Arobs and BRK’s RON 74.2 Million Private Placement
Led by managing partner Alexandru Basarab, Vertis Legal has advised Arobs Transilvania Software (AROBS) on its RON 74.2 million private placement on the Bucharest Stock Exchange’s AeRO market, the largest such placement in the market’s history. Vertis Legal also advised the BRK Financial Group on mediating the investment.
Founded in Romania in 1998, AROBS is an IT company that provides customised software solutions to a number of sectors, including the pharmaceutical, travel tech, automotive, fintech, IoT, logistics and enterprise solutions industries. It maintains seven offices in Romania and another seven internationally.
The BRK Financial Group was also established in Cluj-Napoca and has been on the market since 1994. The Group is both a publicly traded financial investment services company and one of the founding members of the Bucharest Stock Exchange.
12% of AROBS’ current share capital was included as part of the private placement on the AeRO market. The placement closed ahead of schedule on the first day after being almost three times oversubscribed, with shares bought by both retail and institutional investors.
Following what is at this moment known as the largest private placement in the history of the AeRO market, Vertis Legal also advised AROBS on its debut on Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB). The Vertis Legal team involved in the listing procedure was led by the same managing partner, Alexandru Basarab.
The placement closed ahead of schedule on the first day after being almost three times oversubscribed, with shares bought by both retail and institutional investors.
Lawyer Monthly had the pleasure to speak with Alexandru Basarab, Managing Partner at Vertis Legal to give us some further insight into this transaction:
Please tell us more about your role in advising on this private placement.
When I started practicing law, litigation and dispute settlement were the ”must” of every successful legal business. Over the past years, however, the new legal career is no longer a synonym for ”who won”, but rather the science of establishing relationships and getting people to think and work together so that everybody wins.
So, to answer your question, our main role was to identify the best language of conversation for two of the most successful companies on the Transilvanian market – a common ground between IT, private investments and law.
Did you encounter any challenges during the process? If so, how did you overcome them?
The true challenge is being able to meld legal knowledge with the specifics of your client’s business. Step one is understanding your client’s business. Only then will you be able to find that common language between law and that particular area of business.
The black swan theory is a metaphor that tells us that unpredicted events, things never imagined, do and will happen. Business negotiations are events that black swans love to attend. So, as well as understanding your client’s business, you also need to fully know and understand your client in order to avoid any black swans.
As we have been working with BRK Financial Group since 2010, we already had a strong relationship as well as a good understanding of their business and particular needs. It has been both a challenge and an opportunity to learn more about the software industry and the services provided by Arobs worldwide and also to meet part of their amazing team. No black swans have been spotted.
Have you worked on any similar projects recently?
Our firm regularly advises companies in the implementation of investment projects, including the sale of shares in companies, mergers and acquisitions. However, it has been a particular positive feedback of our first collaboration when AROBS once again asked for our legal support in listing the company on the stock market in December 2021.
