Zoltán Forgó

Managing Partner

Practice Areas

Corporate/M&A, Private Equity, Litigation, Arbitration, Banking & Capital Markets, Real Estate, Competition Law, and Employment Law

Sector Focus

Life Sciences/Pharmaceuticals, Energy and TMT (Technology, Media, Telecommunications)

Professional Experience

Zoltán Forgó has been practising international business law for more than 21 years. He is a qualified Hungarian attorney (ügyvéd). His primary specialisation is corporate/M&A work, having acted as lead counsel on numerous M&A transactions and represented a number of international investors, private equity firms and Hungarian blue-chip companies. In such transactions he places great emphasis on adopting a commercial approach, seeking innovative solutions and ensuring precise documentation.

Zoltán Forgó’s advisory work on a number of high profile transactions affords him a deep understanding of the issues, client needs and regulatory background of the pharmaceutical, energy and TMT industries. He often advises clients on competition cases, concentrating primarily on merger control and unfair trade practice issues, and employment matters. He has successfully assisted clients in a number of arbitration and cross-border litigation matters, acting before forums in Budapest, Vienna and London. His track record includes representing corporate borrowers, banks and international financial institutions in financing transactions. Furthermore, Zoltán Forgó is experienced in advising institutional investors on complex real estate transactions.

He is a registered arbitrator of the Money and Capital Arbitration Court and has acted as arbitrator in several arbitration cases.

Prior to the establishment of Forgó, Varga & Partners (the predecessor of Forgó, Damjanovic & Partners) in 2000 Zoltán Forgó was Partner and Head of the M&A practice at the Budapest office of an international law firm. His experience includes working in Vienna and in London at leading international law firms.

Languages

  • Hungarian
  • English

Memberships, social responsibility:

  • Budapest Bar Association since 1995 (ügyvéd)
  • Registered Arbitrator of the Money and Capital Markets Arbitration Court in Budapest since 2008
  • Hungarian Venture Capital Association: Member of the Ethics Committee 2010-2016
  • Coach/mentor of the Bibó István College of Law since 2013

Education

  • ELTE University, Budapest, 1992 Law Degree (summa cum laude)
  • Postgraduate International Trade Law Course, Turin, 1992
  • Postgraduate Degree in International Trade Law, 1998

Publications & Conference Presentations

  • co-author of the Hungary chapter of the 2013/14 and 2014/15 multijurisdictional private acquisitions M&A guide of Practical Law (2013 and 2014)
  • speaker of a panel in the road-show of Hungarian Venture Capital Association held in Győr at the Győr-Sopron County Chamber of Commerce (2014)
  • speaking on nuclear developments in Hungary at the nuclear energy workshop of the Second Energy Event, France, 2011
  • author of the article “Price War” on Hungarian pharmaceutical laws (Life Sciences Law and Business, 2004)
  • chair of a legal panel at the annual conference of the Hungarian Venture Capital Association (1998)