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Carmen Peli

Partner, Head of Corporate M&A, Finance & Banking, Competition & Commercial

Practice focus:

  • Corporate M&A
  • Finance & Banking
  • Competition & Commercial

Carmen is “a specialist in competition law, who can deeply engage with clients' problems”— Chambers and Partners, 2015

Carmen is one of the founding partners of PeliPartners, with over 20 years of experience in Corporate M&A, Banking & Finance and Competition matters. Well-known for her innovative legal solutions, Carmen Peli acts as C-suite senior consultant for large corporations and investment funds. She has been a leading lawyer in some of the landmark M&A transactions in Romania in the banking, oil & gas, healthcare & pharma, retail sectors. Her deep understanding of economics and the ability to find common ground solutions are praised by clients. Carmen also advised banks and international financial institutions, as well as debtors in relation to important facilities to finance acquisitions, working capital or projects. She was the first Romanian lawyer to ever be ranked (Band 1) by Chambers Europe in competition and is praised by clients as a lawyer with “hands-on approach and effortless command of antitrust issues”. Carmen has advised on a wide array of antitrust and state aid matters, for clients in the telecom, IT, pharma, retail, oil & gas, construction, insurance, financial sectors, whether during antitrust or state aid investigation proceedings or in respect of their compliance needs.

Representative work:

Assisting one of the top banks in South–Eastern Europe in the largest transactions in the Romanian banking sector in 2014 and 2018 with the acquisition of two of its competitors and two affiliate non-bank financial institutions, , as well as with the acquisition of the lending portfolio of a Cyprus bank.

Assisting numerous clients with corporate matters or in M&A transactions such as (i) the shareholders of a leading provider of specialized medical services, in relation to several corporate projects, including with their exit from the company; (ii) the Romanian branch of a worldleading bank in relation to the sale of its consumer business in Romania; (iii) the financial services unit of an industry - leading American multinational conglomerate with respect to a joint venture with a bank for their financial services businesses in Romania; (iv) the leading Austrian integrated oil and gas company in its EUR 1.6BN acquisition through privatization of the largest Romanian company in the petroleum industry; (v) a leading Indian pharmaceutical company in relation to the acquisition of one of the leading Romanian pharmaceutical manufacturers.

Assisting several clients in numerous financing transactions such as (i) an investment group regarding a leveraged group restructuring through a term loan and revolving facilities; (ii) a consortium of leading banks with the financing of the leveraged buyout of a major supplier of bottled water and coffee in CEE and a market leader in Romania and Serbia through several term loans and revolving facilities; (iii) a consortium of ten banks in relation to the stand-still and proposed restructuring of a leading oil& gas drilling company; and (iv) a leading private equity fund in relation to its authorization as a shareholder following the acquisition of a stake in certain insurance companies.

Assisting numerous top players in various industries in antitrust matters, including investigations carried out by the Competiton Council, merger clearance procedures or state aid matters. For example, Carmen assisted (i) a leading technology company in succesfully defending against an alleged bid-rigging matter; (ii) a professional association regarding an alleged exchange of information; (iii) a Romanian beverage producer, part of one of the largest multinational brewing company, in relation to several investigations regarding agreements with retailers; (iv) two of the top players in the telecom industry in relation to several investigations; (v) a leading pharmaceutical manufacturers in relation to an investigation regarding the relationship with its distributors.

Press
"No Dull Year in Banking" - CEE LEGAL MATTERS (2020)
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"Industries supported at European level by state aid schemes in the context of the coronavirus pandemic: examples that could be followed by the Romanian state" - Hotnews (2020)
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"Temporary framework established by the European Commission on State aid measures to support the economy in the context of COVID-19" - Hotnews (2020)
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"Protecting the economy in the context of the spread of COVID-19 - measures available to the state" - Hotnews (2020)
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"Pricing algorithms - when can companies be held responsible for their use?" - Hotnews (2020)
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"State aid for rescuing and restructuring firms in difficulty - when can this be granted?" - Hotnews (2020)
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"Directions for action and developments that defined the activity of the Competition Council in terms of investigations in 2019" - Hotnews (2020)
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"Settlement of disputes between holders of pharmaceutical patents and manufacturers of generic medicines: when they are anti-competitive, according to a recent CJEU ruling" - Hotnews (2020)
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"Public tenders - frequently in the attention of the Competition Council" - Hotnews (2020)
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"Compensation actions for infringements: clarifications brought by the Court of Justice of the European Union" - Hotnews (2020)
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"The interaction between competition, consumer protection and GDPR. Which, how and when should it intervene?" - Hotnews (2020)
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"Competition in sports" - Hotnews (2020)
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"10 lessons on competition in the last decade" - Hotnews (2020)
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"The impact of Big Data on competition" - Hotnews (2019)
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"Competition risks in case of outsourcing" - Hotnews (2019)
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"About PSD2 and (other) demons" - Universul Juridic (2019)
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"The impact of silence in the context of competition infringements" - Hotnews (2019)
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"Online commerce - between innovation and compliance with competition rules" - Hotnews (2019)
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“Participating in associations – tips for avoiding competition risks” - Hotnews (2019)
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Getting the Deal Through – Vertical Agreements - The regulation of distribution practises, Romania Chapter – (2009 - 2017)
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Getting the Deal Through – Life Sciences, Romania Chapter (2011 - 2015)
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The Romanian Competition Council Fines Baxter and Belupo and their distributors for parallel export restrictions – (2012)
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Various articles published on www.concurrences.com
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