Dumitru Rusu

Dumitru Rusu

Partner, Head of Banking & Finance

“We are witnesses to a rapidly changing business environment, so the legal rules and laws. But good sense of everything should stay above. This is what I believe defines a good business lawyer.”

Dumitru Rusu, MBA, is a partner of Voicu & Asociații and the head of the firm’s Banking & Finance Department with more than twenty years’ experience in financial services. He advises international and Romanian clients primarily on banking, finance, capital markets and insurance, but he also covers corporate and commercial, mergers and acquisitions, cross-border taxation, insolvency, litigation and arbitration.

Dumitru Rusu’s experience in banking, finance, capital markets and insurance include various regulatory and commercial legal matters, as well as project management, both in private practice and as in-house lawyer. Before joining the firm in 2006 he had coordinated for six years the legal, compliance and controlling activities for treasury and capital markets of Raiffeisen banking group in Romania, including the asset and liability management activities.

He also worked in the tax and legal department of Ernst & Young Romania and has a previous practical experience as stock broker at the early stages of the Romanian capital markets. He is currently a member of the Arbitration Chamber of the Bucharest Stock Exchange and an insolvency practitioner.

Contact: dumitru.rusu@voicu-asociatii.ro
Education Computers Science Faculty – Bucharest Polytechnic University (1995)
Law School, University of Bucharest (1998)
Romanian-Canadian MBA Program (2006)
Memberships Bucharest Bar Association (2000)
Arbitration Chamber of the Bucharest Stock Exchange
National Union of Insolvency Practitioners in Romania
Languages Romanian, English

Primary practice focus:

Banking & Finance
Capital Markets
Mergers & Aquisitions
Privatizations

Representative Projects ...

Assisted as legal advisor of the Romanian subsidiary of a major Hungarian Bank, on the M&A deal regarding the intended acquisition of the Romanian operations of a Bank – Member of National Bank of Greece Group (includes acquisition of equity and sub-debt participation, refinancing all intra-group loans by the purchaser group, as well as purchase of loans granted booked in Malta or London Branch); rendered services include obtaining acquisition clearance from the National Bank of Romania, as well as on other conditions for closing.
Assisting the buyer a insurance company part of an important regional financial group, in the acquisition from the largest bank in Greece of the non-life portfolio of an insurance company and in the subsequent acquisition of the 100% ownership in said insurance company.
Assisted the leading financial services organization in Cyprus, and the borrower in connection with a complex the refinancing transaction of a Hotel, with the occasion and corroborated with the indirect sale of the bank participation in the borrower.
Assisted the insurance support services provider of a major insurance company, providing services mainly in relation to travel insurance and road assistance in restructuring its Romanian subsidiary by transformation in a branch through a cross-border merger.
Assisting the local management of a subsidiary of a major Cyprus bank, under resolution, in the revision of the transaction documents with emphasizing on the warranties to be granted by the seller based on the endorsements from the local management, as well as on other Romanian regulatory aspects and assistance to closing; we also advised the bank in renewing its D&O policy with extended run-off coverage, including in the negotiation with the international insurance broker intermediating the renewal.
Assisting a financial group with presence in the European market in the tentative acquisition of a small Romanian bank.
Assisting a financial group from US in the tentative acquisition of a small Romanian bank with frozen activity.
Assistance to subsidiary of a major regional financial-banking institution, acting as lender, facility agent and security agent, in the project by which a syndicate re-financed the existing loan facility of USD 137 million to the most important Romanian aluminum producer, with a 30 million top-up as a non-funded facility (for issuance of surety bonds).
Assisted as special advisor the Romanian subsidiary of a major Hungarian Bank, on the M&A deal regarding the client’s acquisition of a bank’s operations in Romania; rendered services include obtaining merger clearance from the Romanian Competition Council and the National Bank of Romania, regulatory aspects and general assistance on the two banks’ business integration.
Assisted one of the most important insurance companies in Romania in relation to a EUR 60 million syndicated loan granted together with an important Bank to a construction company. Allowing the issue of guarantee letters for the firm’s contracts, the transaction is the first syndicated lending transaction including among banks a general insurer.
Assisted one of the most important insurance companies in Romania, acting as creditor, in relation to a EUR 33 million syndicated loan granted by three major banks to a Romanian company active in the construction and installation of equipment for thermal power plants, hydro and nuclear power plants.
Assisted a major Austrian bank on Romanian legal aspects in connection with the financing of the trade receivables of one of the world’s leading automotive suppliers to the value of EUR 50 million, under a financing scheme governed by German, Czech, Swedish, English, French and Romanian law.
Acting as member of the arbitration panel in the first and only arbitration case at the Bucharest Stock Exchange finalized with an arbitral award in a complex case on which a client allegedly claimed breach of contract and market behaviors by its broker, an important Romanian bank.
Assisted a specialized fund registered in Luxemburg and sponsored by European Commission and European Investment Bank, administered by a important German bank in connection with a EUR 25 million subordinated loan granted to one of the largest banks on the Romanian market in terms of assets; rendered services included regulatory aspects, as well as reviewing and negotiating the transaction documents for the subordinated loan.
Assisted an independent, FSA regulated financial services boutique providing structured finance, capital markets advisory, special situations and longevity & life product solutions to institutional and corporate clients across both developed and emerging markets, in connection with the restructuring of a non-performing loans portfolio of one of the largest banks on the Romanian market in terms of assets, with rendered services including establishing a non-performing loan vehicle, structuring and preparing the relevant NPL documentation.
Assisted two important Romanian banks, subsidiaries/branches of Greek banking groups, in restructuring their existing syndicated credit facilities aimed at financing two Romanian real estate projects, with a total project value of EUR 136.3 million.
Assisted a leading leasing company active on the Romanian market, in financing under a leasing scheme several wind and photovoltaic energy projects, with financing amounts ranging between EUR 2 million to EUR 39 million.
Assisted two important banks acting on the Romanian market and a leading global financial services company in all Romanian legal matters in connection with the syndicated loan granted to Romanian leading cable provider and telecom company in total amount of EUR 300 million.
Assisted the most important Austrian bank in financing the public works of a Romanian local authority by means of purchasing promissory notes, with a project value of EUR 12 million.
  Assisted a Belgian universal multi-channel bank, focusing on private clients and small and medium-sized enterprises in respect of the refinancing transaction of the investment in a shopping center in Iasi, as well as in the subsequent restructuring of such loan.
  Assisted a specialist bank for the public sector in Central and Eastern Europe in the purchase in the secondary market of promissory notes issued by a central public authority involved in public works, with a project value of EUR 10 million.
 Assisted a major leasing company acting on the Romanian market in connection with its nationwide debt recovery plan against more than 400 defaulted clients.
 Assisted a group of 13 Romanian insurers in the establishment of Romanian Insurance Pool against Natural Disasters (PAID)
 General legal adviser (coordinating other jurisdictions’ lawyers) to one of the largest financial groups in Central and Eastern Europe for implementation of reserve costs optimization scheme in the form of a loan warehousing structure/booking center in The Netherlands, for a total value of approximately EUR 600 million.
 Assisted a major independent international private equity group in the sale of the majority stake in two insurance companies.
 Assisting an important Austrian bank acting on the Romanian market as Romanian legal counsel in a transaction for the cross-border securitization of a consumer loan portfolio, the first transaction of its kind in Romania, in a total value of EUR 262.5 million. The issuance was privately placed to a group of major global banks.
 Assisted an important Austrian bank acting on the Romanian market on several transactions of individual and repetitive sales of portfolios of non-performing consumer loans.
 Assisted two international banking groups present in Romania in structuring and implementation of their asset and liability management strategy by implementing loan warehousing structures in favorable jurisdictions or by booking loans with their mother companies.
 Assisted Austria’s leading asset management company in the procedure for passporting of 11 funds in Romania.
 Assisted a Czech private equity fund in the acquisition of the majority position in two Romanian insurers including the business recapitalization and re-launch (2007).