Managing Partner

Horea Popescu

Head of CEE Corporate M&A

Bucharest, Romania

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Languages

Romanian
English
French

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Horea Popescu is the Managing Partner of CMS Bucharest and the Head of the Corporate M&A practice in CEE and Bucharest.

With over 20 years of experience, he has been involved in some of the largest and most complex, multi-jurisdictional corporate and M&A transactions in Romania and across the CEE region, advising both local and international clients.

Specialised in mergers and acquisitions, private equity, restructuring and commercial transactions, capital market transactions, competition and privatization, Horea has extensive experience in sophisticated, multi-jurisdictional M&A transactions throughout Eastern Europe, and beyond, covering a broad range of sectors, including energy, technology, media and telecommunications, financial services, consumer products and real estate.

Awards & Recognitions

01 –

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"Horea is very customer-oriented."

Chambers, 2025
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"Horea Popescu is very good technically and commercially minded."

Chambers, 2024
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“Horea Popescu smoothly led the whole process with an understanding of the business needs.”

Legal 500, 2023
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“He's a knowledgeable, diligent and efficient team leader.”

Chambers Europe, 2023
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“He is a problem solver.”

Chambers Europe, 2023
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"Horea Popescu is 'one of the most prominent M&A lawyers locally'. "

Legal 500, 2020
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"Horea Popescu 'has a long-standing reputation in the legal market and recognised strengths as a transactional lawyer'."

Chambers, 2020
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"Market leader in M&A."

IFLR 1000, 2020

Relevant experience

Ahold Delhaize on the EUR 1.3bn (EUR 1.8bn post-IFRS16) acquisition of Romanian grocery retailer Profi Rom Food from private equity fund MidEuropa. This is the largest grocery deal in CEE history.
Ford Otomotiv Sanayi on the successful EUR 700m+ acquisition of Ford’s manufacturing plant Craiova in Romania. This is the largest transaction on the Romanian market in 2022 and one of the largest in the automotive sector ever.
AFI Europe on its acquisition of six companies owning four Class A office projects in Romania from NEPI Rockcastle. This is one of the largest real estate transactions ever concluded in both the Romanian and CEE office markets.
Advent International, one of the largest and most experienced global private equity investors, on the EUR 1.9bn acquisition of the Zentiva’s CEE and Swiss business. This was the largest CEE life sciences transaction in 2018.
Liberty Global on the Romanian, Czech and Hungarian aspects of the EUR 18.4bn sale of its European assets to Vodafone. This was the region’s largest telecoms transaction in over a decade.
Bitdefender, a global cyber-security technology company founded and based in Romania, on the sale of a significant minority stake to Vitruvian. The transaction valued Bitdefender’s business at over USD 600m.
L&C Properties, part of M Core, on the EUR 219m acquisition of 25 retail parks from Mitiska REIM.
Iberdrola’s EUR 88m sale of its wind power assets to Premier Energy Group.

Memberships & Roles

Member, Bucharest Bar Association.

Education

2000 – Masters in European Law, College of Europe, Bruges, Belgium
1999 – Masters in Law, Central European University, Budapest, Hungary
1998 – Degree in Law, West University, Timisoara, Romania

Practice Areas

Tax Corporate ESG Antitrust, Competition and Trade

sectors

Insurance Private Equity

Insights

Global Reach