“The total legal service market was overestimated prior to the crisis: €150-200 million. Following the correction, conservative estimates would place it at €110-150 million, of which 30-40 percent would be activities directly or indirectly related to the notion of restructuring,” Ruxandra Bologa, Partner of the NNDKP law firm, told Business Standard.
The attorneys at Tuca Zbarcea&Asociatii (TZA) and those at Bostina&Asociatii said that one third of the revenues on the law market come from corporate restructuring. “We are working twice or three times more compared to previous years on projects regarding corporate restructuring, business transfer, the management of aspects related to labour law, and insolvency,” said Stefan Damian, Deputy Managing Partner of TZA.
Matei Florea, Partner of Schoenherr, estimates that “probably more than half of the activity of law firms is related to or results from a form of restructuring.”
The most spectacular restructuring operations follow mergers and acquisitions. For example, the U.S. Lime Rock Partners investment fund, assisted by NNDKP, invested over €25 mln in the process of restructuring Expert Petroleum SRL, a company specializing in the rehabilitation and exploitation of oil fields.
However, the most frequent restructuring operations are for contracting territorial networks, real estate projects, debts, and staff. “Clearly, the potential has not materialized yet in terms of debt restructuring. It is very likely that this segment will continue to develop exponentially, due to the increase in insolvency cases,” Florea said.
