Noerr: Offering excellent integrated services will remain our strength

The development of Noerr in Romania was due to several different business endeavours and associated achievements.

“Since 1998 we have constantly contributed to position Romania as an investment-friendly environment for important international players from different industries,” says Jörg K. Menzer, Head of CEE Offices at Noerr.

“Consultancy in general spans over a long-term development and gives rise to that type of change which spreads across fields,” he tells The Diplomat – Bucharest. “Noerr was also the first consultancy company in Romania to offer integrated services, starting with legal, then adding also tax, finance and management consulting departments. This was a major breakthrough and since then we look with pride and content at the thousands of jobs that were created, firms and fabrics, retails and service centers. We see the achievements as part of an integrated development of the society, that we made possible together with the different business partners. And all these different projects have led us to become one of the most important European advisory firms in Romania, with German background, having 15 offices in Europe and one in New York.”

Menzer explains that the acquisition of Kathrein by Ericsson was a project with major implications for Romania and also worldwide. “The acquisitions also safeguarded over 2000 jobs in Romania alone. We are proud to have represented Kathrein in this important transaction,” he adds. “In 2020 we want to further strengthen our name in those areas that we have been constantly developing during the past years: M&A, State Aid, Compliance and Management Consulting. Of course, also pursuing the other areas such as Real Estate or Tax Assistance.”

According to Menzer, a lot of tasks have been already automated in the legal industry and inside Noerr.

“As international law firm we are on the forefront of this development. These developments should not raise fears, but rather be seen as opportunities,” he adds. “One of the consequence will be that lawyers and consultants will have more time for other type of activities, because automation increases efficiency on some of those time-consuming processes like Due Diligence, Contract Drafting or Investigation Projects. High end advisory will require in depth and broader knowledge of the business and industry in order to offer integrated and efficient services. As this is our core competence we will focus even more on digitalisation and technology in the next years.”

Noerr’s Head of CEE offices, being responsible for Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Romania, believes that next year will certainly be a challenge due to the political context. “From our experience election years are the ones in which the business sector is somehow in stand-by, but we do hope that investments will not drop and will still keep the same priority level,“ says Menzer. “As in any context driven by uncertainty there will be opportunities for market consolidation. After a beginning of the year below the level of 2018 we expect an increased activity on Mergers and Acquisitions with important transactions in the areas of IT&C and banking, real estate, pharma and automotive.”

The market will continue to evolve under signs of uncertainty, Menzer adds, caused by the potential effects of the trade war between USA and China, the slowdown of the German economy, with which Romania has strong ties to as well, and the not yet assessable effect generated by the exit of UK on the European Union. “In this context we expect our clients to shift some of their focus on consolidating their profitability and protecting the bottom line. We are also eager to see how the regulatory framework will impact the economy and also the way the market is perceived, given the local political landscape,” he concludes.

(From the print edition)