing and pursuing of criminal charges against third parties).
- Advising a UK insurance company on matters relating to insurance fraud (with value in millions of Euros.
- Assisted a world leading IT company with regard to several internal investigations regarding possible FCPA violations.
- Team leader in relation to the review and revision of personal data processing programs and implementing such programs in compliance with the GDPR. Over the last year, Maria has acted for numerous clients in various regulated industries. Clients include one of the region’s largest pharmaceuticals companies who both manufacture and provide retail distribution.
- Advised a leading insurance company on its privacy and data protection policies, including revising their internal rules and regulations as well as providing guidance and training to its key personnel.
- Assisted a large Austrian insurance company with the review and modification of its data privacy rules and regulations.
- Assisted with the development and drafting of the GDPR program for a top Agro-business in Romania.
- Advised an auto parts distributor on implementation of new technologies leading to processing of sensitive personal data as well as provided assistance in the evaluation of potential data breaches.
- Lead Romanian counsel for the acquisition of a large online payment service entity. The acquisition created the largest payment service company in Romania and required a complex competition filing.
- Lead the firm’s team on advising the buy-side on the acquisition of Romania’s largest brewery.
- Lead counsel for the acquisition of Moldova’s largest generic drug company by a Swiss investor.
- Advised the telecom company Orange on its acquisition of Moldova’s largest cable company.
- Advised the largest Romanian telecom company in the selling of its cable television subsidiary, including setting up the due diligence, negotiating the shares purchase agreement and structuring security agreements.
Education:
- LL.B, University of Bucharest, Romania
- Certified Compliance and Ethics Professional (CCEP-I)
Qualified:
- 2003