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Mazars has announced that Tax Partner Rene Schob is replacing Jean-Pierre Vigroux as Managing Partner of the the firm’s Romanian office, effective as of September 1, 2014.

   

Rene Schob (vebidoo.com)

In addition to his new role, Schob also leads the Tax Advisory Department of Mazars. He has over 16 years in Tax and Finance, and his background includes a role as Managing Partner of the professional services firm Adevaris — which he co-founded — before the firm merged with Mazars in 2013. He has also worked as a Project Management Advisor with a Big Four firm and as a director in corporate planning and controlling with a Swiss stock listed company. His field of expertise includes Romanian and international taxation, with an emphasis on direct taxation, M&A, and corporate finance. He is a Swiss national, and a graduate of the University of Applied Sciences in St.Gallen, Switzerland. In Romania, he is a well-known expert for foreign — and particularly German-speaking — investors. 

A statement released by Mazars, included Schob’s comment on his new appointment: “It is an honor, a responsibility and a challenge for me to follow Jean-Pierre’s leadership at Mazars. He is a landmark of the professional services’ development in the last 20 years in Romania.  I thank Jean-Pierre and my partner colleagues for the trust they have in me. Expectations raised with regards to Mazars’ current stage of development in Romania are high as we continue to strengthen our market position following the recent merger. I am convinced that today’s changing economic environment creates many opportunities for us that we aim to take. Companies need integrated, complex and diverse advisory solutions to respond adequately to the continuous changes. It will be our role to provide sustainable high-quality services to our clients irrespective of their business’ size or stage of development.”

And Vigroux expressed his gratitude to the firm as well: “Mazars gave me the opportunity to come back to Romania six years ago and I am extremely grateful to this firm for this return to my country of adoption. The achievements I believe I can be proud of and obviously owe them to the whole Mazars team are the improvement of the service quality and market position. Mazars is seen today as a top quality firm, which was hardly the case in 2008. This statement is not the expression of some form of subjective self-satisfaction, but a fact proven every day by our clients’ feedback and our competitors’ respect. We have won our place in the First League of the audit and consulting industry – a good reason to feel recognized and respected. With over 150 professional staff, Mazars is now a strong player in all its core businesses: audit, accounting, and tax advisory and provides specialized support to investors from the two major economies of the EU, the German and the French ones. This makes a sound basis to which René has already brought his invaluable contribution and on which he will continue to grow the firm with his vision, energy and enthusiasm.”

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It’s not quite possible for a firm led by three long-time White & Case partners in an office off Wenceslas Square in the Czech capital to qualify as “under the radar,” but there’s no denying that the new BODAKH law firm has chosen a quiet approach.   

   

Ivo Barta

Although the office in the Czech capital has been open for business for over 6 months, the partners have yet to issue a public announcement or press release, host a launch party, or otherwise advertise their new firm. The firm doesn’t yet even have a functioning website. But the three former White & Case partners who founded and lead the firm claim that its quiet progress through the first few months of operation belies surprising success.

The firm is the brainchild of friends and W&C partners Jakub Dostal and Petr Kuhn — who both left the firm after 15 years to open the BADOKH office in February of this year — and Ivo Barta (who left White & Case after 18 years in August). And the unique name — Barta says that “we didn’t want to have the name in the traditional style” — reflects the partners’ shared commitment to a new model. The three are committed to creating a firm with a “Human Face” — specializing in like-minded and self-motivated lawyers working with enthusiasm and commitment. According to Kuhn, “we want to have a friendly and open atmosphere with a good work-life balance.”

Barta emphasizes that he and his colleagues appreciated the lessons they learned at White & Case. “We all came from a similar culture, and there are things about that culture we value and want to build upon.” Kuhn agrees: “We wanted to do things differently, and after 15 years at one firm, you either need to accommodate yourself to the restrictions inevitable in a large international firm or go do something on your own.” 

The three partners believe their model gives them a flexibility and ability to move quickly that’s simply not possible at a large international firm. At the moment the firm has 16 fee-earners (with three more scheduled to arrive by the end of the year), including the three partners whose initials give the firm its memorable moniker, and another three profit-sharing partners. The partners aim to position BADOKH for the space in-between the international law firms and the local Czech firms — offering their cross-border and ILF experience, but at a lower fee. Barto explains that, “we’re selling two things: skill & integrity. And our clients are getting them at a better rate than the international law firms.” He claims that — despite the lack of a substantial marketing push — he and his colleagues  are already being contacted regularly by potential clients who had been unable or unwilling to pay those international law firm fees, and who are eager to take advantage of the new alternative.

“So it’s going well then?”, they are asked. “Oh yes,” Kuhn smiles. “Better than well. From my perspective, it’s been a great success.”

Wierzbowski Eversheds has added Partner Ewa Szlachetka to the firm’s Warsaw office, where she will head the firm’s M&A practice.   

   

Ewa Szlachetka

Szlachetka specializes in corporate law and mergers and acquisitions, including acquisitions of public companies and restructuring of capital groups. She also handles transactions by private equity and venture capital funds. Before joining Wierzbowski Eversheds, Ewa Szlachetka headed the M&A team at the GESSEL law firm.

She is a graduate of the Faculty of Law and Administration at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan. She also studied at the British Law Centre operated by the University of Warsaw in conjunction with the University of Cambridge. She completed her postgraduate studies in international commercial law at the University of Kent in Canterbury, England, where she earned an LL.M. with distinction in 1999. 

According to Krzysztof Wierzbowski, Managing Partner of Wierzbowski Eversheds: “While continuing our work on international transactions, including within the Eversheds network, we have decided to increase our activity on the local SME market, where we perceive opportunities for growth of our business as the number of local M&A deals is steadily growing. We are confident that bringing onboard such an experienced expert as Ewa Szlachetka will strengthen and solidify the position of our law firm on the M&A market.” 

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Baker & McKenzie has provided advice on English and Ukrainian matters related to the EBRD’s new syndicated facility of up to USD 130 million for Nibulon, Ukraine’s leading grain trader, for the ongoing crop harvesting and marketing season.

The facility will replace the syndicated loan of USD125 million facility signed in 2012, which expired in June 2014.

The transaction will help Nibulon address working capital needs associated with crop origination, primary processing, transport and storage in the current environment of reduced availability of external funding in Ukraine.

The Firm’s team was led by Baker & McKenzie Partners Ihor Olekhov and Michael Foundethakis, with support from Kiev-based Associates Maksym Hlotov, Victoria Ischenko, and Ganna Smyrnova.