Réczicza White & Case is a solid leading firm. When it comes to its visibility in the market peers consistently refer to it as one of "the usual suspects"....
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Réczicza White & Case is a solid leading firm. When it comes to its visibility in the market peers consistently refer to it as one of "the usual suspects". Clients also hold a good deal of respect for the firm, with one describing it as among the "market leaders".
The banking and finance practice, led by Gergely Horváth, is one of the market's biggest. The core team of nine locally qualified finance lawyers work closely with the capital markets group, led by Edward Keller, who has in the past few years been regularly advising Invitelin on several landmark deals. Among the deals was the first floating rate note offering involving Hungarian credit and the first pik note (pay-in-kind note) offering in the CEE (Central & Eastern Europe) region.
Alongisde its Moscow office, the firm also advised a consortium of Hungarian banks consisting of K&H Bank, UniCredit and Export-Import Bank with regard to an €87 million export financing to Hungarian exporter Proinvest and Russian obligor Vologda Region municipality.
Additionally, the firm was acting for the European Investment Bank (EIB) in relation to a €50 million risk sharing facility provided to CIB Bank for the financing of small and medium enterprises and small scale projects in Hungary and with its London office was also involved in the €80 million refinancing of Invitel Holding's first high-yield bond issue (issued in 2004), which was also one of the first high yield bond issues from Hungary.
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The firm's large and diverse M&A and private equity team has earned the admiration of competitors and clients. "White & Case is a very significant player with experienced lawyers," says one peer....
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The firm's large and diverse M&A and private equity team has earned the admiration of competitors and clients. "White & Case is a very significant player with experienced lawyers," says one peer.
Clients are especially pleased by the firm's performance. "They're very professional, very business oriented...combined skills and have good legal knowledge," says one client, adding: "They don't overdo the legal side when it comes to talking about commercial matters". In fact, it is the firm's commercial awareness that client's value the most, as one says: "They're quite commercial and not overly legalistic. They know how to get a deal done. It's a good combination of law and business".
Despite having been landed a blow by the departures of Zsuzsa Kovács and Kinga Szabó; the firm's "experienced lawyers" were drawn out for praise. "In private equity, Edward Keller has done a good job," says a competitor. Robert Irving is praised for his technical ability. "There was technical skill definitely at the top level. Irving was innovative...it required creativity and common sense," one client says, with another adds: "He [Irving] was very accessible, even if in the middle of something he'd come back to me on very short notice".
Gergely Horváth was also praised for his negotiation skills: "I had a positive experience with him at the negotiation phase and how he handled the situation when the client had problems," one referee said.
In a high profile private equity deal , the firm represented Invitel Holdings with regard to the €221 million sale though auction of Invitel International, its international wholesale business. Along with its Prague office, the firm also advised on the second largest private equity exit of 2010 in the CEE (Central & Eastern Europe), representing Falcon Group in its €574 million sale of 100% of Ceské Radiokomunikace through an auction process to three funds managed by Macquarie.
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Réczicza White & Case is a solid top tier practice. While it does not wholly excel in any of the project finance sub categories, so as to be the "gold standard", it is well rounded and proficient....
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Réczicza White & Case is a solid top tier practice. While it does not wholly excel in any of the project finance sub categories, so as to be the "gold standard", it is well rounded and proficient. Its range of projects includes energy and power plant financings, metals and mining, municipal and wastewater, renewable energy, infrastructure, oil and gas, construction, engineering, transportation and telecommunications.
The firm has represented the Hungarian state in setting up the current legal and regulatory regime, and acted in tenders to award concessions and licenses for projects. It has also advised project sponsors for parties bidding for concessions and multilateral organisations and commercial bank syndicates providing financing for the projects. From competitors and the media, the firm has established recognition for its competency in complicated motorway projects. It is one of only a few firms qualified to handle these complex international project finance deals.
In 2011, the firm was advising Tippin on the €100 million restoration and transformation of a landmark 19th century building into a modern retail and office building. Specifically, this entails advice on the project financing of the redevelopment of the 50,000 square metre building into Class A offices and retail spaces. The firm also advised Mátrai Villamos Muvek Termelo on the €1 billion 500MW Visonta Power Plant project, which was finally aborted.
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